Audi RS6 Avant (and A6 Allroad) Luggage Test: How much fits in the trunk?

I was recently in Stuttgart, and I tell you, the good citizenry of southern Germany is doing its part to make sure wagons don't go extinct. They're everywhere, which pretty much explains why German car companies are basically the only ones making wagons these days (and Volvo ... and also the Subaru Outback). Now, we don't get many of them, including the Audi A6 Avant. We do, however, get the two most interesting versions of the A6 Avant: the A6 Allroad and the RS6 Avant.

According to the specs, both the Allroad and RS6 Avant have 30 cubic-feet of cargo space behind its back seat. That would be more than the V90 Cross Country, which has a listed spec of 25.5 cubic-feet (it's less than the Mercedes E63 at 35 cubic-feet, but I haven't tested that).

I'll tell you right now, though, there'll be a lot more to this test than just tossing the bags in and calling it a day. The Avant has tricks up its sleeve.

As you can see here, this is a very looooong space. I used to own a first-generation A4 Allroad, and while the general shape, height and feature content (more on that in a second) was comparable, the length is the big difference here.

You can see how my Allroad did when compared to the Volvo V60 Cross Country.

Above left is what you find when you lift up the floor. I guess you could store something down here.

Above right is what you find when you remove that big plastic bin-ish thing under the floor. A huge subwoofer and definitely not a full-size 22-inch wheel and some rubber spackled upon it.

In other words, no luggage help here.

The Avant has a roll-out cargo cover in a cartridge like oh-so-many vehicles, but this one plugs into a power-operated track that automatically raises and lowers the cover when you open and close the hatch.

As the cover exists and there's really no place to put it in the car, I will be testing with and without the cover.

As with every Luggage Test, I use two midsize roller suitcases that would need to be checked in at the airport (26 inches long, 16 wide, 11 deep), two black roll-aboard suitcases that just barely fit in the overhead (24L x 15W x 10D), and one smaller green roll-aboard that fits easily (23L x 15W x 10D). I also include my wife's fancy overnight bag just to spruce things up a bit (21L x 12W x 12D).

First, a word about loading. This is something I discovered with my A4 Allroad (which also shows their heights are almost identical). Although my biggest bag fits under the cargo cover, the two cartridges (more on the second soon) prevents it from going all the way to the seatback and creates a sizeable gap. I used to stuff random stuff back there if I ended up loading like this, but for this A6 Allroad/RS6 Avant test, I put the big bag on its belly for the various Tetrises you're about to see.