Compare the2022 Audi A6 AllroadVS 2021 Honda Passport

Safety
Warranty
Reliability
Engine
Fuel Economy and Range
Environmental Friendliness
Transmission
Brakes and Stopping
Tires and Wheels
Suspension and Handling
Chassis
Cargo Capacity
Servicing Ease
Ergonomics
Recommendations

Safety

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For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Audi A6 Allroad have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Honda Passport doesn’t offer pretensioners for the rear seat belts.

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

Both the A6 Allroad and Passport have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The A6 Allroad 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 Passport’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.

The Audi A6 Allroad has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Passport doesn’t offer knee airbags.

The A6 Allroad has a standard Secondary Collision Brake Assist, which automatically applies the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Passport doesn’t offer a post collision braking system: in the event of a collision that triggers the airbags, more collisions are possible without the protection of airbags that may have already deployed.

To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the A6 Allroad. But it costs extra on the Passport.

When descending a steep, off-road slope, the A6 Allroad’s standard Hill Descent Control allows you to creep down safely. The Passport doesn’t offer Hill Descent Control.

A passive infrared night vision system optional on the A6 Allroad Prestige helps the driver to more easily detect people, animals or other objects in front of the vehicle at night. Using an infrared camera to detect heat, the system then displays the image on a monitor in the dashboard. The Passport doesn’t offer a night vision system.

The A6 Allroad has a standard Top View Cameras to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Passport only offers a rear monitor and front and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the sides.

Both the A6 Allroad and the Passport have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, available blind spot warning systems and rear cross-path warning.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Audi A6 Allroad is safer than the Honda Passport:

	A6 Allroad	Passport
	Driver
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
	Passenger
STARS	4 Stars	4 Stars
Chest Compression	.5 inches	.6 inches
Leg Forces (l/r)	263/331 lbs.	478/436 lbs.

New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Audi A6 Allroad is safer than the Honda Passport:

	A6 Allroad	Passport
	Front Seat
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Hip Force	262 lbs.	269 lbs.
	Rear Seat
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
HIC	135	233
	Into Pole
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Max Damage Depth	13 inches	15 inches
HIC	395	406
Spine Acceleration	39 G’s	45 G’s
Hip Force	514 lbs.	838 lbs.

New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.

Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the A6 Allroad, with its five-star roll-over rating, is 8% to 8.5% less likely to roll over than the Passport, which received a four-star rating.

For its top level performance in IIHS driver and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, side impact, roof strength and head restraint tests, its standard vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention system, its standard vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention system, and its standard headlight’s “Good” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the A6 Allroad its highest rating: “Top Pick Plus” for 2021, a rating granted to only 73 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Passport last would have qualified as only a standard “Top Pick” for 2019.

Warranty

The A6 Allroad comes with a full 4-year/50,000-mile basic warranty, which covers the entire car and includes 24-hour roadside assistance. The Passport’s 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty expires 1 year or 14,000 miles sooner.

The A6 Allroad’s corrosion warranty is 7 years longer than the Passport’s (12 vs. 5 years).

Reliability

A hardened steel chain, with no maintenance needs, drives the camshafts in the A6 Allroad’s engine. A rubber cam drive belt that needs periodic replacement drives the Passport’s camshafts. If the Passport’s belt breaks, the engine could be severely damaged when the pistons hit the opened valves.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2021 survey of the owners of three-year-old vehicles provides the long-term dependability statistics that show that Audi vehicles are more reliable than Honda vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Audi 20th in reliability. With 18 more problems per 100 vehicles, Honda is ranked 27th.

Engine

The A6 Allroad’s 3.0 turbo V6 hybrid produces 55 more horsepower (335 vs. 280) and 107 lbs.-ft. more torque (369 vs. 262) than the Passport’s 3.5 SOHC V6.

As tested in Motor Trend the Audi A6 Allroad is faster than the Honda Passport:

	A6 Allroad	Passport
Zero to 60 MPH	5.1 sec	6.6 sec
Quarter Mile	13.7 sec	15.1 sec
Speed in 1/4 Mile	102.8 MPH	89.2 MPH

Fuel Economy and Range

On the EPA test cycle the A6 Allroad gets better mileage than the Passport:

			MPG
A6 Allroad
	AWD	3.0 turbo V6 Hybrid	21 city/28 hwy
Passport
	FWD	3.5 SOHC V6	20 city/25 hwy
	AWD	3.5 SOHC V6	19 city/24 hwy

Regenerative brakes improve the A6 Allroad’s fuel efficiency by converting inertia back into energy instead of wasting it. The Passport doesn’t offer a regenerative braking system.

Environmental Friendliness

In its Green Vehicle Guide, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rates the Audi A6 Allroad higher (5 out of 10) than the Honda Passport (3). This means the A6 Allroad produces up to 16.5 pounds less smog-producing pollutants than the Passport every 15,000 miles.

Transmission

The A6 Allroad 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 Passport doesn’t offer an SMG or a conventional manual transmission.

The A6 Allroad’s launch control uses engine electronics to hold engine RPM’s precisely in order to provide the most stable and rapid acceleration possible, using all of the available traction. The Passport doesn’t offer launch control.

Brakes and Stopping

For better stopping power the A6 Allroad’s brake rotors are larger than those on the Passport:

	A6 Allroad	Passport
Front Rotors	14.8 inches	12.6 inches

The A6 Allroad’s standard front and rear disc brakes are vented to help dissipate heat for shorter stops with less fading. The rear discs on the Passport are solid, not vented.

