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2016 Audi A6 First Drive [w/video]

The Audi A6 could be seen as a singular kind of sleeper. It sells in volumes that are one-half to one-third those of its German competition. The sedan doesn't command a conversation much less the imagination, its history bereft of iconic brand identifiers. Think of the way the E28 BMW 5 Series turned the segment into something to be proud of, or those double headlamps from the W210 Mercedes-Benz E-Class, or that other E from 1986 simply known as Der Hammer. There is currently no RS6 sedan in the US to draw halo attention to the clan. And it was the first in its segment to slip into a design lassitude such that you had to check the badge to make sure it wasn't a different Audi. However, I look at the A6 from the other side: it's an underappreciated gem. With the 3.0-liter supercharged V6, it's a thoroughly fun steer. It has more power and torque than the competition. I think it has the finest interior. It's probably my favorite sedan in the segment considering how many boxes it checks before you cross the bridge to things that begin with S, M, and AMG. But you have to get to know an Audi in order to comprehend what it possesses, and the "product improvement" rolled out for the 2016 A6 won't change that. I'll call these "blind spot updates," because someone needs to point out where they are, and even then you've got to work to see them. Nevertheless, they're there, in places like the wider grille, new headlights and taillights with revised LED DRL signatures, new bumpers, side sills, rockers, and trapezoidal tailpipe finishers. The interior and driver assistance systems get gussied-up. The interior and driver assistance systems get gussied-up, too. The base A6 2.0T can be had with driver aids now – Audi pre-sense comes standard, the night vision assistant will identify animals, and the blind spot monitor works with lane keep assist to give you even more warning before changing lanes. There are two new colors and new inlays, like the layered walnut on the tester I drove, which is an upper-tier luxury feature that's finally filtered downstream. The biggest interior rework comes via the MMI system, which gets the Nvidia Tegra 3 quadcore chip pushing graphics to a retractable, eight-inch touchscreen. The additional processing power allows for new features like expanded codec playback – you can now play uncompressed .flac files straight through the stereo.

For Audi, Quattro name means something for hydrogen cars, too

Forget Dueling Banjos. Audi is proposing "Dueling Motors" for its Audi A7 Sportback H-Tron Quattro concept vehicle. All in the name of appropriate pickup, of course. The German automaker, which showed off the concept sedan at the Los Angeles Auto Show last month, is pairing a plug-in electric motor with a hydrogen fuel cell powertrain. Each motor powers two wheels, maintaining the Quattro's all-wheel-drive pedigree. The car's 8.8-kWh lithium-ion battery can drive the car as far as 31 miles on battery-power alone. After that, the water-vapor-spewing fuel-cell engine kicks in. Audi executive Ulrich Hackenberg told Automotive News Europe that the unusual set-up is necessary because the hydrogen fuel cell powertrain alone would only power two wheels while providing an insufficient 136 horsepower. Not exactly sport-sedan material, especially for a car that weighs about 4,300 pounds, even if it is a zero-emission ride. Combined, the two engines give the sedan 231 horsepower as well as a combined single-charge/full-tank range of almost 350 miles. What it all means is that the A7 can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in less than eight seconds and has a top speed of about 112 miles per hour, and can still dash through the snow.

Audi A3 E-Tron is a look at battery-operated things to come

Audi officially unveiled the A3 Sportback E-Tron at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. While not a production model, the plug-in hybrid gives us a good glimpse at what the German automaker has in store for future products. The five-door gets around thanks to parallel hybrid drivetrain comprised of a turbocharged 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine and a small electric motor integrated into the vehicle's six-speed dual-clutch transmission. While the four-cylinder churns up 150 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque, the motor contributes 100 horsepower and 242 lb-ft of twist. All told, the design allows the E-Tron to serve up its full power from just 1,750 rpm.
An 8.8-kWh lithium-ion battery sits under the floor beneath the rear seat, complete with a liquid cooling system designed to keep the pack in its optimum temperature range. The A3 Sportback E-Tron can be charged in as little as 2.5 hours with a 3.6-kW charger, yielding an EV range of up to 31 miles. The machine can also travel using the electric motor, ICE or a combination of the two for a total range of 584 miles. Check out the full press release below.