Audi Awards & Accolades

For the second consecutive year, we're bellying up for a helping of Audi's alphanumeric soup. To the "As" and "6s" and "7s" from the A6 3.0T and A7 models that made the list last year, we're happy to see a couple of hot "Ss" float to the top in 2013. For the S6 and S7, Audi  takes the "A" models' rich mix of virtues and turns it lethal, thanks in no small part to a 420-hp, twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8. In a recent comparison test, the S6 put the hurt on the vastly more powerful BMW M5 and Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG. On the road, the S6 is an inexhaustible cannon, more cohesive and less fiddly than cars costing an additional $20,000. Audi's modus operandi for the non-S varities is basically the same, minus 110 horsepower. Understated bodies cover stout structures into which Audi crafts beautiful and sensible interiors, without unnecessary complication. Combine that with an unflappable chassis, accurate steering, ample power, and a general sense of quality and you have an unbeatable luxury / sports-car range.****

Automobile Magazine's 2012 Automobile of the Year, the Audi A7, does not represent a dramatic change of pace for its maker. Audi has been building handsome, fast, and rewarding luxury cars for some time now. Anchored by Audi's quattro all-wheel drive, bristling with of-the-moment technologies, and surrounding its passengers with an artfully crafted interior, the A7 is exactly in keeping with the cars that this brand has been turning out. As editor-in-chief Jean Jennings said, "It's the culmination of everything Audi has promised."**

2012 Car and Driver 10 Best - Audi A6

It's easy for love affairs to wilt as life's odometer ticks off the years. But our passion for the Audi A6, a two-time comparison-test winner in its previous guise, has now burgeoned into the sort of fiery affair that would have prompted Humbert to jam a ring onto each of Lolita's 10 delicate digits. For 2012, the A6 enjoys its seventh remake, with all of its most lovable traits, right-now power, gratifying steering, unyielding structure, present and accounted for. This is a car that waltzes in the hills because it's so forgiving, so informative, so easy to drive to its limits.*** 

When the conversation turns to art, you'll be glad you've got a 2012 Audi Q7 in your garage. As it turns out, when the conversation turns to 5-year resale value, the 7-passenger 2012 Q7 more than holds its own, it's the best luxury SUV in that arena.

Lest you think the Audi is just another pretty face in the luxury-SUV crowd, however, consider this bit of evidence: We've interviewed Audi dealers in Alaska, a state that tends not to baby a vehicle -- and the one comment we universally heard was, "We never have enough Q7s. We can't keep 'em on the lot!"*

Best Luxury Car: 2012 Audi A5

Audi's substantial growth in the U.S. is due in part to cars like the A5. As a refreshingly unique luxury 2-door the 2012 Audi A5 not only constitutes a viable alternative to the 3 Series but, in an era of diminishing resources, perhaps a financially prudent step-down from Bentley's Continental GT. While we're not sure Windsor Castle would approve, we know it would play well on California's 101. And buyers who consider resale value as well as purchase price might consider the 2012 Audi A5 to be the best luxury car on the market.*

Automobile Magazine All Star - Audi TT RS 

O, precious day! It seems that Audi can do it all now. Today's TT RS -- freshened with a more sinister face -- lives and breathes R8 from every pore. It is Audi's very own Porsche Cayman -- close, personal, fiery, rewarding, and cosseting all at once. The soul-stirring sound of its turbocharged five-cylinder engine (magnified by an optional sport exhaust) is so stunning as it roars to its 7000-rpm redline that you want to jump out and make someone else drive it past you, just to hear that killer soundtrack from the great outdoors.**