2014 Audi A6

The Audi A6 includes some new features and options for 2014 to invigorate sales of the aluminum-bodied luxury sedan. The U.S. market has been a bit of a dud for the new-shape design since its arrival as a 2012 model. That is not stopping its prospects elsewhere in the world.

The lengthened A6L is China’s most popular limousine by far. Everyone knows Chinese businessmen like the ride in the back seat. There’s much more to that preference than image and prestige.

Here are two little-known facts:

    It is much easier and cheaper to pay someone to drive you to and from work in China than it is to park in urban centers.
    The same businessmen who ride in the back during the week usually drive the car themselves on weekends, so the cars need more dynamic prowess than many believe.

Once these factors are considering, the option of a luxury shuttle for about $20 a week sounds great. Many Americans would jump at the chance to do the same thing.

That is not how we operate, however, so the A6 comes to our shores ready for a knock-down, drag-out brawl with two of the most competent luxury sedans on the market, the Mercedes-Benz E350 and the BMW 535i.

Do the A6’s luxury cockpit, advanced engines and sophisticated design offer enough incentive to lure conquest sales from other German brands? The company sure hopes so and even offers a $1,500 bonus to Mercedes and BMW drivers when they buy an A6 (or many other Audi models).

Click past the jump for the full review of the Audi A6 2.0T and 3.0T with highlights on new-for-2014 features and options.

The A6 is a nice-looking sedan but needs some serious options before it starts looking visibly different from the previous two generations of cars. The original 1998 A6’s fastback profile and arcing window-line inspired a thousand copies. The flowing organic surfaces of the body recalled the TT so effectively that the normal A6 sedan became a design icon in its own right.

Audi seems stuck in a rut with the A6 but the vehicle is still very handsome and now more lithe via better proportions and a shorter front overhang.

In 2.0T trim, the A6 is now available with the full-LED headlights and driving lights that were previously a 3.0T exclusive. The smaller engine model is also upgradable with sports suspensions and giant wheels to match the S-line style that is still a V-6 exclusive.

In S-Line 3.0T trim as in these photos, the A6 really comes alive. The LED headlights are stunning even when they’re off because of the gorgeous driving LEDs that line the bottom of the pinched lens graphic. When illuminated, the seven LED pods form a check mark of light that is unlike anything else on American roads.

The car certainly looks dramatic from the front via Audi’s single-frame grille trimmed in optional gloss black. The A6 sedans’ noses also include huge faux air ducts in the outside lower bumpers to recall the range-topping S6 model’s functional vents.

The car also packs some gorgeous wheel options for the 3.0T including the titanium-colored five-claw design best know from the previous V-10 S6.

In profile and in the rear the car has some new creasing and subtle curves but overall is very, very similar to the previous two generations. The taillights are boxier and slimmer than before but overall the car does not look as fresh as the competition.