You are here: Home / Car Reviews / Audi / Allroad / 2004 Audi Allroad Series Luxury Wagon

2004 Audi Allroad Series Luxury Wagon

Description: Luxury Wagon
Base MSRP Range: $35,950-$49,500
Invoice Price Range: $32,439-$44,746

Audi's designers tried to blend two seemingly disparate concepts of a curve-craving sports sedan with a mud-loving sport-utility vehicle -- one a sleek pavement speeder that slinks snugly against asphalt, the other a boxy off-road machine hiked high in suspension to clear rough stuff on a trail. The vehicle produced by this mix is called allroad. It's a cool scheme based on Audi's A6 avant but with different body panels and protective armor cladding, plus a luxurious passenger compartment draped in supple leathers, hardwoods and touches of satin-finished aluminum. And it comes with Audi's quattro AWD system.

This year Audi doubles the allroad models by creating a high-powered version that joins the base allroad quattro 2.7T. Called the allroad quattro 4.2, this new wagon gets the 4.2-liter V8 out of A8L and S4. In this installation it produces 300 hp and puts it through a five-speed Tiptronic automatic transmission. The entry-issue allroad quattro 2.7T edition uses the bi-turbo V6 of A6 2.7T. The plant makes 250 hp, with all torque scored by a six-speed manual or optional five-speed Tiptronic.

As a bridge between a low-slung pavement cruiser and high-clearance sport-utility vehicle, the allroad quattro applies the magic of a height-adjustable suspension that moves the chassis up or down to one of four levels. The cabin has two front bucket seats divided by a center console and followed by a rear bench with twin indentions for two but wide enough for three. A third bench, facing the rear and sized strictly for children, is optional and can be removed.