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2019 Audi A6 review - does the new A6 finally drive better than its rivals? - Design

The Audi A6’s core virtues remain, but it doesn’t shine like it once did - rivals still do executive better

Evo rating
  • Refined, top-notch tech and competitive powertrains
  • Doesn’t out-perform rivals in any one area, interior materials not up to usual standards

Design

Like the interior, the exterior design might be considered a bit ‘hit and miss’. Typical of Lichte-era Audis, the surfacing is heavily detailed and has a huge variety of creases, concave and convex shapes, and pinched lines right across the bodyside. There has been a clear emphasis by the team to reference Audi’s Quattro history with the four haunches, one over each wheel, but rather than define the overall profile, it instead resides within a complex array of other elements all fighting for top billing.

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The front and rear aprons are equally complex, meanwhile the notion of high- and low-specification lighting units have been thrown into turmoil, as there are no less than four different LED headlight options - leaving nearly everyone without any real sense of which are the top-specification models, and which aren’t. The wheels are also huge, with entry-level alloy wheels starting at 18-inches, rising to a whopping 21-inches on the options list.

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