Audi A6

Which Audi A6 years should you avoid?

Going by 1,663 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the Audi A6 years to avoid are 1999 and 2000.

• 1999217 complaints, 3.3× a typical A6 year, most often about the fuel system; and 3.6× the usual share of fires, crashes and deaths for a car of its age (23 fires, 12 crashes, 2 deaths).
• 2000148 complaints, 2.2× a typical A6 year, most often about the electrical system.

Better bets: among years old enough for a low count to mean something, the 2020 and 2014 drew the fewest complaints without an unusual share of serious ones.

Too new to judge: 2025 and 2026. Complaints take a few years to arrive, so a new model year looks better than it is.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →