Compare the2026 Audi A6VS 2026 BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe

The A6’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The 4 Series Gran Coupe doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.

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 4 Series Gran Coupe doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.

Both the A6 and 4 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 4 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.

To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the A6. But it costs extra on the 4 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 4 Series Gran Coupe doesn’t offer a system that can receive automated systems from infrastructure.

Both the A6 and 4 Series Gran Coupe have rear cross-traffic warning, but the A6 has Automatic Brake Activation (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The 4 Series Gran Coupe’s Cross Traffic Warning doesn’t automatically brake.

Both the A6 and the 4 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, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, 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 107 more horsepower (362 vs. 255) and 111 lbs.-ft. more torque (406 vs. 295) than the 430i Gran Coupe’s standard 2.0 turbo 4-cylinder hybrid. The A6’s 3.0 turbo V6 produces 8 lbs.-ft. more torque (406 vs. 398) than the M440i Coupe’s standard 3.0 turbo 6-cylinder hybrid.

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 4 Series Gran Coupe doesn’t offer an SMG or a conventional manual transmission.

For better stopping power the A6’s standard brake rotors are larger than those on the 4 Series Gran Coupe:

For better traction, the A6’s optional tires are larger than the largest tires available on the 4 Series Gran Coupe (255/40R20 vs. 245/40R19).

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the A6 has standard 19-inch wheels. Smaller 18-inch wheels are standard on the 4 Series Gran Coupe. The A6’s optional 21-inch wheels are larger than the 20-inch wheels optional on the 4 Series Gran Coupe.

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 4 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 4 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 4 Series Gran Coupe doesn’t offer a load leveling suspension.

For a smoother ride and more stable handling, the A6’s wheelbase is 2.7 inches longer than on the 4 Series Gran Coupe (115.1 inches vs. 112.4 inches).

For better handling and stability, the track (width between the wheels) on the A6 is 1.7 inches wider in the front than on the 4 Series Gran Coupe.

The A6 has 1.4 inches more front headroom, 1.9 inches more front shoulder room, 1.2 inches more rear headroom, 2.3 inches more rear legroom and 1.1 inches more rear shoulder room than the 4 Series Gran Coupe.

With its sedan body style, valet key, locking rear seatbacks and remote trunk release lockout, the A6 offers cargo security. The 4 Series Gran Coupe’s hatchback body style, non-lockable folding seat and non-lockable remote release defeat cargo security.

Unlike the driver-only memory system in the 4 Series Gran Coupe, the A6 has standard driver and passenger memory, so that when drivers switch, the memory setting adjusts the driver’s seat, steering wheel position and outside mirror angle and the front passenger seat also adjusts to the new passenger’s preset preferences.

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 4 Series Gran Coupe doesn’t offer extendable visors.

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 4 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 4 Series Gran Coupe’s automatic parking system does not offer parking by remote control.