Video: 2016 Audi A6

Now, one of the changes to the front end is the grill, which couldn't go any deeper, had to get a little bit wider. And that's what they did. This used to be a really bold looking design. Now it just kind of fits in. They also redesigned the headlights and the LED daytime running lights. Around back, they redesigned the tail lights, made the rear-end look a little bit broader and now all the trim levels have trapezoidal tailpipes. It is as before kind of an understated but handsome design. It also looks a lot like the other Audi cars. That might be a good thing in some ways, but it's also kind of a bad thing. The powertrain news, is good news. The base engine, which was a turbocharged two liter four cylinder is again a turbocharged two liter four cylinder, but it's been changed. It gets 32 horsepower more than it did before for 252 horsepower. Now you can step up from that to the 3.0 T, which is what we have here. It has a supercharged three liter, six cylinder. It is up 23 horsepower and now has 333 horsepower. Now the TDI clean diesel engine hasn't changed at all. It has less horsepower than the four cylinder, but a lot more torque. In fact, Audi says in zero to 60 it's quicker, We liked the power trains available for the A6. We found with this one that the transmission doesn't really have any hesitation, which is good. It never seems like it's hunting for a gear and with the standard all wheel drive, no traction is ever lost. It just goes. The steering is a little more disappointing, not a lot of feedback, kind of numb. Even when you adjust the assist level, using some of the controls, it's not a huge deal, but I have to be clear. We're obligated to talk about the finer aspects of the driving. And I think the average person could get in this car and never think twice about things like steering feel. They're more likely to think about the ride quality. And in that regard, I was a little disappointed in this car as equipped because it has the optional sports suspension and 20 inch wheels. And that makes the ride firmer than I'd like it to be, especially in what is otherwise a very comfortable car. There are some driving modes that Audi handles quite well. They let you set your individual preference. That way you can just jump to your individual mode instead of relying on the predetermined bows that they have for you. One thing that disappointed me was the car used to have a button just out here that you could hit and change your driving mode, your drive select mode. Now it's only on the display here. You have to hit the car button first, bring it up on the menu. This is actually a bit of a disappointment because the Audi is pretty good at giving you buttons that you can hit when you need them, without going into the menus. One example, if you don't like the blind spot monitor the buttons right here, you just reach up smack it. Same thing for the head-up display, which you know, if your spouse likes it and you don't, the buttons are right here on the side, just hit it once. And it's off. This also lets you change the brightness and the height and actually goes really high. The interior quality in the A6 is quite good. There's no leather clad dashboard or anything like that, at least not base, but the quality is still good. One I think exception is we kind of wish the window sill as it were, were not so hard. Wish they had padded it a little bit more. Now even though most of their controls make some sense to me, there's one, that's a real puzzler and that is you can hit both the heated seat and the cooled seat, turn them both on at the same time. That has to be a German thing. Bears noting that leather seats are standard in the A6. That's very uncommon among luxury vehicles, especially the German. So that's a positive. One of the big changes for 2016, just aside from a couple, you know, Chrome strips here and there on the interior is improvements to the multimedia interface system, the MMI, which is technically an option, but good luck finding a car at a dealership that doesn't have it. One of the things it does is adds faster processors. So it was never, super slow to begin with. But now it's, you know, right on the money. Same thing for the supplemental display between the gauges. They also added 4G LTE capability, which among other things gives you Google maps, actual, you know, pictures that come in really quickly and zoom really quickly. Along with the hidden changes and the electronics, one very welcome change, is the A6 now has USB ports. It used to be just a connector for apple devices. Here in the backseat, I'm six feet tall and I have enough headroom. Leg room is also pretty good with the seat ahead of me all the way back. My knees are raised a little more than I'd like, and I have to say for a mid-sized car, I kind of expected more space back here. But if you compare the dimensions, this is actually more leg room than you get in the five series, the E-Class and the CTS. The A6 has a slight advantage over its competitors. With 14.1 cubic feet of trunk volume, the BMW has 14, the Caddy 13.7 and the E-Class 12.9. Even more important, there is a split folding backseat that lets you extend the space into the cabin. And that's standard here as it is in the BMW. Now with the price starting at about $47,000 for the base A6, it's actually a pretty good deal. It is more expensive than the Cadillac, but cheaper than the two German competitors. The changes for 2016 really keep it a nice well-rounded up-to-date car. I definitely would consider it if I were shopping, but you might want to think twice about that sports suspension. Make sure it's not too firm for you. (trunk slams)