ALLROAD. Review on Audi A6

This review is to give my fellow readers a flavour of the Allroad. This is Audi's offroading vehicle which is built on an A6 base. I have owned a turbodiesel version for the last 5 years and have clocked about 50,000 miles. My apologies to anyone who is looking for figures and specs which are usually obtainable from the Audi site or from a dealership. I have always felt that a consumer IMPRESSION is what a review should impart and not a rehash of specifications-now that I have had my moan-on to the review--

I purchased a demo vehicle from my local dealership in Norwich for £33,500/-, so its not cheap. The reason for the buy was a search for a vehicle with good build and solidity-it was a rebound from a bad crash in a Mazda 323 which even the side pillars had crumpled. the vehicle looks like a beast and I feel its most impressive in black. The doors are heavy and clunk satisfactorily and the boot is spacious and seating for 5 is roomy with lots of legroom.

A computer does all routine system checks at switch on and mileage / fuel analysis during the drive. Driving time is monitored and a warning delivered to have a break after 2 hours of driving. The computer tells you when a service is due or if any of the tyres/lights/brakes etc are malfunctioning with cautionary amber and stop driving red signals.

The music system which includes 6 cd interchangeable is very good and an extra.

A lot of expensive extras can be paid for-like alloy wheels, leather seats, in car phone and sat nav.

The quattro is the 4 wheel drive that Audi patented and developed and has all the refinements to keeping things stable. however in wet or icy conditions, the bottom will tend to wander like any other car.

The ride height is controllable on auto or manually. on auto the vehicle sits low and becomes a 'car'.

for offroading the height can be set high.

its eerie to experience the tail rubbing up against you, as it automatically sets tio 'high' when you are pulling luggage out of the car after parking.

The ride is very favourable one comfort coupled with good handling and the turbodiesel is slower than the petrol version but still nails you to your seats on a kickdown.

The tyre is too bulky to carry. A spare used only to get you to the nearest dealer (and not for regular driving) is kept deflated in the boot with a pump that plugs into the lighter socket.

in summary-good looks,solid build, good handling and respectable acceleration and speed with a slightly fiddly cruise control are the hallmarks of this capacious comfortable longdistance offroader.