spagolli94

My wife has her A3 in for service, so we have a loaner for a few days. It's a relatively new (not sure what year) A6 with S-line package. I took it for a spin. I wasn't expecting to love it, but I expected to like it more than I did. The 3.2 had a nice tone to it, a little more muted than the 3.2 in my wife's A3 (probably due to more sound dampening material). The S-Line suspension is very firm and borderline crashy. In contrast, the suspension in the RS4 is equally firm, yet very quiet and does a much better job smoothing out the harsh stuff.

The A6 felt huge and turn-in was horrible. I kinda felt like I was driving a boat car, just with an overly firm suspension in place of the squishy suspension you often find on bigger cars.

Our A3 has a DSG transmission that shifts quick enough it actually makes driving a manu-matic somewhat fun. But when I put the A6 in manual mode, it took almost a full second to upshift. Not good.

While not a bad car per se, the gap between it and my RS4 is very, very wide. So I'm feeling kinda spoiled - and that's a good thing. After a full year with my RS4, it's safe to say the novelty has not worn off one bit! I'm sure there's a lot of other guys on here that would agree.

DrivingFool

I know exactly what you mean. This year my local dealership has given me both new A4's and a Q5 (that was for an extended weekend trip). The Q5 was great on gas and a comfortable touring car but performance is not in its pedigree. My wife loved it. You're right - we ARE spoiled....
Happy Motoring!