Road Test
Audi Allroad 2.7 V6 TDi
Test date Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Price as tested £34,020
For Off-road ability, engine, dynamics, refinement
AgainstMpg, average boot space, steering feel
When Audi launched the original Allroad in 2000, sceptics suggested it was simply a stopgap model, tasked with preventing buyers wooed by the combination of off-road 'potential' and a prestige badge from trotting off to the nearest BMW or Mercedes dealership.
It was clear that before long Audi would need to offer a fully paid-up SUV contender – but in the short term the Allroad was the ideal quick fix.
June 2006 and Audi finally has the colossal, seven-seat Q7, the SUV it hopes will appeal to the X5, ML and Range Rover brigade. Physically, the Q7 overshadows the Allroad, which you'd be forgiven for thinking would now be left redundant.
Trouble is, the Allroad sold rather well – in the UK it made up 20 per cent of A6 Avant sales, and overseas the figure was higher still – and Audi is not keen on losing these customers. So just over a year after we sampled the svelte new A6 Avant, we're faced with a new Allroad that follows a similar recipe but with some tweaks to the ingredients.
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