Audi A6 practicality and boot space

• Lots of room for passengers
• Wide boot opening and lots of space
  
• Shouldn’t be troublesome to park

The Audi A6’s cabin is bigger than the old model's and it's also more commodious than a Mercedes-Benz E-Class or BMW 5 Series. It's also very cleverly designed, which helps to maximise practicality. We noted it’s possible for tall adults to sit line-astern with ample leg and headroom, but the middle back seat is a little snug and probably best used for the armrest hidden in its back, which features a cubby and two cupholders.

You have two more cupholders up front, a covered cubby between the front seats, plus a generously sized glovebox and door pockets.

What's it like for luggage space?

Not only does this generation of A6 Saloon have a larger overall boot capacity than its predecessor - and exactly the same size as its main rival the BMW 5 Series - but it’s also got a wider opening, at 1,194mm.

A powered bootlid is an optional extra, and can be remote-operated via the car’s key. The rear seats fold down as standard, with a 60:40 split for added convenience.

Enlarge1videoEnlarge57photo

Will it fit in the garage?

At 4,939mm long and 2,110mm wide, the A6 Saloon is not a small car by any stretch of the imagination. While that brings benefits in terms of interior and boot space, it can make it awkward to manoeuvre in tight car parks, let alone navigating it into parking bays.

Thankfully, sensors and a rear camera are on hand, but can be upgraded to a full 360-degree system with automatic parking as an optional extra - while these will help, there'll be no escaping that in many car parks a significant proportion of your Audi will be sat proud of the bay you're in.

Impressive safety credentials

• Five-star Euro NCAP crash-test rating
• Vast suite of driver-assistance kit
• Undoubtedly a safe family car

Audi's reputation for producing safe cars is reinforced with the A6, as illustrated by its five-star Euro NCAP crash-test score. Previous versions have also been impressive in this regard, and Audi has added a vast array more tech to this generation to keep it at the top of the pile.

Standard safety kit includes:

• Side, front, rear and head airbags
• Front and rear parking sensors
• Rear-view parking camera
• Full automatic LED headlights
• Automatic emergency braking
• Lane-departure warning
• Cruise control with speed limiter

On top of all that, the following are available as optional extras:

• Matrix or High Definition Matrix LED headlights
• Headlamp cleaning system
• Traffic sign recognition
• Head-up display – this doesn’t work with polarised sunglasses, though
• Night vision – displayed on Virtual Cockpit
• Automatic parking
• Rear side airbags

You also have the City Assist Pack, which adds sensors that will stop the car moving a collision is detected, and the Driver Assistance – Tour Pack, which nets you adaptive cruise control, a feature to tell you when to take your foot off the throttle to save fuel, lane-departure warning, traffic sign recognition and automatic high-beam headlights.

Audi A6 Saloon Euro NCAP crash test