@@NBPT428 well, I own 2 of them (Outback and Crosstrek) but they don't call them wagons...they intentionally market them as SUVs even though they are basically cars on jacks, lol
@@NBPT428 now a wagon is basically only for the rich...the cheapest one that they actually market as a wagon is the Volvo v90 and even that is only by custom order - everything on the lot will be the Cross country versions
I picked up an off-lease 2018 S6 4.0T Prestige for under $50k just before the market exploded and absolutely love it. For an insanely cheaper price and an arguably nicer looking/feeling interior that’s easier to use, I’m not jealous on the very rare occasion an RS6 Avant rolls by.
Yes Alex, Wagons rule!!! Thank goodness other markets still have the sense to recognize the wagon form is supreme. How and why only Subaru can sell wagons in large quantities in the American market is one of the great automotive mysteries. 🤔🤔
It seems Subaru is the only one to realize that Americans like wagons when their lifted up because you can avoid the little stuff in life. Lots of sedans and such are too low now and easily hit things when your unaware. I assume the Europeans struggle with selling their wagons because they are too expensive for people who want a wagon. To much of a conservative deisgn. Reliability concerns. Subaru has the winning formula and thus the Outback was the best selling wagon in the entire world last year.
@@baronvonjo1929 There are dozens of wagon options in Europe and Japan. I would love to see world wide sales totals for each model. BTW I am Canadian and wagons never went out of style here but we can't get them anymore due to the lack of interest in the USA.
@@rightlanehog3151 I feel like the only way wagons could become a thing is Toyota and Honda with the Corolla, Civic, Camry, and Accord. Best sellers, big dealer networks, cheap (ish) compared to the luxury European brands and there wagons and of course reliable. But I doubt they would risk trying it out and potentially cannibalize CUV sales.
@@baronvonjo1929 As you may already know, Toyota makes and sells Corolla wagons in Europe and Japan. The ones made in England have a slightly longer wheelbase. The ones made in Japan are available with the AWD Hybrid system from the Prius. Subaru makes an Impreza wagon sold under the name Levorg. Honda makes a Fit wagon called the Shuttle. Even in the USA, I am confident Subaru could easily sell their Levorg. The Corolla wagon would certainly sell up here in Canada. For some reason, CUVs sell at a premium to cars even when they cost no more money to make. It is easy to see why manufacturers prefer to pad their profits.
Seated hip to ground height. This strongly affects entry and exit for those of us with knee and/or back problems. For me, that means I'm less concerned about the center of gravity carving canyons, as I am about the multiple times per day I get in and out.
@@afcgeo882 US never got a Fusion wagon and I don’t believe the Legacy wagon has been available (outside of Outback) for the prior couple of generations.
@@ALMX5DP I know. Europe got them and the hatchback version as Ford Mondeo and they outsell the sedan by a lot. They were very popular. The US hasn’t had a Legacy wagon for decades either.
@@ARentz07 I agree. Since EVs are the future, shapes are going to be more droplet shaped for aerodynamics and with batteries being in the floor, there will be plenty of trunk space without a wagon silhouette.
Wagons are hot! You're getting the interior space of a large SUV without the detriment to handling, MPG, NVH, and performance. You just don't get the "commanding" view of the road.
Most practical high-performance car sold right now. I actually am glad they decided against making the RS6 sedan the standard bearer. Unfortunately they're marked up to the moon, ESPECIALLY in Nardo Grey.
Exactly what I have been saying for years now is why wagons are just as good if not better than most SUVs... BRING BACK SPORT WAGONS!!!!. We are so bored to death with boring SUVs. As much as I LOVE this Audi and would buy it in a minute (if money was not an issue) I/We would love to see more affordable & reliable wagons offered here in N.America. Until then I'll continue buying lotto tix - Wish me luck. Cheers!
Beautiful car and great review as always. I'm a bit disappointed in the highway mileage though, my now "ancient" 2014 Stingray can lope along at 75mph while still pulling down 32mpg and my 2017 Allroad can pull 34mpg at those speeds. You would think the wagon should be pulling upper 20's. I know many don't care about efficiency in performance cars but being realistic, most of your hwy mileage is going to be moving with traffic and not racing it so you should be able to do well.
I tihink its important to note that this is a BIG car that is heavier than the corvette and has AWD. all those things affect fuel economy. Just physics. The City MPG is similar to a corvette though, (Corvette owners always brag about highway but cmon, it still sucks off the highway)
Thank you for this nice video, I was exactly picking betwwen the RS6 RSQ8 and the panamera last year, I finally pick the panamera over the RS6 at MSRP $145k for the 4S e hybrid. The main reason for me to pick the panamera over the RS6 is the real situation of market. Most of the dealer around tri state area in the ease cost asked for 20 grand more on the RS6 and the panamera sold for MSRP, on the other hand I picked the hybrid model because with about the same porformance, the panamera has the 7500 fed tax intensive and the right to drive on the HOV lane when you drive alone.
Love this car, but for $131K, Audi still doesn’t give NA models auto brake hold when such feature is standard on most $25K economy cars. Absolutely mind boggling. I really want to ask an Audi executive why NA models deliberately omit such basic feature that’s standard on most Audi outside of NA.
The profit margins on cars in North America are FAR lower. The base price for this in Germany for example is €117,500. That’s about $128,000 USD and that’s without having to adapt the car to NA safety and emissions and without the tariffs, which are high. In the US, it starts at $116,500 USD. That’s $11,500 lower, and again, with shipping, tariffs and added R&D in that price. They remove anything they can to make it more profitable.
@@afcgeo882 Auto brake hold is a button. I can't imagine it saves much money on a car this expensive... There must be some other reason they don't include it for the NA market.
