Audi S6

The Audi S6 is a high-performance version of Audi's A6 sedan. It went on sale in 1994, shortly after the A6 designation was introduced, replacing the 100 nameplate. The original S6 was largely the same car as the outgoing, first generation S4, with the only visible differences being new body-cladding and badging.

1st Generation (1994-1996)

Audi was fairly constantly re-structuring their model lineup in early and mid-1990s, and in 1994 began selling the fifth generation 100 model as the A6. Wanting to keep a sports-sedan in their lineup, the company made small revisions to what had been badged as the S4, and began reselling it as the S6 - the S4 would eventually become a completely separate member of the lineup, based on Audi's A4.

For 1995, the S6 was powered by a 2.2L turbocharged five-cylinder engine producing 230PS (169kW/227hp) at 5900 rpm and 326Nm (240ft.lbf) at around 2000 rpm. The powerful engine gave the S6 surprisingly good performance, it had a top speed of 243km/h (151mph) and went from 0 to 100km/h (62mph) in 6.1 seconds; 160km/h (99mph) was reached in 17.5 seconds. The vehicle came standard with a six speed manual gearbox (5 speed only in the USA), and Audi's Quattro all-wheel-drive system. It was available as both a sedan and an "Avant" (station wagon) to European customers, but only as a sedan in North America, Asia and Australia.

Audi had made a high-performance, 4.2L V8 available as an option in the first generation European S4s, and made the decision to continue to do so with the S6, making a 290PS (213kW/286hp) version of the 4.2 available as an optional upgrade over the 5-cylinder. Unlike the turbocharged version, the V8-powered S6 had standard Tiptronic automatic gearbox, but kept the Quattro four wheel drive.

An even more powerful and very limited-production S6 Plus, also powered by a version of the V8, was briefly available to European customers. Developed by Quattro GmbH, it was available for sale only during 1995. Audi's performance division reworked key parts of the engine and increased the power output to 326PS (240kW/322hp). During this process they also made revisions to the suspension, brakes and transmission. With so much power on tap, the S6 Plus could reach 100km/h (62mph) from a standstill in less than six seconds, making it compareable in terms of accleration to vehicles like the Porsche 944 Turbo.