Compare the2024 Audi Q8VS 2024 BMW X6

For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Audi Q8 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 BMW X6 doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.

For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Audi Q8 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 X6 doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.

Both the Q8 and X6 have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Q8 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 X6’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.

Earlier warning of stopped traffic, traffic signals, dangerous road conditions, weather, or accidents, can keep driver's safer and prevent crashes. The Q8 has Car-to-X Services, a system that seamlessly communicates important warnings to the driver about impending danger, if they're available. The X6 doesn’t offer a system that can receive automated systems from infrastructure.

A passive infrared night vision system optional on the Q8 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 X6 doesn’t offer a night vision system.

Both the Q8 and X6 have rear cross-traffic warning, but the Q8 has Automatic Brake Activation (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The X6’s Cross Traffic Warning doesn’t automatically brake.

Both the Q8 and the X6 have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, four-wheel antilock brakes, all wheel drive, 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 and available around view monitors.

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 “Acceptable” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Q8 its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2022, a rating granted to only 131 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The X6 has not been tested, yet.

On the EPA test cycle the Q8 gets better fuel mileage than the X6 M60i (17 city/23 hwy vs. 17 city/22 hwy).

For better stopping power the Q8’s standard brake rotors are larger than those on the X6:

For better traction, the Q8 has larger tires than the X6 (285/45R21 vs. 275/45R20). The Q8’s tires are larger than the largest tires available on the X6 (285/45R21 vs. 275/40R21).

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the Q8 has standard 21-inch wheels. Smaller 20-inch wheels are standard on the X6.

The Q8 has 1.2 inches more front legroom, .6 inches more rear headroom, 4.5 inches more rear legroom and .8 inches more rear shoulder room than the X6.

For enhanced passenger comfort on long trips the Q8’s rear seats recline. The X6’s rear seats don’t recline.

The Q8 has a much larger cargo volume with its rear seat up than the X6 with its rear seat up (30.5 vs. 27.4 cubic feet). The Q8 has a much larger cargo volume with its rear seat folded than the X6 with its rear seat folded (60.7 vs. 59.6 cubic feet).

Heated windshield washer nozzles are standard on the Q8 to prevent washer fluid and nozzles from freezing and help continue to keep the windshield clear in sub-freezing temperatures. The X6 doesn’t offer heated windshield washer nozzles.

To improve rear visibility by keeping the rear window clear, the Q8 has a standard rear wiper. The X6 doesn’t offer a rear wiper.

Laser headlights, standard on the Q8 Prestige, produce their light by firing blue lasers through phosphorus, a process that uses one-half the power of the X6’s LED headlights. Laser headlights can have double the range of LEDs with a much smaller surface area.

In poor weather, headlights can lose their effectiveness as grime builds up on their lenses. This can reduce visibility without the driver realizing. The Q8 has standard headlight washers to keep headlight output high. The X6 doesn’t offer headlight washers.

A manual rear sunshade is optional in the Q8 and power rear side window sunshades are optional in the Q8 (except Premium) to help block heat and glare for the rear passengers. The X6 doesn’t offer a rear sunshade.

The Audi Q8/SQ8/RS Q8 outsold the BMW X6 by 34% during 2023.