@@ALMX5DP No. It holds the car in place after you stop, so you can take your foot off the brake for a few minutes, then as you press the accelerator, the car moves forward. It lets you rest your foot at red lights. It’s a nice feature for city dwellers.
I think I’d probably go with the taycan sport turismo in the price range. While the backseat and cargo area aren’t as roomy as the Audi, I think it’s be more fun out on the road with more instant power delivery and better weight balance. I’m not a big fan of the way Audis turbo v8 sounds - if it had something like jaguars 5.0 supercharged engine that woukd be a different story. Speaking of which, I think the fpace svr is what i might get over any VW group Option. And it’s about 40-50k less as well.
Here's what I don't understand about the unwillingness for, say Mazda to bring their 6 wagon over here. They'll say, it's because they don't sell. And fine, okay, they won't sell the same as a CX-5, but what's going on at Audi and Porsche and Mercedes that THEIR executives are like, "lets sell $130,000 wagons!" Could it be that they actually sell better than a $40,000 loaded wagon from Mazda? The Buick apparently sold around 3000 TourX station wagons in 2018. Will Audi sell 3000 RS6 Avants? What's the business case for bringing such an expensive product to market vs the business case for NOT bringing regular folks affordable wagons here?
12mpg? That feels crazy. Just made the jump down from about 30mpg to 20mpg and the gas costs are pretty substantial. Especially with $6/gallon premium gas. I’m making well over $150k. With my tax bracket I would need about a 5k/year salary bump to offset the pretax difference (not the full cost, just the difference) in fuel costs alone.
@@shammyh most people don’t get things they can comfortably afford. Most people basically stretch their finances. Doesn’t matter if you make 50k per year or 50k per month. MOST people aren’t wise with their money. The fuel costs alone could amount to 15k per year of your salary depending on your tax situation. Assume this person keeps it for 3 years and then sells it. Assume you can get it for 150k with no taxes and no MSRP mark up (obviously not likely). Assume 1.5k per month for insurance. Assume average miles driven per year at $6/gallon. This car costs $229,000 to have it for 3 years. Minus what you can sell it for (assume 60-70% of the original price). Don’t forget that same person likely gets it washed monthly for another 2k over those 3 years (60 per month). Services won’t be cheap. This would run you out of roughly $150,000 (after those other costs and after selling the used car). And at the end of those 3 years you have nothing to show for your 150k and you still need to get another car. That’s enough to roughly buy a $50,000 car brand new every single year and just throw it away when you’re done. Have it crushed. Set fire to it. Gift it to someone after 12 months. Every single year. Eat the rich.
It’s still front wheel drive architecture just like Subaru you can’t just say because it’s longitudinal engine and transmission it’s not front drive architecture. Will you say Subaru not front wheel drive architecture either? Also I wouldn’t say becoz they are all longitudinal engine it’s closer to bmw and Mercedes than Acura. Yes power might be route through more like them but bmw and Mercedes is traditional front engine rear drive architecture so engine is not in front of the front wheel axle and the transmission is in the tunnel between front seats, and route power back to front wheel via transfer case style routing behind the tranny with prop shaft to front diff.
@@AAutoBuyersGuide yes it’s the same zf8 speed just the housing and transfer case location different. It’s more like Subaru where they put the components
@@AutoBuyersGuidePodcast Mercedes had production issues with the 63 V8 engine and is now starting to ramp it back up again, but as you know, these engines are hand-made, so it’s slow going. The SUVs with it have all already been re-launched, and the E63 (sedan and wagon) and the GT63 4-door are next.
@@afcgeo882 That wasn't the only issue, supply chain issues were a prime reason for pausing all V8s with only limited exceptions. Most models have had a full model year pause, its possible they may return for 2023 but the E63 wagon cannot be ordered for 2022 still.
i dont see how luxury car manufacters forget that large wheel rim diameter means worse luxury ride and quietness. chasing performance is admirable, but would be much easier with a car more similar in size to a golf. these tires must be very expensive
@@damilolaakanni Yep, but I'm just a poor limo driver, so I've ordered a poverty pack Q7 45 TDI. 😀 (we're fortune enough to get the diesels here in Australia). Re the RSQ8, it was interesting that in a recent drag on the Carwow channel, it was significantly faster than an RS6 - they were all dumbfounded. EDIT: here's the link, and it was actually only in the rolling races that the RSQ8 beat the RS6: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PmOItT3TtTE.html
It's not much of a mystery why wagons aren't that popular here. Most of them simply look a little awkward with their proportions. This one looks good but it's over 100k.
That video never did explain why Audi sells this RS6 Avant in the US. The simple reason is the profit margin. The margins on regular wagons would be quite slim, just as they are on the sedan, so to make it lucrative they’d need to sell quite a lot of them. With their lack of popularity, they wouldn’t. With the RS6 though, the profit margin on each car is FAR larger, so they need to sell a lot fewer of these to make money, plus performance cars increase the marquee value overall.
Alex, I’m sorry you have to endure the “it’s so expensive”, “it’s not worth it”, “for that money I could buy a Tahoe AND a Miata and pay for track days” every time you review an expensive car. Like you shouldn’t be able to move outside of the practical car segment. The fact is most people who poo-poo this car would love to have one or wouldn’t understand it even if gifted to them. But they fail to realize there is a market for this car, and that the tech in this car will show up in lesser cars in a generation or two. And therefore is certainly relevant to them.
This says a lot more about Kia than it does about Audi to be fair. You can tell from interior and exterior that Kia has been following Audi design for a few years now.
Sorry Alex, 130k for this fairly middling wagon has my brain exploding. The price of this vehicle makes no sense to me. I can kinda see this price for some of the EV’s with their cavernous space, 5 star comfort features, advanced technology, industry setting power and performance but this is a head scratcher.
