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Tag: S6

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1995 Audi S6

I’ve made only one New Year’s Resolution this year – I resolved to listen to my gut instinct more. Typically, I scoff at such tomfoolery; if you can’t get it done the other 364 days, a little champagne and a dropping ball isn’t going to change your life suddenly. But a few weeks back I made a poor decision that I immediately regretted. On my normal perusing of the local Craigslist advertisements, I came across a 1993 Audi S4. It was Pearlesant white with black leather – not my favorite combination admittedly, but a classic ’90s Audi hue. It was a bit lowered but not overly so, riding on 18″ BBS VZ wheels. The miles were in check and overall condition appeared to be very good, with a short list of needs. But the kicker was that it was only 2 miles from my house; even better yet, the asking price was below $3,000. I stared at the ad for some time, and multiple times later in the day I went back to look at it. “I shouldn’t do it” I said, “I don’t need another car.” It’s true, I don’t – but there was just something about this that made me think I was going to regret not at least driving by to see it.

I was right. On Monday, driving my son to school, I spotted the immediately recognizably silhouette of a C4 Audi up ahead. Now, C4s around me – especially sedans – are becoming rare sights, since most are at least 20 years old. Even with legendary longevity, the crumbling residual values have meant that many have disappeared into junk and scrap yards. But here was a pristine looking Pearlesant White example ahead of me. Despite the several hundred yards in between us, I also noted instantly that it was lowered and had large wheels. Getting closer, my eyes darted to the discrete S4 badge adorning the trunk, with an even more discrete “quattro” badge to the right. Like Ahab navigating a sea of mediocrity, the subtle S4 stuck out like a brilliant white star on the horizon. I let that car slip through my hands, and I immediately regretted it:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1995 Audi S6 on eBay

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Forbidden Fruit: 1996 Audi S6 Plus Avant

There are plenty of drool-worthy cars that we’re not allow in the U.S.. Yesterday’s Callaway Turbo GTi got me thinking about some of the rare Mk.2s, like the hugely awesome and super rare Golf Limited. But I’m mostly known for my love of Audis, and every time I think about importing a car from Europe, it’s not the RS2 or B5 RS4 that catch my attention. I’m always drawn to the relatively unknown bad boy from quattro GmbH – the S6 Plus. With some revised trim, larger brakes and wheels, a 6-speed manual and a turned up V8 under the hood, this might just be my ultimate grocery getter:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1996 Audi S6 Plus Avant on eBay

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2002 Audi S6 Avant

Recently I’ve several times bemoaned the death of the fast Audi Avant on U.S. shores; one of the culprits that helped to hasten that demise was unfortunately this car. It’s not really that it’s consumer’s fault that this occurred; after all, Audi did offer a manual, twin turbocharged fast version of the Allroad alongside the S6 that made the lack of inclusion of a manual an odd choice. Plus, out of the box, the Allroad arguably had more bling with the air suspension and nifty color contrasting trim that was all the rage amongst wagon manufacturers in the late 90s/early 2000s. We’ll blame Volvo for starting that popular trend, though. Regardless, the Allroad was substantially more successful in regards to market share than the S6 Avant; no surprise, then, that it was killed off to the U.S. market after a shockingly short run with not many sold. A decade on, though, the S6 offers a rare opportunity to get into a fast Audi wagon on a budget. Many of the pitfalls of the Allroad and other period Audi wagons didn’t appear in the S6; the neat but fragile air suspension was replaced by steel springs, and unlike the Allroad and A6 4.2s, the engine in the S6 was a cambelt driven V8. Long term, they’ve proven to be more reliable than the rest of the 2000s Audi V8s that have chains instead. The S6 got some unique features too, such as the grill, 8″ wheels and door blades that gave it a slightly more stately and classic appearance than the rest of the A6 lineup. The result is that you can grab one of these fast and unappreciated Audis for a song today:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2002 Audi S6 Avant on eBay

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Wagon Week Leftovers: 1995 Audi S6 Avant

Let’s get right to the elephant in the room; this is not a perfect S6 Avant. It has high miles, the description is rather nondescript, the leather has some heavy wear, underhood looks tired and oily and the expensive front bumper has been smashed. What we do learn from the description is that the brakes are probably warped, the fan squeaks, some of the trim is falling off and if your knee what’s to know the current boost reading you’re in luck. Yet, to me this Avant is more appealing than all three of the decade and a half newer models in my “End of an Era” post. Why? It’s the platform that helped to make Audi what it is today – turbocharged, manual, mechanical quattro, with plenty of space and luxury outside and classic looks outside.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1995 Audi S6 Avant on eBay

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Wagon Week: 1991 Audi 200 20V Turbo Quattro Avant and 1995 S6 Avant

What would “Wagon Week” be without some fast Audi wagons? Starting in the mid-1980s, Audi cornered the market with its turbocharged all-wheel drive fastback “Avants” – starting with the 5000CS Turbo Quattro. The 5000 was replaced by the 200 in 1989, resulting in effectively the same car – now with BBS wheels and a revised interior and lacking the manual differential locks, but otherwise primarily unchanged. There was a minor revision in 1990 – the engine code changed from MC-1 to MC-2; the cam was slightly different and the engine ran higher initial compression and a lighter flywheel in order to drop boost for quicker response – but ultimately, it wasn’t a major change. The big change came in 1991 with the release of the heavily revised double overhead cam version of the venerable inline-5. Dubbed the 3B, it gained about 50 horsepower over the standard 200 turbo. The 20V version also sported “UFO” floating brakes, upgraded suspension, 7.5″ BBS wheels instead of 6″ and some subtle flares. As I mentioned previously, the 200 20V was perhaps the ultimate “Q-Ship” – it had no external badges, so you had to know those flares and wider BBS wheels in order to differentiate it. The 200 20V was a one-year model, replaced in 1992 by the again heavily revised S4 with another revision of the 20V turbocharged engine. We didn’t receive the initial C4 Avant version of the S4, though it was available in Europe in both turbocharged and V8 form. Audi finally corrected the problem in 1995 by releasing the S6 Avant; again revised with temporary overboost providing a bit more power through the AAN version of the inline-5 and with freshened bumpers, the limited run S6 Avant has become just as much a legend as the 200 20V version – if not more so. Our reader John spotted the two good looking examples found here:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1995 Audi S6 Avant on Craigslist

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