New Audi A6 Avant review

Could the estate car be making a comeback? Sales of traditional wagons have been sliding due to the rise in popularity of SUVs, but now that almost everyone has an SUV, cars like this new Audi A6 Avant are becoming a distinctive choice.

So if you don’t just want to follow the herd and buy a pseudo off-roader like your next-door neighbour, an estate car could be the answer – and the A6 Avant is the biggest in Audi’s line-up, sitting above the Audi A5 Avant.

Audi A6 Avant video review

Confusingly, there’s also the Audi A6 Avant e-tron (which we've reviewed separately). It's a similar size but is an entirely unrelated fully electric estate car.

The new Audi A6 Avant we’re focusing on here is available with a petrol or diesel engine, and its closest rivals are the BMW 5 Series Touring and Mercedes E-Class Estate. Read on as we tell you how we rate it against the best estate cars and which version we think makes the most sense...

The Audi A6 Avant line-up is pretty simple at the moment because there’s just one petrol and one diesel engine to choose between. Both are 2.0-litres and both have 201bhp, although there are some key differences beyond the colour of the nozzle you need to grab when filling the fuel tank.

For starters, the diesel (badged TDI) is a mild hybrid. Usually with mild-hybrid tech there’s a very small battery that provides a tiny amount of assistance when you’re pulling away. Here, though, the battery is a respectable size (1.7kWh) and gives enough oomph to drive the A6 Avant along on its own at low speeds and for a short time.

That brings impressive fuel economy benefits but also boosts performance. Indeed, the diesel pulls effortlessly from low revs and can sprint from 0-62mph in a very respectable seven seconds. It also has four-wheel drive (quattro) for better traction in slippery conditions.

The petrol (TFSI) is driven by its front wheels and has no mild-hybrid assistance. It also doesn’t feel particularly well suited to a big and fairly luxurious estate car like the A6 Avant because you need to rev the engine quite hard to get best from it. Even when you do, acceleration is no match for the diesel (0-62mph takes 8.3 seconds) and the engine sounds a bit coarse.

That said, you can hardly hear either engine when cruising at 70mph and the A6 Avant is hushed in other ways thanks to low levels of wind and road noise. 

Two plug-in hybrid (PHEV) versions will join the A6 Avant range later in 2025 and you might want to wait for those if you’re a company car driver paying BIK tax who isn’t ready to go fully electric. If you are prepared to consider an electric estate car, check out the Audi A6 Avant e-tron and BMW i5 Touring.

Back to the A6 Avant... there are no fewer than three different suspension options. If you go for entry-level Sport trim you’ll get standard suspension, which delivers a really smooth and supple ride at all speeds. In this guise, the A6 Avant has the edge over the 5 Series Touring for comfort.

It doesn’t for handling though, because there’s a noticeable amount of body lean through tight twists and turns. That won't bother a lot of buyers looking for sensible family transport but it’s worth bearing in mind if you want an estate that feels agile and light on its toes. The A6 Avant’s steering is accurate and reassuringly weighted.

S line and Edition 1 versions get stiffer sports suspension instead. We haven’t tried it yet but we have tried the air suspension that’s available as a pricey option on Edition 1 trim. It delivers ride comfort close to that of the regular standard suspension but with much tighter body control through corners.

"The optional air suspension is great, but given the price and the fact you can only have it if going for range-topping Edition 1 trim, I’d suggest sticking with the standard suspension." – Will Nightingale, Reviews Editor

You’ll have no issues getting comfy behind the wheel of the Audi A6 Avant, thanks to lots of adjustment, a supportive driver’s seat and pedals that line-up neatly with the steering wheel.

You even get electrically adjustable lumbar support on all trim levels, helping to keep your lower back properly supported on longer journeys.

Our testers had no problem seeing the 11.9in Virtual Cockpit digital driver's display, which can show lots of information, including your speed and fuel economy, navigation directions and playlists. It’s so good it makes the optional head-up display, which comes as part of the Sound and Vision Pack, seem a little pointless.

Next to the Virtual Cockpit behind the same curved piece of glass is a 14.5in touchscreen. It's used to control the air-conditioning (there are no physical controls for this) and the main infotainment functions.

As touchscreens go, it’s a good one: we have no complaints about the menu lay-out and there’s rarely more than a slight delay between you pressing the screen and what you’ve asked for happening.

