Audi Has A New Diesel V6, But You Can’t Have It

When we drove the new Audi A6 earlier this year, one of our biggest gripes was that in the UK, it’s only available with four-cylinder power, when really, a car of its size and heft needs the extra grunt and smoothness of a big six.

That’s not been a problem for buyers in mainland Europe, who’ve had the option of a 362bhp petrol V6 since the car launched last year, and it’s now even more not a problem as, on the continent at least, the A6 and its high-riding sibling, the Q5, now come with a new generation of diesel V6.

It’s an evolution of the VW Group’s proven EA897 3.0-litre single-turbo V6, and now gets an updated mild-hybrid system. That includes a small electrically driven compressor designed to fill in during the times when the main turbo is spinning up. 

We’ve already seen a device like this in some older diesel-powered Audis, but this one’s a chunk more powerful, and the company says it helps the engine deliver its peak boost of 52psi a whole second sooner than before, all but eliminating turbo lag. Overall outputs are 295bhp and a hearty 428lb ft of torque.

The engine’s also been fully certified to run on fuel made from used vegetable oil, which apparently leads to a 70 to 95 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions compared to the diesel that gets pulled out of the ground.

Sounds like just the sort of engine the A6 deserves, but here’s the inevitable catch: Audi has confirmed to us that the engine won’t be offered in the UK, meaning that over here, the A6 and Q5 – with the exception of the hot SQ5 – will have to keep making do with four-pot power. And if you’re one of the roughly half of our readers in the US, don’t hold your breath either – in anything other than big pickups, diesels are about as popular as well-integrated urban public transport systems with you lot. At least you can get the petrol V6 in the A6.