Whereas the C4 S6 Avant had been the only high performance wagon in the Audi line in 1995, when it came to the early 2000s Audi had gone hog wild with options. In the both the A4 and A6 lineup, you could get the then potent 3.0 V6 and it could be opted with a 6-speed manual in the small chassis. While long term that engine has proven quite problematic, at the time it offered 60 horsepower more than the V6 had only a generation earlier – a substantial bump. Then there was the much loved B5 S4 Avant, with its twin-turbocharged V6 which again could be mated to a 6-speed manual. That same setup was available in the large chassis Allroad as well, though more often than not the C5 was equipped with the 5-speed Tiptronic automatic gearbox – the transmission that was the only option for the 3.0. If that wasn’t a stout enough lineup, Audi also launched a revised S6 in 2002. Borrowing some of the aluminum elements from the A6 4.2, the S6 featured flared lightweight fenders and hood, larger 17×8″ Avus wheels with a wider offset than the B5 chassis wheels (though visually there was no change), lower door blades, a revised grill and polished aluminum mirrors and roof rails which had become the signature of the S-series cars. All of these elements would later be incorporated into the B6 S4 Avant. With 340 horsepower, the C5 S6 was capable of sub-6 second runs to 60 m.p.h. and could cruise effortlessly at triple digit speeds. Though it didn’t look much different than the rest of the C5 Avant lineup, it was most certainly the Alpha in the Audi wagon lineup in 2002-2003:
