Audi A6 by Saturn
    Editor-In-Chief
    6.29.2019

The Car
The A6 is a gorgeous car in many senses of the word. Design and engineering radiate from the car since its major redesign in 1997. The car packaged a high level of roominess, amazing interior fit and finish that was consistently considered the benchmark for other makers, and Quattro all-wheel-drive. The car was very competitively priced, and, as it evolved, grew some very hot engines in the 2.7T and 4.2 V8 options. The last iteration of the B5 A6 was the uber-sedan, the RS6, packing a massive amount of power thanks to its twin-turbo 4.2 V8 engine, as tuned by Audi's in-house answer to AMG and BMW's M, Quattro GmbH. Well, like all cars, no matter how great the last A6 may have been, it had to evolve or die.

Enter the 2005 Audi A6. A gorgeous car in many ways, but perhaps not up to the elegance of the car it replaces. While some may not like the new Audi shield face (I happen to really like it), there are some odd angles and accents on the new A6. For instance, the lip of the front facia seems to bow out, or at least straight down, whereas most cars have a nice inward movement in the front end, or perhaps light flaring. On the new A6, it looks more like someone didn't finish detailing the angles on the front end when building models.

What the new A6 has is technology. Nav, HIDs, all-wheel-drive, ESP and traction control, dual-zone automatic climate control, etc, etc, the car is feature packed. The most advanced piece of technology in the new A6 has got to be its 3.2 litre FSI V6. FSI is Audi's direct-injection technology for their gasoline engines, similar to the TDI technology VW uses in its turbo diesel engines.

But, this article isn't focused on any of that. Instead, it's about the specific details of the car that seem really out of place. In fact, they're so out of place, they exist on another car in the marketplace...just one nowhere near the Audi's competitive set. Namely, the soon-to-be-canceled Saturn L-Series.

Side View
Here is where we see the first example of Saturn styling show its face on the Audi A6. While showing you this indentation on the L-Series, it's even more pronounced on the Ion. Here, we see an indentation accent near the bottom of the door that bows slightly upward as it moves to the back of the car. Indentations like this are commonly used to break up an otherwise slab-sided panel or section of a car. Personally, I'm not a fan of them usually, and I don't think the A6 needs it.

Some people complain about Mercedes design work in making the C-Class look so similar to the S-Class. They say it stinks for an S-Class owner who dropped $90 grand to have a car that costs a third as much look so similarmdash;even indistinguishable to some. I think the same can be said of the new CLK (which I really dislike) and the CL. From the front, it can be tough to tell them apart...well, for some people at least.

OK, maybe this doesn't look too bad to you, and maybe you don't see that much of a resemblance. But, it's not the individual detail, it's the combination of design elements from the Saturn that, overall, detract from the A6, and make it look like it should be featured in one of Saturn's commercials showing their dent-resistant doors.

Rear View
So, what seals the deal in my eyes? The first time I saw the rear end of the new A6, that's when the resemblance to a Saturn struck me. Look specifically at the chrome accent strip across the trunk, above the license plate. To me, this is just terrible. First, I think it's unnecessarily brazen in a market where svelte is a better way to go. As Audi's competitors do, you should let the shape of the car be the boldness of the design, not large swashes of chrome.

But, it's not just the use of chrome, it's the placement...literally, exactly the same in relation to the total rear end as on the Saturn. You can see an overall resemblance between the two...and if you can't, you're lying to yourself! Why does this bother me so much? Audi had done a great job of using chrome accents in the past. They put the chrome on the bottom edge of the trunk lid, and it really looked amazing. They switched from chrome to satin-finish aluminum midway through the A6's life, and that looked great, too. They did the same on the new A4, although the accent piece was actually mounted to the bumper's top face, rather than to the bottom edge of the trunk. Still, it produced the same effect. And, most importantly, no one else did it. So, why take a great accent piece, and ruin it by making it a copy-cat of everyone else (even Saturn!) in an overdone fashion?

The Final Review
As negative as I sound here, I do like the new A6. I actually saw one in person last week at a mall outside of Boston. It had manufacturer plates on it (from Michigan), which explains why I saw the car before it has been officially released. I will say, it works better in person, but still, something seems off in a few places. I still feel that the front end looks 90% done in terms of finished design, and I still don't like the two specific Saturn-esq design elements discussed here. Would I buy one, for sure. Would I buy one instead of an Acura TL? Definitely not.