Audi A6 e-tron review

If you think aerodynamics are only important for supercars, it might surprise you that the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron – rather than one of the brand's sports cars – is the most aerodynamic Audi model yet. 

Why? Well, the A6 e-tron is Audi's new electric car and the ease with which it moves through the air has a direct impact on how far you can travel between charges. Indeed, thanks to its slippery styling and large batteries, it can officially travel further than many of its rivals. 

It also charges up faster, gets loads of new Audi tech and has trim levels stuffed with standard equipment.

New Audi A6 e-tron video

On paper, then, it should be a walk in the park for the A6 e-tron when it comes to taking on other electric executive cars including the BMW i5 and Mercedes EQE. 

But is that really the case? Read on as we put the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron to the test against those rivals and others in all the important areas...

There are three versions of the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron to choose from, starting with entry-level Sport.

The Sport gets a 282bhp electric motor powering the rear wheels and can officially accelerate from 0-62mph in seven seconds, around a second slower than the BMW i5 eDrive40. With launch control, power is boosted to 322bhp and the 0-62mph time drops by a second to match the i5.

For even more performance, there's the e-tron Performance and the e-tron quattro, which boost maximum power to 375bhp and 456bhp. The quattro has all-wheel drive, giving you more confidence to potentially achieve the official 0-62mph time of 4.7 seconds (or 4.5 with launch control).

For even more pace, there's also an S performance version. You can read about that in our Audi S6 e-tron review.

The A6's range depends on the version. The entry-level Sport gets a 75.8kWh (usable capacity) battery and officially manages up to 384 miles on a full charge. That's about the same as a BMW i5 eDrive40 but less than a Mercedes EQE 350+ (420 miles). 

The other two versions get a bigger, 94.9kWh battery. The mid-spec Sport e-tron Performance manages 464 miles officially, which is further than any i5 or EQE and even beats the more expensive Porsche Taycan.

The demands of the A6 Sport e-tron quattro’s extra motor reduce the range slightly – to 440 miles – but that’s still a match for rival electric cars.

The A6 e-tron’s heavy battery calls for the suspension to be quite firm. As a result, it doesn’t deal with large potholes particularly well, but it does manage to smooth out most other imperfections and becomes much more settled at motorway speeds. The major benefit is that it’s controlled and doesn’t sway around over undulating roads, being more tied-down than an EQE.

That control means it stays perfectly upright through corners and, combined with the well-weighted steering, gives you plenty of confidence to push on. What stops the A6 e-tron from being top of the class for driving fun is that you reach the limits of grip quite soon. Plus, the brakes don’t always respond consistently, and the knock-on effect is that coming to a smooth stop can be tricky.

As with other electric cars, the A6 e-tron has regenerative braking with a choice of settings. It works smoothly when you lift off the accelerator pedal and its strongest setting allows for one-pedal driving. An Automatic mode senses the road lay-out and vehicles around you, and adjusts the level of braking to suit. 

In terms of refinement, the lack of an engine gives the A6 e-tron an advantage over petrol-powered executive cars. However, while there’s hardly any wind noise, the BMW i5 has the edge when it comes to high speed comfort, thanks to a lower level of road noise.

"While rear-wheel-drive versions of the A6 e-tron arguably handle the best, going for the quattro all-wheel drive gives you loads of grip and confidence to push on." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

At first glance, the interior of the Audi A6 e-tron looks pretty impressive, with an appealing mix of materials and colours that gives it a premium feel. Most of the materials feel pretty good, with scratchy surfaces hidden low and out of sight.

Unfortunately, there are some patches that let the car down and feel a bit cheap – the main culprit being the flimsy slider over the centre console cupholders. It’s about on par with the Mercedes EQE but doesn’t feel as impressive as a BMW i5.

A huge curved fascia dominates the dashboard, and combines an 11.9in digital driver’s display and a 14.5in infotainment touchscreen. Both displays are crisp and really easy to read, but it’s a shame the driver's display can't show a full-screen map (a useful feature on the i5, EQE and some older Audi car models).

An optional head-up display is available as part of the Sound and Vision pack, with a big screen displaying slick graphics. For example, the numbers showing your speed grows to grab your attention during heavy acceleration.

The touchscreen responds quickly enough, but some icons are on the small side, and because all the features – including the air-con – are controlled through touch, it’s more distracting to use than the i5, which has a dial controller.

Annoyingly, while you do get some physical buttons on the A6 e-tron's steering wheel, to adjust the cruise control and the stereo’s volume, they’re also touch-sensitive and really easy to operate accidentally.

You’ll be comfortable when you take a seat, with the driving position lining you up well with the pedals and steering wheel. You also get plenty of steering-wheel and seat adjustment, including for lumbar support, to help you find your perfect seating position easily.

