The 2023 Audi S6, Driven: Luxurious, Practical and Great to Drive

But does it do a good enough job screaming “$90,000 sedan” at you?

Published July 20, 2023

Audi’s A6 family offers a broad range of midsize luxury car options. The base model A6 is a staid, tepid and sensible German banker’s sedan; The range-topping RS 6 Avant is a raucous 591-horsepower high-performance wagon that breathes hot fire. Slotting between them in performance, price and hotness is the S6.

I tested the Audi S6 at home in Michigan for a week, much of it spent carting around my kids to various weekend activities while my wife went to a wedding, and it impressed. I wouldn’t quite call the S6 the sweet spot of the Audi midsize car lineup; you could make a case for leveling up or down. But it’s far more than just a mid-range lineup filler.

The 2023 Audi S6: What We Think

The Audi S6 excels on paper. It’s zippy, precise and excellent to drive. The interior provides just the right amount of luxury. It’s also spacious and practical enough for family duty. It was a well-rounded package that took care of all of my dadly needs for the week.

But wants matter too. The S6 is missing that little bit of pizzazz in the looks or noise department that would have made it a bit more special. And as I’ve noted with other vehicles, the style is part of the substance.

The Audi S6 is an outstanding performer

The Audi S6 drives very well, and it does not demand a lot from the driver to do so. Audi’s 2.9-liter twin-turbo V6 is not a V8 like the last generation had, but it still delivers a robust reservoir of oomph with 444 horsepower and 442 lb-ft of torque. The standard adaptive air suspension cushions the ride. The S6 feels extra nimble and direct with the optional four-wheel-steering. Its eight-speed transmission is smooth. There just isn’t much to complain about.

I pined for a curvy California mountain road to sound the S6 out. That said, it handled the closest equivalents I could throw at it in Southeast Michigan without breaking a sweat.

But the Audi S6 could use a bit more charisma

To use a term the kids have no doubt moved on from, the Audi S6 could use a bit more rizz. The S6 is your basic three-box sedan; looks-wise, it’s far closer to the A6 than the RS 6. It’s so close, I actually walked up to an A6 in a shade similar to my tester’s Aviator Gray Pearl Effect in a parking lot after my son’s baseball game.

The S6 could be the ultimate incognito sleeper if you want to avoid attracting attention during a New York-to-L.A. Cannonball Run attempt (not that we condone that); a modified previous-generation S6 is the current record holder. But it doesn’t scream “I just spent $90,000-plus on a sedan,” which I suspect is what most buyers want when they pay $90,000-plus for a sedan.

The Audi S6’s interior is luxurious and practical

The S6 interior feels fancy. My tester had comfortable sport seats and an extended leather package that added it to the dashboard, armrests and console. It read as premium, without extending into “I’m looking for something that says ‘dad likes leather” territory. It’s feature-rich, too, with things like standard four-zone climate control.

I also found the S6 super-practical. There’s ample room for car seats and people in the second row. And the trunk is huge; I had enough room to chuck my kids’ gear in the boot for youth sports and trips to the pool, and was still do a bit of grocery shopping when I forgot I left all that gear in the trunk.

But Audi went a little heavy on the touchscreens

Audi leaned into the future (and saving money) with a pair of touchscreens. A 10.1-inch unit up top handles the infotainment functions. A separate 8.6-inch screen below tackles the climate controls.

Form trumps function; the touchscreen setup is complicated and unintuitive for the drive or the front passenger to use. I had to pull over and stare at the screen to adjust the climate. And the form isn’t that great; the point of using touchscreens is to be clean and minimalist, but having two screens and a chunky shifter comes off as rather busy.

What are some Audi S6 alternatives?

If you love the S6 but wish it were sexier, you can get the swoopy, coupe-like S7. It’s more expensive (it has a $83,100 starting MSRP) and a tick slower from 0-60 mph (4.5 seconds instead of the manufacturer-tested 4.4). The closest like-for-like competitor offering is the Mercedes-AMG E53, similarly positioned between the base E-Class and the E63. The S6 offers more power and a cheaper starting price, though.

But if you want to spend $75,000 to $95,000 on any sedan, you’ve got options. You could load up a Genesis G80 or level up to a base Genesis G90 — both awesome. You could add 200-plus horsepower and a manual into the mix with a Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing. You could also go electric with a Tesla Model S or a loaded-up Polestar 2.