Compare the2026 Audi A6VS 2026 BMW 8 Series Gran Coupe

For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Audi A6 are height-adjustable to accommodate a wide variety of driver and passenger heights. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages passengers to buckle up. The BMW 8 Series Gran Coupe doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.

Both the A6 and 8 Series Gran Coupe have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The A6 has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The 8 Series Gran Coupe’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.

In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the A6 are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The 8 Series Gran Coupe doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.

To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the A6. But it costs extra on the 8 Series Gran Coupe.

Earlier warning of stopped traffic, traffic signals, dangerous road conditions, weather, or accidents, can keep driver's safer and prevent crashes. The A6 has Car-to-X Services, a system that seamlessly communicates important warnings to the driver about impending danger, if they're available. The 8 Series Gran Coupe doesn’t offer a system that can receive automated systems from infrastructure.

The A6 has a standard blind spot warning system that uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them. A system to reveal vehicles in the 8 Series Gran Coupe’s blind spot costs extra.

To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the A6 has standard Rear Cross-Traffic Assist and Automatic Brake Activation automatically engages the brakes to help avoid a collision. BMW charges extra for Cross Traffic Warning on the 8 Series Gran Coupe and the 8 Series Gran Coupe’s Cross Traffic Warning does not include automatic braking.

Both the A6 and the 8 Series Gran Coupe have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, post-collision automatic braking systems, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, driver alert monitors and available around view monitors.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ March 2025 Auto Issue reports that Audi vehicles are more reliable than BMW vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Audi 1 place higher in reliability than BMW.

The A6’s 3.0 turbo V6 produces 27 more horsepower (362 vs. 335) and 37 lbs.-ft. more torque (406 vs. 369) than the 840i Gran Coupe’s standard 3.0 turbo 6-cylinder.

On the EPA test cycle the A6 gets better mileage than the 8 Series Gran Coupe:

To lower fuel costs and make buying fuel easier, the Audi A6 uses regular unleaded gasoline (premium recommended for maximum performance). The 8 Series Gran Coupe requires premium, which can cost on average about 84.9 cents more per gallon.

In its Green Vehicle Guide, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rates the Audi A6 higher (4 out of 10) than the BMW 8 Series Gran Coupe (2). This means the A6 produces up to 15.6 pounds less smog-producing pollutants than the 8 Series Gran Coupe every 15,000 miles.

The A6 offers a standard sequential manual gearbox (SMG). With no clutch pedal to worry about and a fully automatic mode, an SMG is much more efficient than a conventional automatic but just as easy to drive. The 8 Series Gran Coupe doesn’t offer an SMG or a conventional manual transmission.

For better traction, the A6’s optional tires are larger than the largest tires available on the 8 Series Gran Coupe (255/40R20 vs. 245/35R21).

The A6 has a standard space-saver spare tire so you can replace a flat tire and drive to have the flat repaired or replaced. A spare tire isn’t available on the 8 Series Gran Coupe; it requires you to depend on its run-flat tires, which limits mileage and speed before they are repaired. If a run-flat is damaged beyond repair by a road hazard your vehicle will have to be towed. Some tire options on the 8 Series Gran Coupe don’t have a run-flat feature, either.

The A6 has a standard automatic front and rear load leveling suspension to keep ride height level with a heavy load or when towing. The A6’s height leveling suspension allows the driver to raise ride height for better off-road clearance and then lower it again for easier entering and exiting and better on-road handling. The 8 Series Gran Coupe doesn’t offer a load leveling suspension.

The A6 is 3.5 inches shorter than the 8 Series Gran Coupe, making the A6 easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

The A6 has .9 inches more front headroom, .8 inches more rear headroom, .6 inches more rear legroom and .8 inches more rear shoulder room than the 8 Series Gran Coupe.

To shield the driver and front passenger’s vision over a larger portion of the windshield and side windows, the A6 has standard extendable sun visors. The 8 Series Gran Coupe doesn’t offer extendable visors.

The A6 has a standard center folding armrest for the rear passengers. A center armrest helps make rear passengers more comfortable and it can provide a boundary between children. The 8 Series Gran Coupe doesn’t offer a rear seat center armrest.

The A6 Prestige offers optional massaging front seats in order to maximize comfort and eliminate fatigue on long trips. Massaging seats aren’t available in the 8 Series Gran Coupe.

The A6’s optional Park Assist Plus can parallel park or back into a parking spot by itself, starting, stopping and changing direction automatically. Optional Remote Park Assist Plus will park and retrieve your car remotely: press a button and watch it park itself. This is ideal for tight locations. The 8 Series Gran Coupe’s automatic parking system does not offer parking by remote control.

The Audi A6/S6/RS 6 outsold the BMW 8 Series by 63% during 2024.