The first time Audi "made it" in America, it was the ancestors of today's Audi A6 that did the heavy lifting. Cars like the Audi 5000 sold like mad. Audi was challenging its fellow German brands in the marketplace for the first time. The second-generation Audi 5000 was a ground breaker, too, with its super-slick aerodynamic design and pioneering Quattro all-wheel-drive system. The Audi A6, on the other hand, has been leading Audi's second renaissance in America.
The first Audi A6 was, in fact, a slightly redecorated Audi 100 (the name the Audi 5000 carried everywhere but North America). Introduced as a 1995 model, the first A6 was capable, but plain in its design and decoration. The second Audi A6, the one familiar to the world as the A6, arrived as a 1998 model in four-door sedan and Avant wagon versions.
Of course the Quattro all-wheel-drive system was now standard. As with previous Audi designs, the Audi A6 positioned the engine longitudinally forward of the front wheels, with the transaxle behind it. Engine offerings in North America ranged from a normally aspirated V6 through a twin-turbocharged V6 to a V8 in the high-performance S6. The revamped Audi A6 found plenty of buyers as the Audi 5000 stigma faded.
A third-generation Audi A6 was introduced for the 2005 model year that built upon the engineering and styling themes established by the previous model. Throughout its production run, Audi has come up with variations ranging from diesels in Europe to an RS6 powered by a twin-turbocharged V10 making a spine-and-every-other-body-part tingling 571 horsepower. Audi wasn't just aiming for its German competition with this A6; it was grabbing them by the throat.
By the end of the 21st-century's first decade, the Audi A6 had established itself as a chic and stupendously capable midsize luxury machine. It's not just the German sedan to buy when you don't want the other German sedans, but a great machine with a unique personality.
