The Urban DINK: 2007 Audi S6

When I explained the whole Urban DINK concept a few weeks back, I forgot to mention there are two strata of DINKs out there: the upper class and lower class, meaning those who can afford an $80,000 sports sedan, like the Audi S6, and those who can’t.

My first impression of the S6 was just how cool it seemed for a sedan. Granted, underneath this sedan’s hood is a V-10 engine — borrowed from Lamborghini — that churns out a cool 435 horses, but it’s still a sedan. My first day in the S6, I had just come from a television interview, so I was dressed in a suit and tie. I’ll admit it: I felt a lot like that guy in “The Transporter.” Remember how he found the girl in the trunk of his BMW 7 Series? That was before he moved on to the Audi A8 in the sequel, but I think you could fit at least three Nicole Ritchie-sized actresses into the S6’s trunk.

With $80,000, why wouldn’t an upper-class urban DINK just move on to that A8 instead of the smaller, yet infinitely faster, S6? Because he’d look like an old man driving that A8, or, unlike the guy in the movie, a simple chauffeur. A smart S6-owning DINK would also be able to take out clients, in-laws or anyone else of importance unlike the DINK who bought a Porsche 911. Plus, did I mention the S6 has a 435-hp V-10?

Kicking S: Audi S6 - The Best of S

The Audi RS4 that I detailed in Part II is in its own category. Of the three strictly S-version cars, I like the S6 ($72,000 base, $78,320 as equipped) the most. First, it has the version of Quattro all-wheel drive that's used in the RS4 but not in the regular A6 with Quattro. By sending 60 percent of the power to the rear wheels, the S6 offers more balanced handling, as I elaborated on in Part II. The S cars are clearly moving in this direction; only the S4 still has a 50/50 split between the front and rear wheels. Overall, it seems that all the so-so characteristics of the other S cars are markedly better here in the S6.

Most important is accelerator response; the car always responds relatively quickly. Not so the S8 — and the 4 series cars could and should be better. One of the great underreported stories in automotive journalism: The popularization of by-wire (electronically actuated) throttles has introduced a response lag in many cars. At times it's atrocious, and combining it with an automatic transmission often makes it worse.

Kicking S: Behind the Wheel of Every Audi S Car

Don't be sick with envy that I drove the entire collection of Audi's S and RS cars — high-performance versions of their small, midsize and full-size sedans. Be sick that nine or 10 other writers sent RSVPs for this one-day event and didn't show up. Sick, sick, sick. I mean, where else can you drive four cars totaling 1,645 horsepower and $322,795 in retail price — $6,800 of it gas-guzzler taxes? The inconceivable loss of those no-shows was our gain, though, because there were more cars than drivers, and in a short time I was able to buckle the pavement in the new S4 Cabriolet, the RS4, the S6 and the S8.

I'll start with the S4 Cabriolet with six-speed manual ($54,640 base, $60,785 as equipped).