Audi A6 eTron vs BMW i5 Interior

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Who thinks Audi interiors are kind of low quality?

I currently lease a 2024 BMW iX, which is in the shop for its 2 year checkup. My loaner is a 2025 BMW i5 eDrive40.

I really like the i5, which probably shouldn’t be a surprise since I had the last gen 530e plug in before the iX. But I’m actually in the market for a second car so decided to check out the arguably more advanced competition from Ingolstadt.

There’s no argument that the new A6 on the PPE architecture is technically more advanced than the i5. The Quattro model I drove had a 333 mile estimated range, and it can charge 50% faster.

But the interior?! I just want to list some complaints:

  1. That huge piano black space on the passenger side where the optional, worthless screen would go. So few people opt for prestige, and if you want to entertain your passenger, invest in a smart phone or tablet
  2. The sub-window trim is all hard, single layer molded plastic. I hate that. It’s like the same quality plastic as my Chevy Bolt. The BMW is either wrapped in padding or a denser plastic.
  3. Center armrest is small, single piece. The Audi has more storage, but that cover is so small and cheap looking. The BMW is a smooth, dual opening covered in matching pleather.
  4. The air vents. OMG where did they get that plastic? Again from used Chevy Bolt parts? I don’t need the overly finicky, digital vents of the i5, but even a Honda Civix looks classier
  5. The screen bezel. I know this is a design choice, but that oddly shaped center screen is just a big waste of piano black space.

Poor Audi/VW. What happened? I say this as someone who has lived in the German state of Niedersachsen, the plurality owner of the company.

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If you’ve had your IX for a while then you’ll surely know beyond a certain minimum these marginal improvements are largely inconsequential.

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New Audi interior is a step back both interms of design and material quality . I guess they are under cost cutting pressure largely due to their issues in Chinese market.

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Minimum level of range and charging? Yeah, for every trip outside of my once a year 2k mile roadtrip to the mountains, I don’t care about range and charging speed.

But I do think the new standard should probably be this new generation of 400 mile, 800v cars. It used to be 300 miles, but 400 is really true parity with ICE. And 10 or 20 minute charging is an appreciable improvement over 40 or 50.

I just test drove an i4, and even the materials in that car were better than the Audi. But to be fair, I think Cadillac wins hands down in the new Optiq. Beautiful interior. Great, unique materials.

But no CarPlay and no phone as a key? Like you said, maybe I don’t care about the Optiq’s slow charging, but that key fob and mid-2000s Bluetooth audio are noticeable every trip.

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B9 Audis had a very underrated interior especially in terms of build quality. The new ones are definitely a step down but it seems like the big 3 German manufacturers all took a step down in interior build quality. Was looking at the new X3, Q5, and GLC and felt that the Mazda CX-5 had a better interior than all 3

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Depends on the car, BMW has some great interiors but I didn’t really think the i5 was one of them, felt significantly worse than the ix.

Historically Audi didn’t compete at the same level as MB/BMW in most markets, their cars at the same size class were usually cheaper, and interiors were commensurately worse. Now Audi has gone upmarket somewhat, and BMW/MB both now make 4 cylinder FWD hatchbacks, the gap isn’t as noticeable but I still think it’s there in some cars.