Like the BMW i5 and Mercedes EQE, the A6 e-tron sits you fairly low to the ground, but forward visibility is pretty good, with a low dashboard and a clearer view over the bonnet than the EQE. Your view out at junctions is also helped by the car's slim windscreen pillars. 

Rear visibility isn’t great though, because the tiny letterbox rear window and large sloping rear pillars conspire to impede your view. At least parking is made easier by standard-fit front and rear parking sensors, and a 360-degree surround-view camera.

Every A6 e-tron gets bright LED headlights with a nifty feature where you can vary their design in eight ways (you can do the same to the rears). It’s a bit gimmicky, but allows you to add a bit of individuality. 

"As with other e-tron models, you can swap the A6’s wing mirrors for cameras as an optional extra. The A6 e-tron gets the latest version and, while it’s an improvement over the old one, we still don’t think it’s worth the money." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

There’s plenty of space in the front of the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron for two six-footers to get comfortable, with more than enough head, leg and shoulder room to spare. There’s a decent amount of storage space, including two cupholders, decent-sized door bins, a space in the central armrest and a space under the centre console for your phone.

The back of the A6 Sportback e-tron isn't as generous. The sloping roofline eats into rear head room and makes it tighter than the BMW i5 for anyone measuring 6ft or above. The estate car version is much better – you can read about that in our Audi A6 Avant e-tron review.

Better news is that you get a good amount of leg room in the back, although there's not all that much space under the front seats for your feet. The low central tunnel means the middle-seat passenger will be happy and should still be able to find more than enough foot space.

No matter which trim you go for, the A6 e-tron comes with versatile 40/20/40 split-folding rear seats. That’s really handy because it means you can fold the middle backrest down to feed long items through from the boot without compromising one of the outer rear seats.

Alternatively, if you need lots more space and don’t need the rear seats, all three can be folded flat to increase boot space. It’s just a shame you can’t do it by pulling a lever in the boot, which you can in the i5. The floor also slopes upwards slightly towards the rear seats, so it’s not the easiest to slide items through.

Speaking of which, the A6 Sportback e-tron’s 502-litre boot space is pretty impressive when compared with the BMW i5 and Mercedes EQE (they offer 490 litres and 430 litres respectively).

There's more than enough space for lots of shopping or your family’s holiday luggage. While there isn’t any storage space under the boot floor, there is some under the bonnet. However the A6 e-tron’s biggest advantage is its hatchback boot opening, which is much bigger than the saloon opening in the i5 and EQE. 

"It’s really handy that the A6 e-tron gets a small front boot. It's not huge but it does give you somewhere to store the charging cables and frees up space in the main boot. You don’t get that in an i5 or EQE." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

If you buy an Audi A6 Sportback e-tron with cash, it’ll cost less than an entry-level BMW i5, Mercedes EQE or Porsche Taycan. In fact, next to those electric car rivals, the price tag and equipment levels make it look pretty good value.

Better still, the A6 e-tron is predicted to depreciate more slowly than the i5 and EQE, and much more slowly than the more expensive Taycan, which loses its value at an alarming rate. Depreciation can have an effect on PCP finance rates so the A6 e-tron could turn out to cost less in monthly payments.

We suspect, though, that many A6 e-tron customers will run one as a company car. Again, the fairly competitive list price bodes well, meaning it should cost slightly less than rivals despite sitting in the same BIK tax bracket.

You get plenty of standard equipment regardless of which A6 e-tron you go for. Entry-level Sport comes with 20in alloy wheels, automatic LED headlights with high-beam assist, heated front seats, three-zone automatic air-conditioning, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror, adaptive cruise control, an EV heat pump and other kit.

Stepping up to S Line trim won’t cost you too much extra but the changes are largely cosmetic. It adds special S Line alloys, slightly revised exterior styling, a sportier steering wheel and sportier seats.

Top-spec Edition One trim adds 21in alloys, matrix LED headlights, a 10.9in infotainment touchscreen for the front passenger and heated outer rear seats. 

Maximum charging rates depend on which version you go for, with the smaller battery accepting up to 225kW and the larger one up to 270kW. If you can find a fast enough public charging point, the A6 e-tron should go from 10-80% charge in about 20 minutes. That’s slightly quicker than a BMW i5 or Mercedes EQE.

The A6 e-tron is too new to have been included in our 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey but Audi as a manufacturer placed 24th out of the 31 included car makers (below BMW, Mercedes and Porsche). A three-year, 60,000-mile warranty comes as standard with the A6 e-tron, with the battery covered by a separate eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty.

The A6 e-tron was awarded the full five stars for safety after it was tested by the safety experts at Euro NCAP. It comes with lots of safety equipment, including automatic emergency braking (AEB), lane-departure warning, front cross-traffic assist, traffic-sign recognition and a driver attention monitoring system.

"With so much standard equipment, you probably won’t mind that there are not many options for the A6 e-tron. That said, music fans might want the expensive Sound and Vision pack because it adds a brilliant B&O stereo upgrade." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

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