On the exterior, Audi’s finally folded – figuratively and otherwise – and put in some crease and posture in the A6’s body to match the aggressive, masculine tune that its contemporaries have been playing to. Given how advanced its in-car tech is, we say it’s about darn time. The S-line trim kicks the sporty look up two notches. Don’t tell admirers about the fake exhausts, and they will be none the wiser.

The already futuristic cockpit of the old A6, what with its strong angles woven into sensible flowing lines, receives material upgrades in the form of chrome, leather and wood that propel the cabin into more dignified, posh territory.

The car has also picked up Audi’s spanking new modular platform, the MLB Evo, which essentially rearranged the techie bits of the car to eke out gains in interior space, legroom and better engine efficiency. That the platform has trickled down to the A6 line signifies that the automaker is keen on raising the bar across all its (very variegated) offerings.

It’s also delivering on the “aviation-inspired” thrust. Slipping into the driver’s chair and having three massive displays come alive (a 31cm instrument display, 27cm infotainment screen and 22cm secondary screen) is sure to stir the regular hot-blooded male. I’d have reached for switches to flip while looking important, but there aren’t many physical toggles. Almost everything’s gone touchscreen with haptic feedback. Notable exception: the volume knob, which is the magnum opus of product design as far as Audi’s consumers are concerned.

Thankfully, the design of the user interface is intuitive and takes less than half an hour to figure out. There are always the tactile steering-wheel controls to let you meddle with radio settings while pushing the (digital) red line. Or you could, you know, talk to the car, which is more socially acceptable these days. It helps that the speech recognition understands more sentence constructions than ever before, so you don’t have to rephrase as though speaking to a pre-schooler.

COASTING RIGHT ALONG

A big toss-up is the introduction of the mild hybrid tech to all A6 engines. Long story short, there’s now a lithium-ion battery aboard, dedicated to supplying electricity in a jiffy. This means the engine can go to sleep when coasting at certain speeds without air-conditioning fizzling out, and translates to decent fuel savings in the long run. Someone at Audi had the sense to tap this battery for a quick engine start the instant the A6 senses the car ahead moving off. This means the end of infuriating rasps and undignified sputters as you hotfoot the pedal, a problem endemic to all these eco-friendly, automatic start-stop engines. You can leave that function on in an A6.

Power and handling are non-issues in the 3-litre v6 that we have taken out, although a 2-litre is likely on the cards. Having 500Nm peak torque on hand allows us to execute overtaking manoeuvres and make up for embarrassing wrong turns. The all-wheel steering specs give great agency on the infernal single-carriageway bends in the Valley (remember, it saw us through the earlier intestinal maze). If anything, the staggering host of driver-assist tech available can ironically get in the way of the car’s natural agility, but who knows? Features such as lane assist and speed-sensitive steering may be welcome after a hard day’s work, and the lane change assist may well be a family member’s favourite function. That the oversupply of nanny functions is the only caveat in the body of work that’s the refreshed A6 tells us this: What a time to be alive.