True, we’d rather have a separate rotary controller to make the system easier to interact with when driving, but the only direct rival that offers that is the BMW 5 Series Touring.

If you go for range-topping Edition 1 trim, you’ll find another smaller (10.9in) infotainment touchscreen on the passenger side of the dashboard. That allows your front-seat passenger to entertain themself while you’re driving, choosing the music or even watching a movie.

And don’t worry – thanks to polarising tech, you won’t be able to see what’s showing on the second infotainment screen from the driver’s seat.

As for interior quality, you’ll find some soft-touch plastic on the dashboard along with faux-suede or leather (depending on trim level).

However, there’s also some rather unappealing scratchy plastic around the air vents and the central armrest, so the latest A6 Avant doesn’t feel as upmarket inside as a 5 Series Touring, although the margins aren’t huge.

"I found the A6 Avant easy to see out of, and all versions have front and rear parking sensors, and a surround-view camera to help out with parking in tight spots." – Will Nightingale, Reviews Editor

Let’s start at the back because that’s the business end of an estate car. All Audi A6 Avants have a powered boot lid, which can be activated by pressing a button on the key fob, the boot itself or by waving your foot under the rear bumper.

There’s even a light projected on to the ground so you know where to aim your size 9s.  It’s also helpful that the load cover retracts electrically when the boot opens so it doesn’t get in the way.

So boot is easy to access, but there isn’t quite as much room for luggage inside as you might be hoping. In the petrol version, there’s officially 503 litres of storage space below the load cover – less than in a BMW 5 Series Touring (570 litres) or Mercedes E-Class Estate (615 litres). 

In the diesel A6 Avant, boot space drops to just 466 litres – less than in the smaller Audi A5 Avant. However, there’s no impact on the main area of the load bay: the space you lose is under the floor, where Audi has chosen to put the mild-hybrid battery.

The boot is still plenty big enough for a long family holiday and you can fold down the rear seatbacks in a 40/20/40 split when you need to carry more. In fact the seatbacks are spring-loaded, so you just pull a lever on the wall of the boot and they drop down of their own accord.

Two rear passengers will be super-comfortable even if they’re more than 6ft tall. That’s thanks to plenty of knee room, generous head room and supportively sculpted outer seats. The view out is good, too, so you certainly won’t feel claustrophobic in the back of the A6 Avant.

However, if you need to squeeze a third person in the middle they won’t be nearly as happy. The seatbase is slightly raised so it's not as comfortable to sit on and there’s a huge hump they’ll need to straddle.

"It’s great that four-zone climate control comes as standard on all models, allowing four people in the car to each enjoy a different temperature." – Will Nightingale, Reviews Editor

The new Audi A6 Avant isn’t exactly a bargain, with prices starting at more than £50,000. That said, it is slightly cheaper than an equivalent BMW 5 Series Touring or Mercedes E-Class Estate.

There’s a relatively big price jump from the petrol TFSI to the diesel TDI but we think it’s justified. That’s partly because the diesel engine is stronger and smoother, but also because official fuel economy leaps from around 39mpg to more than 53mpg (as long as you stick with Sport or S line trim). 

The diesel is in a cheaper company car tax bracket than the petrol, although the forthcoming plug-in hybrid (PHEV) A6 Avant will attract less BIK tax. The fully electric A6 Avant e-tron will be much cheaper to run as a company car but costs thousands of pounds more to buy privately.

The A6 Avant in entry-level Sport trim comes with 18in alloy wheels, matrix LED headlights, heated front seats, four-zone climate control and adaptive cruise control. In short, it has all you need and more.

The main reason you might want to upgrade to S line trim is for the sportier styling and bigger (19in) alloys it brings, although you also get more supportive front seats and stiffer sports suspension.

Top-of-the-range Edition 1 trim adds some extra safety kit, even bigger 20in wheels and an infotainment touchscreen for your front passenger – but it’s too pricey to recommend.

We can’t give you much of a steer on reliability because the latest A6 Avant didn’t feature in the 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey. However, Audi came an underwhelming 24th out of 31 brands in the manufacturer league table.

Like all combustion-engined Audis, the A6 Avant comes with a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty as standard. If you're willing to pay extra, you can extend the cover to five years and 90,000 miles.

"It’s a pity you can’t add the upgraded Bang & Olufsen sound system on its own. The Sound and Vision Pack it comes with also includes a head-up display, which I don't think is necessary." – Will Nightingale, Reviews Editor

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