DD Motoring: Brian McDaid tries out the new Audi A6

This week Donegal Daily’s Brian McDaid was on the green in Barnhill as he took advantage of an offer to try out the all-new Audi A6.

 

Vorsprung Durch Technic.. HEY.. “McDaid” Vorsprung Durch Technic….

I thought it was the new word for “Fore” at Letterkenny Golf Club as someone called to me over the hedge from the 14th green last Sunday afternoon.

Looks like they may have needed one of the new Audi Quattro’s more than me to get themselves released from the rough and back onto the fairway.

Other than that it was all good drives over the weekend at Barnhill Golf Club as the big hitters came to town from Sligo with the finest selection of Audi car and jeeps from Connolly’s the Northwest dealership for this area.

The golf club’s carpark was filled with Dublin registered 181 and 182 demos with every model and every colour on show in this ‘pop up’ showroom for the weekend.

This is the second or third year that Connolly’s sales team have moved the showroom from its base in Sligo to Letterkenny for the weekend to facilitate possible would be buyers in Co. Donegal.

A Prinz in Pluck.

When we were wanes, one of my favourite journeys was a trip down to my Granny’s in Pluck. Technically my Granny lived in the suburbs of Pluck, Rossbraken, but we always called it “Granny’s in Pluck.”

A semi-detached labour’s cottage, which had a dry outside toilet. Water was carried up in a bucket from the well down the road. Hens ran around the street and in the middle of all this old style world, a very technical means of motoring engineering sat at the back of my granny’s cottage.

My uncle Hughie owned an old NSU Prinz, which he had a long-term plan to put back on the road one day. It had the rarest of rotary engines made by Wankel.

Only in recent years before the death of my Aunt Jennie did the Old NSU come up in a conversation. As a young girl growing up in Rossbraken she always daydreamed that the car word someday be back on the road and then she was going to learn to drive.

Then she was hoping her brother Hughie would give her the lovely old NSU and she joked the people in Pluck would say as she drove past look, there she goes The Princess of Pluck in her Prinz.

The old NSU was one of the German car makers that made up one of the rings on the crest of Auto Union brand which is today where the Audi Brand originated.

They are today as they were back then different from the rest of their competitors and understated element of elegance.

All New A6

The Neckarsulm plant in Germany was once the home of the humble NSU is now the plant that produces the all-new Audi A6

This week it was the latest A6 that I was interested in driving out of the Golf Club car park in Barnhill on Sunday afternoon.

After a quick look at my driving licence, I signed in at reception at the golf club and a beautiful silver A6 was backed on to that sought-after club captain’s parking space.

One of Connolly’s team slipped into the passenger’s seat as we headed off up the avenue of the golf club in the new Audi.

As we went out past the old gatehouse and this powerful 2.0 diesel automatic scattered the autumn leaves into the air as we headed off up the road for a spin.

David Lee was my passenger for my drive, a happily retired commercial engineer as he described himself originally from Cleever Rd in Sligo.

He was down enjoying a weekend away in Donegal. He always thought he would love to have owned a Donegal registered car as the number plate DL could double up as a personal plate for himself – David Lee.

Moorefield

When we came to the end of the golf course Road David suggests we headed into Letterkenny, but I wanted to get this beautiful Audi out of the congestion of the town and see what this 200 BHP plus power plant was like on the open road.

The car is effortless to drive and as one of the golfers reminded me before I headed out the Audi gives you a good feeling as soon as you sit behind the wheel.

The change from the route that Declan and the crew from Connolly’s where taking visitors were perfect for the newest version of the A6 complete with a seamless automatic gearbox.

And also available in manual as well, the dash as it all new cars seems to promote the theme of less is more, with minimum buttons and most actions operated by a touchscreen in the centre of the dash.

When we turned down into a Kernan’s filling station down at Moorfield my navigator wondered if they did doughnuts, as I got a few more photographs of the new A6, Declan disappeared into the shop and landed out with an armful of buns for a treat for the Conolly Crew back at Barnhill.

If there ’s one thing I found about the old Audi A6 was that it suffering from was it was nearly impossible to tell it from its small brother the A4 when you met it on the road.

But now this new A6 has more of a uniqueness to it and has what looks like a more sloped rear roofline to it and different light cluster at the rear end which is more like an A8.

Market Trends

One big thing I noticed in Donegal the week after my day out looking at Connolly’s fine collection was just how many new Audi are gracing the roads of Donegal and how this brand have replaced the likes of Mercedes and BMW on the roads.

I still have to say its disappointing to me that Donegal as a county that is big into their cars don’t have dealerships based in Donegal for the three big German brands of Mercedes, Audi or BMW.

Open days like these do help our isolated county and I more than enjoyed my afternoon when I signed in at the golf club and enjoyed the best in a set of good quality drivers.

Happy motoring Folks.

Tags: