recognizable as a member of the Audi family. Headlights, hood and bumpers blend to reveal a familiar face

while advanced lighting technology, visible behind polycarbonate lenses, add sparkle and style. Curvaceous

lines caress the eyes. The wind glides across the gracefully flowing hood, up and over the sweeping roof

line and down the smooth rear deck lid, slipping through the wind with a low 0.28 drag coefficient.

One of the most significant details is something you don't really see at first. The A6 comes together

in seamless form, with body gaps kept to less than 3 millimeters.

Car design is a question of trade-offs, and all too often a stylish exterior means a compromised interior.

But not so with the A6. It's a roomy car, offering more than an inch of additional headroom over the previous

model (now 39.3 inches or 38.5 as tested with sunroof). Rear-seat passengers will enjoy an additional two inches

of legroom.

Dynamically, the A6 is as good as it looks. A6 engineers took lessons from Audi's all-aluminum A8 high-performance

luxury sedan. Pound-for-pound, aluminum is significantly stronger than steel and the A6 makes extensive use of

it. The aluminum hood is 36 percent lighter than the hood on last year's model, yet it's 20 percent more rigid.

Door frames, side-impact beams and bumper mounts are made of aluminum. Overall, the body of the A6 has 50 percent

greater torsional rigidity even though it is 30 percent lighter. That translates into less shimmy and shake on

rough roads and helps isolate noise. A rigid chassis also provides the basis for precise suspension tuning,

contributing to the A6's excellent handling and ride.