michaelmac

I have been facing exactly this choice this year. After driving an A6 2.7tdi for 2 years the lease was up and I fancied a change. The E60 works out a few hundred pound cheaper than the A6. I've driven the 2 of these into the ground with numerous test drives and much as I tried to convince myself that I should go for the E60 because of the sharper drive and better handling I just couldn't get over the less comfortable and ropier cabin of the E60. The standard seats, climate and audio of the E60 are dramatically worse than the standard A6 setup, in fact worse than the smax I've just had for the weekend and for me that pretty much nullified the enjoyment of the better handling. I have taken frends and colleagues out on runs to see if I was missing something here but generally the feedback confirmed my thoughts. The SA did confess that many people remarked on the uncomfortable seats and that they would generally advise an upgrade.

If you don't do huge mileages and/or you spend a lot of time on fast twisty roads, then the E60 is certainly more fun but with most of my driving is on motorways and fast A-roads and in these conditions there wasn't much in it and the A6 engine seemed to me to be more refined than and just as punchy as the 3.0d, though the 535d would certainly be another story. It's meningless to discuss exterior styling as both cars dramatically divide opinion and it's your opinion that counts. Hopefully you'll know enough to realize that an A6 shares no major components with VW or Skoda and be able to sort the dafter from the genuine criticisms.

As someone said earlier it's largely personal preference and they are both really good cars and indeed if you can get an E60 with comfort seats, advanced climate and at least hifi speakers then many of what were issues for me would be addressed. I'm holding off to the next time to see if the facelifted model offers a more appealing package.

Uk525i

I fully agree with your observations on the standard seats, I have tried every adjustment possible but cannot get a comfortable position for long journeys. I think it is funny that BMW sell comfort seats as an 'upgrade'. Comfort seats are surely a necessity!!. By contrast my wifes SAAB 9-3 has the best seats I have ever tried over a long distance. Comfortable & supportive. If E60 seats were that good I would buy another one. But as it stands, no-way.

michaelmac

Indeed, I just assumed that I was doing something wrong and had missed a vital lever. I enquired on here and got no response, and only after grilling the dealer did he admit that it was an issue. Hats off to anybody who perseveres with it for the sake of the good drive but my daily commute is 160 miles and by the 3rd day I was dreading getting into those seats. I could have swallowed the upgrade but on reflection it seemed like a p*** take and made me reflect on the other cabin deficiencies. Hopefully plenty of scope for improvement next year.

Matts

Hi,

I share your view that both 5er and A6 are good cars and that (in both cases) you will need some additional options to be completely happy.

But VW, Audi, Skoda and Seat share indeed a lot of important parts. VW claims to be the inventor of the so called "platform-strategy".

"PQ36" for example is the platform for VW Golf, Seat Octavia, Seat Leon and Audi A3 (among others)
"PL45" (since 1996) and now PQ46 is VW Passat, Audi A6 and Skoda Superb
"PL62" is VW Phaeton, Audi A8 and Bentley Continental

That doesn't has to be a disadvantage.

Matts

michaelmac

The Skoda Superb is the PL45, based on a lengthened Chinese version of the old B5 Passat,.

The current Passat is the PQ46 is simply a lengthened PQ35, the floorpan used in the current Golf

The A6 floorpan is unique to the A6 designed from the ground up for the 2005 model, albeit using the rear trapezoidal-link system taken from the A8 and the 3.0tdi engine is uniquely Audi. Sticking to the subject matter of the thread and to restate, the A6 3.0tdi shares no major components with VW or Skoda.

I have no problem with platform sharing except that it leads to confusion amongst those who aren?t exactly clued up. The A6 has as much or as little in common with a Seat or Skoda as it has with Bentley or Lamborghini.

tonye60

well i now have the a6 and i am glad i made the change, what got me off the 5er in the end was the cheap feeling interior, being a uk driver and having standard air con the dials where worse to use than our company ford transits , that with squeaking doors, trim wear and splitting leather seats. Yes you cant beat the drive of the 5er , i just did a 3500 mile trip through europe, alps nurbergring etc, but thats not day to day life, being inside the car is

anit999

You may as well save a few thousand and go down to your local Kia dealership and order a new Magentis. At least you won't be disapointed then.

BERM

According to this video the new Audi S4 is better on the track then BMW M3.

tonye60

i think if you took the bmw badge of the way bmw finish there cars it could be a Kia

gago818

lol, I drove my friends A6 3.2 back from palm springs to glendale (117 miles) Its a horrible car, all the gears feel the same because of the CVT, the interior is pretty cheesy. you dont feel safe in the car like you do in the e60 because all the windows seem bigger and u feel like your gonna fly out of the car in any accident. Plus on top of all of that the car has some bad blind spots especially in the C pillar. To top it all off it is front wheel drive and the transmission is very unpredictable.