Compare the2023 Audi A6 AllroadVS 2022 Toyota Highlander

Safety
Warranty
Engine
Fuel Economy and Range
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 Toyota Highlander doesn’t offer pretensioners for its second-row 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 Highlander doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.

Both the A6 Allroad and Highlander 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 Highlander’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 Highlander doesn’t offer a front passenger side knee airbag.

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

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 Highlander doesn’t offer a night vision system.

Both the A6 Allroad and the Highlander have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee 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, post-collision automatic braking systems, 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 Toyota Highlander:

	A6 Allroad	Highlander
	Driver
STARS	5 Stars	4 Stars
HIC	197	292
Neck Injury Risk	30%	38.2%
Neck Stress	322 lbs.	347 lbs.
	Passenger
STARS	4 Stars	4 Stars
Chest Compression	.5 inches	.6 inches
Leg Forces (l/r)	263/331 lbs.	545/323 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 Toyota Highlander:

	A6 Allroad	Highlander
	Front Seat
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Hip Force	262 lbs.	300 lbs.
	Into Pole
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Max Damage Depth	13 inches	15 inches
Spine Acceleration	39 G’s	41 G’s
Hip Force	514 lbs.	664 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 7.5% to 8% less likely to roll over than the Highlander, which received a four-star rating.

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 Highlander’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 Highlander’s (12 vs. 5 years).

Engine

The A6 Allroad’s 3.0 turbo V6 hybrid produces 40 more horsepower (335 vs. 295) and 106 lbs.-ft. more torque (369 vs. 263) than the Highlander’s 3.5 DOHC V6.

As tested in Motor Trend the Audi A6 Allroad is faster than the Toyota Highlander:

	A6 Allroad	Highlander
Zero to 60 MPH	5.1 sec	7.4 sec
Quarter Mile	13.7 sec	15.7 sec
Speed in 1/4 Mile	102.8 MPH	90.7 MPH

Fuel Economy and Range

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

			MPG
A6 Allroad
	AWD	3.0 turbo V6 Hybrid	21 city/30 hwy
Highlander
	FWD	3.5 DOHC V6	21 city/29 hwy
	AWD	3.5 DOHC V6	20 city/27 hwy

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

The A6 Allroad has 1.4 gallons more fuel capacity than the Highlander (19.3 vs. 17.9 gallons), for longer range between fill-ups.

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 Highlander 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 Highlander doesn’t offer launch control.

Brakes and Stopping

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

	A6 Allroad	Highlander
Front Rotors	14.8 inches	13.3 inches

The A6 Allroad stops shorter than the Highlander:

	A6 Allroad	Highlander
60 to 0 MPH	119 feet	127 feet	Motor Trend

Tires and Wheels

For better traction, the A6 Allroad has larger tires than the Highlander (245/45R20 vs. 235/65R18).

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 Highlander L/LE/XLE’s standard 65 series tires. The A6 Allroad’s tires are lower profile than the Highlander XSE/Limited/Platinum’s 55 series tires.

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the A6 Allroad has standard 20-inch wheels. Smaller 18-inch wheels are standard on the Highlander L/LE/XLE.

Suspension and Handling

The front and rear suspension of the A6 Allroad uses air springs for a smoother, controlled ride than the Highlander, 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 Highlander’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 Highlander doesn’t offer a load leveling suspension.

The A6 Allroad has vehicle speed sensitive variable-assist power steering, for low-effort parking, better control at highway speeds and during hard cornering, and a better feel of the road. The Highlander doesn’t offer variable-assist power steering.

For a smoother ride and more stable handling, the A6 Allroad’s wheelbase is 3 inches longer than on the Highlander (115.2 inches vs. 112.2 inches).

The A6 Allroad Prestige handles at .82 G’s, while the Highlander Platinum AWD pulls only .79 G’s of cornering force in a Motor Trend skidpad test.

The A6 Allroad Prestige executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver 1.2 seconds quicker than the Highlander Platinum AWD (26.5 seconds @ .68 average G’s vs. 27.7 seconds @ .61 average G’s).

Chassis

The A6 Allroad is 9.2 inches shorter in height than the Highlander, making the A6 Allroad much easier to wash and garage and drive (lower center of gravity).

Cargo Capacity

The A6 Allroad has a much larger cargo volume than the Highlander with its rear seat up (30 vs. 16 cubic feet).

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 Highlander’s liftover is 31.2 inches.

Pulling a handle automatically lowers the A6 Allroad’s rear seats, to make changing between passengers and cargo easier. The Highlander doesn’t offer automatic folding seats.

Servicing Ease

The A6 Allroad uses gas struts to support the hood for easier service access. The Highlander 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 Highlander. This makes it easier to service and maintain, because there are no rear spark plugs and the accessory belts are in front.

J.D. Power and Associates surveys of service recipients show that Audi service is better than Toyota. J.D. Power ranks Audi 8th in service department satisfaction (above the industry average). With a 17% lower rating, Toyota is ranked 20th.

Ergonomics

Unlike the driver-only memory seat and mirrors in the Highlander Limited/Platinum, 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’s standard easy entry system raises the steering wheel, making it easier for the driver to get in and out. The Highlander doesn’t offer an easy entry system.

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 Highlander’s standard manually variable intermittent wipers have to be constantly adjusted.

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 Highlander doesn’t offer headlight washers.

The A6 Allroad’s standard rear and side view mirrors have an automatic dimming feature. These mirrors can be set to automatically darken quickly when headlights shine on them, keeping following vehicles from blinding or distracting the driver. The Highlander offers an automatic rear view mirror, but its side mirrors don’t dim.

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 Highlander Limited/Platinum.

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 Highlander.

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 Highlander XLE/XSE/Limited/Platinum offers wireless charging.

The A6 Allroad Prestige’s Park Assist Plus can parallel park or back into a parking spot by itself, starting, stopping and changing direction automatically. 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 Highlander doesn’t offer an automated parking system.

Recommendations

Consumer Reports® recommends both the Audi A6 Allroad and the Toyota Highlander, based on reliability, safety and performance.

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