The A6 Allroad stops much shorter than the Passport:

	A6 Allroad	Passport
70 to 0 MPH	172 feet	181 feet	Car and Driver
60 to 0 MPH	119 feet	135 feet	Motor Trend

Tires and Wheels

The A6 Allroad’s tires provide better handling because they have a lower 45 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Passport Sport/EX-L’s standard 50 series tires.

Suspension and Handling

The front and rear suspension of the A6 Allroad uses air springs for a smoother, controlled ride than the Passport, which uses coil springs. Air springs maintain proper ride height and ride more smoothly.

The A6 Allroad has a standard driver-adjustable suspension system. It allows the driver to choose between an extra-supple ride, reducing fatigue on long trips, or a sport setting, which allows maximum control for tricky roads. The Passport’s suspension doesn’t offer adjustable shock absorbers.

The A6 Allroad has a standard automatic front and rear load leveling suspension to keep ride height level with a heavy load or when towing. The A6 Allroad’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 Passport doesn’t offer a load leveling suspension.

For a smoother ride and more stable handling, the A6 Allroad’s wheelbase is 4.3 inches longer than on the Passport (115.2 inches vs. 110.9 inches).

The A6 Allroad Prestige handles at .83 G’s, while the Passport Elite AWD pulls only .78 G’s of cornering force in a Car and Driver skidpad test.

The A6 Allroad Prestige executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver 1.6 seconds quicker than the Passport Elite AWD (26.5 seconds @ .68 average G’s vs. 28.1 seconds @ .62 average G’s).

For better maneuverability, the A6 Allroad Prestige w/All-Wheel Steering’s turning circle is 2.9 feet tighter than the Passport AWD’s (36.4 feet vs. 39.3 feet).

Chassis

The A6 Allroad is 12.7 inches shorter in height than the Passport, making the A6 Allroad much easier to wash and garage and drive (lower center of gravity).

Cargo Capacity

A low lift-over trunk design makes loading and unloading the A6 Allroad easier. The A6 Allroad’s trunk lift-over height is 27 inches, while the Passport’s liftover is 32 inches.

Servicing Ease

The A6 Allroad uses gas struts to support the hood for easier service access. The Passport uses a prop rod to support its heavy hood. It takes two hands to open the hood and set the prop rod, the prop rod gets in the way during maintenance and service, and the prop rod could be knocked out, causing the heavy hood to fall on the person maintaining or servicing the car.

The engine in the A6 Allroad is mounted longitudinally (North-South), instead of sideways, as in the Passport. This makes it easier to service and maintain, because there are no rear spark plugs and the accessory belts are in front.

Ergonomics

Unlike the driver-only memory seat and mirrors in the Passport EX-L/Touring/Elite, the A6 Allroad Prestige offers an optional passenger memory, so that when drivers switch, the memory setting adjusts the driver’s seat, steering wheel position, outside mirror angle and climate settings and the front passenger seat also adjusts to the new passenger’s preset preferences.

The A6 Allroad Prestige has a standard heads-up display that projects speed, warning and navigation instruction readouts in front of the driver’s line of sight, allowing drivers to view information without diverting their eyes from the road. The Passport doesn’t offer a heads-up display.

The A6 Allroad’s power parking brake sets with one touch and releases with one touch or automatically. The Passport’s parking brake has to released manually.

The power windows standard on both the A6 Allroad and the Passport have locks to prevent small children from operating them. When the lock on the A6 Allroad is engaged the driver can still operate all of the windows, for instance to close one opened by a child. The Passport prevents the driver from operating the other windows just as it does the other passengers.

The A6 Allroad’s front and rear power windows all open or close fully with one touch of the switches, making it more convenient at drive-up windows and toll booths, or when talking with someone outside the car. The Passport’s rear power window switches have to be held the entire time to open or close them fully.

The A6 Allroad’s rain-sensitive wipers adjust their speed and turn on and off automatically based on the amount of rainfall on the windshield. This allows the driver to concentrate on driving without constantly adjusting the wipers. The Passport’s intermittent wipers change speed with vehicle speed, but can’t turn on and off or change speed based on changing rainfall.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) conducts detailed tests on headlights for their range both straight ahead and in curves and to be certain they don’t exceed acceptable amounts of glare to oncoming drivers. The A6 Allroad’s headlights were rated “Good” by the IIHS, while the Passport’s headlights are rated “Acceptable.”

In poor weather, headlights can lose their effectiveness as grime builds up on their lenses. This can reduce visibility without the driver realizing. The A6 Allroad has standard headlight washers to keep headlight output high. The Passport doesn’t offer headlight washers.

The A6 Allroad’s standard outside mirrors include heating elements to clear off the mirrors for better visibility. Honda only offers heated mirrors on the Passport EX-L/Touring/Elite.

The A6 Allroad’s power mirror controls are mounted on the armrest for easy access. The Passport’s power mirror controls are on the dash where they are possibly hidden by the steering wheel and are awkward to manipulate.

The A6 Allroad has a standard heated steering wheel to take the chill out of steering on extremely cold winter days before the car heater warms up. A heated steering wheel is only available on the Passport Elite.

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

To quickly and conveniently keep personal devices charged without cables tangling and wearing out, the Audi A6 Allroad has a standard wireless phone charging system (Qi) in the center console. Only the Passport Elite offers wireless charging.

The A6 Allroad’s optional Park Steering Assist can parallel park or back into a parking spot by itself, with the driver only controlling speed with the brake pedal. The Passport doesn’t offer an automated parking system.

Recommendations

Consumer Reports® recommends the Audi A6 Allroad, based on reliability, safety and performance. The Honda Passport isn't recommended.