That life is not fair is one of its most important lessons. Some are born with what others work for; some are born to be who
others work for; and some are born without any real concept of what
work even is, but they get elected to public office just the same.
If
you’re the sort who’s upset by such karmic imbalances, Audi’s
mid-sizers might bother you, as these cars have been given more than
their fair share of gifts. They certainly bother BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
There’s nothing the Audis don’t do well. When you’ve got 1000 freeway
miles separating the morning’s first cup of coffee and the comfort of
your own bed, the A6, S6, and A7 are as serene as a suite at the Four
Seasons. But when your fortunes take a turn toward blind crests and
sphincter-cinching kinks, the Audis prove their adaptability with
exemplary steering and body control. No matter the task, an overwhelming
sense of solidity and unflappability pervades every move these Audis
make.
They
are as crisply designed as they are engineered, with deceptively simple
exterior styling. And their interiors are not just well ordered, but
meticulously and artfully so. Woods that look as though they might once
have been the end tables in Neuschwanstein Castle segue into spears of
satin chrome and rich stitched leathers, lending the impression that
Audi is somehow budgeting three to five times more on materials than its
competitors. Regardless of whether they control the HVAC, audio system,
or the side mirrors, knurled knobs provide a rare consistency of feel
thanks to a faction of the interior-design team that focuses solely on
haptics, the science of touch. And the MMI infotainment system sets the standard for the rest of the industry.
Between
the A6 and A7, Audi offers a choice of maximum passenger volume or a
seductive roofline atop the same faultless mechanical base. Powertrain
choices range from hyper-efficient—38 mpg highway with the 3.0-liter
turbo-diesel V-6—to simply hyper—420 horsepower from the S6’s twin-turbo
V-8. Audi offers a 2.0-liter engine in the A6, but, as good as that
engine is, Audi has never provided that model for evaluation. Audi’s
wing in the 10Best clubhouse is reserved for six- and eight-cylinder
engines. With all of these various powertrain and body-style
combinations, there’s no way to go wrong, just a handful of different
ways to go right.
Places
on this list are awarded based on more than just numbers, but the S6’s
deserve special mention. Turn off stability control and flat-foot the
throttle with the brake applied, and the launch control revs the engine
to 5000 rpm before dumping the clutch. Not a single power stroke goes
unused as all four fat tires hurl the car to 60 mph in just 3.7 seconds
and through the quarter-mile in 12.1 at 115 mph. That makes this
sedate-looking sedan quicker even than the new Corvette.
The
Audi mid-sizers’ only downside is cost. With a V-6, the A6 starts at
$55,995; the A7 at $65,395. The S6’s base price is $74,295, and a $1400
price bump from 2013 to ’14 put the S7 over our $80,000 base-price cap,
which was the only thing preventing its inclusion on this year’s list.
Even
at these prices, though, the cars are worth it. There are no-compromise
sports cars and no-compromise luxury cars, but those sports cars
typically compromise on comfort, and those luxury cars frequently
compromise on performance. The Audis are genuine no-compromise cars:
They don’t just offer something for everyone, they offer everything for
anyone who can afford it.
As
people who care more about computers than cars demand more integration
of the former into the latter, infotainment systems are becoming a huge
deal. So huge, in fact, that “infotainment” is generally accepted as a
real word. Just this past year, NHTSA side-stepped into the fray,
publishing suggestions regarding control operation, screen location, and
smartphone integration. Audi, on the other hand, has been refining
infotainment’s exemplar for years. Its flagship technology, “MMI touch,”
blends a central control knob with an array of hard buttons, soft
buttons, disappearing buttons, and even a fingertip sketch pad, making
it the least frustrating infotainment system we’ve ever used.
1 ON SPEED DIAL
These hard buttons immediately call up the major submenus—navigation, phone, car setup, radio, and connected media.
2 WRITE NOW
Normally,
six virtual buttons here call up the six radio presets. When you want
to enter a destination, though, or use the onboard internet connection
to look one up on Google, this touchpad turns into a fingertip-writing
surface. That might sound distracting, but MMI is so good at discerning
even the most illegible, absent-minded chicken scratch that it isn’t.
3 HOT AND COLD
Capacitive
touch systems may look sleek, but how far do you need to swipe your
finger to increase temperature by five degrees? Here, you always know:
five degrees, five clicks—tactile, audible, Audi-spec clicks.
4 LARGE, IN CHARGE
More
proof that touch screens are not the answer. Poking at a field in the
middle of the dash requires far more focus than does twirling a knob.
5 INNER CIRCLE
In each submenu, these buttons take on different functions as indicated by labels in the corners of the MMI screen.
6 EXTREMELY LOUD? INCREDIBLY CLOSE
Ever
notice how some radio stations are louder than others? Or that your
iPod is quieter than the radio? Many infotainment systems leave all the
major functions down on the center console but strand the volume knob up
on the center stack. But here, just a small wrist flick separates the
major system controller from the volume knob. Immediately below the
volume knob are the seek/skip buttons.