Road Test
As automakers continue to roll out new products that blur the line between sport-utility vehicles and station wagons, we're struck by the need for some sort of Kinsey scale to position these new dual-personality vehicles. You remember Alfred C. Kinsey? His Institute for Sex Research interviewed some 11,000 men and women and concluded that a huge number of them couldn't be neatly categorized as purely hetero- or homosexual. So researchers devised a sliding scale from zero to six. Zeros are Ward Cleaver straights, sixes are Harvey Fierstein gays, and the Rock Hudsons and Olivia Newton-Johns of the world fall in between.
For our purposes, we'll stake truck-derived utes like Blazers, Explorers, and Durangos at zero (no offhanded editorializing intended) and all-wheel-drive wagons from Subaru and Audi at six. Fat tires on a hiked-up suspension bump the Subaru Outback wagon to five. A truckier profile, a taller seating position, and better approach and departure angles rate the Forester a four. Unit-body trucks such as the Jeep Grand Cherokee start at one; Nissan's soft, wagonish unibody Pathfinder gets a two. And so on. So where does Audi's new Allroad quasi-ute fit on our scale?
A passing glance suggests a five, at a minimum. It's a freakin' A6 Outback fercrynoutloud! But don't be too quick to judge. Yes, the A6 Avant genes (Avant is Audi-speak for "station wagon") are obvious, but in fact few exterior panels are shared between the base $37,425 A6 Avant 2.8 Quattro wagon and this Allroad 2.7T Quattro, which is expected to start at about $45,000. The Allroad has been given exaggerated wheel arches, bumper fascias, and a ribbed roof panel that all have a scratch-resistant matte finish for serious bushwhacking. Completing the Roughrider look are aluminum rub strips on the doors and "skid plates" (the thickness of a Platinum AmEx card) on the bumpers.
Beneath this macho costume lurk serious hardware upgrades that lend credibility to the Allroad. Chief among these is the high-rise air-spring suspension, which allows the Allroad's ride height to be altered by 2.6 inches. Four different positions can be selected automatically or via override switches on the dash.
Here's how it works: Left in the automatic mode, the system elevates to its second-highest position when parked to raise the seats to an easy slide-in height (unlike similarly suspended Range Rovers and Lexus LX470s that kneel down to disgorge passengers). This position affords 7.6 inches of ground clearance and a commanding view of the road. It also leaves enough airspace above the tires to inform passersby that this ain't no sissy wagon. Accelerate to more than 50 mph, and the body drops an inch; storm the freeways at 75 or more mph, and it drops another inch for optimal aerodynamics. For max profiling or—heaven forbid—off-roading at speeds below 20 mph, the body can be manually raised to an impressive 8.2 inches off the ground. The A6's basic suspension design is retained, but the track is increased 1.4 inches in front and 0.4 inch in back, and the geometry is revised to minimize camber change with the increased suspension travel.
We openly car-oriented types found ourselves manually lowering the suspension to its basement setting most of the time. We like our center of gravity to be as low as possible, which minimizes roll and pitch when storming our favorite twisty roads. A difference in handling is detectable between these height settings, although ride is largely unaffected. We confess to parking it at the highest setting, however, in a desperate attempt to pass as truckers.
But that setting's not just for posing. It affords the Allroad more ground clearance than can be claimed by 23 of the 44 base-model sport-utes you'll find in our most recent Buyers Guide to Pickups, Sport-Utilities, and Vans. Raising the suspension also greatly improves the approach and departure angles of this car from 15 and 19 degrees at the lowest setting to 20 and 23 in high-rise mode. It's no Rubicon Trail runner, but those are respectable numbers, given the Audi's long front and rear over-hangs. We think the suspension bumps the Allroad to a solid four on our scale.
