Audi A6 e-tron review

If you think aerodynamics are only important for supercars, it might surprise you that the Audi A6 e-tron Sportback – 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.

Audi A6 e-tron video reveal

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 e-tron to the test against those rivals and others in all the important areas...

There are three versions of the Audi A6 e-tron Sportback to choose from, starting with the entry-level Sport e-tron. The Sport gets a 282bhp electric motor powering the rear wheels and can officially accelerate from 0-62mph in seven seconds.

That’s around a second slower than the BMW i5 eDrive40 – but we don’t doubt it’ll still be quick enough for most.

For even more pace, there's the Sport e-tron Performance and the Sport e-tron quattro, which boost the power to 362bhp and 422bhp respectively. The quattro (as Audi followers will have guessed) has all-wheel drive, giving you more confidence to put the power down and potentially achieve the official 0-62mph sprint time of 4.7 seconds.

(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 e-tron's range depends on the version you choose. The entry-level Sport gets a 75.8kWh (usable capacity) battery and officially manages up to 384 miles on a full charge. That's more than the equivalent BMW i5 but less than the Mercedes EQE 350+. 

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 Sport e-tron quattro’s extra motor reduce the range slightly – to 440 miles – but that’s still a match for the 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 with relative ease and is settled at motorway speeds. The major benefit is that it’s very controlled and doesn’t sway around over undulating roads. 

What’s more, that control means it stays perfectly upright through corners and, combined with the well-weighted steering, gives you plenty of confidence to push on when driving more enthusiastically. Indeed, the only thing that slightly lets the side down is the brake pedal, which would be better if it gave a bit more feedback as you press the pedal.

As with other electric cars, the A6 e-tron has regenerative braking with a choice of several settings, including three braking strengths you can cycle through using paddles behind the steering wheel.

The Automatic mode senses the road lay-out ahead and vehicle around you, and adjusts the level of braking to suit. One-pedal driving allows you to come to stop without using the brake pedal.

In terms of refinement, the lack of an engine gives the A6 e-tron an advantage over petrol-powered executive cars. The low level of wind and road noise makes it a comfortable cruiser at motorway speeds.

"While rear-wheel-drive versions of the Audi A6 e-tron arguably handles the best, going for the quattro 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 Sportback looks pretty impressive, with an appealing mixture of materials and colours that gives it a premium feel. Indeed, most of the materials feel pretty good too, with most of the scratchy surfaces hidden low and out of sight.

Unfortunately, though, 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 the BMW i5.

Stepping inside the A6 e-tron, the first thing you notice is the huge curved fascia that dominates the dashboard, and combines the 11.9in digital driver’s display and 14.5in infotainment touchscreen. Both displays are crisp and really easy to read, but it’s a shame that the driver display has lost most of its functionality and no longer shows things like a full-screen map.

In fairness, though, neither the i5 or EQE have that functionality and the proximity of the large touchscreen to the driver helps to negate that issue. The system is pretty easy to use with simple menus, but all its features – including the air conditioning – are controlled entirely through touch, which is more distracting on the move than using the rotary controller in the i5.

Indeed, the only physical buttons you’ll find in the A6 e-tron’s interior are the ones on the steering wheel. It’s really handy being able to press them to adjust the cruise control and the stereo’s volume, but 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 and your view out at junctions is helped by the car's slim windscreen pillars. Rear visibility isn’t great though, because the tiny letterbox rear window and large rear pillars conspire to impede your view. 

Parking is made easier by standard-fit front and rear parking sensors, and a 360-degree surround view camera. You’ll see plenty at night too, with every A6 e-tron getting bright LED headlights with a nifty feature where you can vary their design in eight different ways (you can do the same to the rear lights). It’s a bit of a gimmick, but allows you to add a bit of individuality. 

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

There’s plenty of space in the front of the Audi A6 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 too, including a couple of cupholders, decent-sized door bins, a space within the central armrest and a space under the centre console for your phone.

The back of the A6 e-tron isn't as generous. The stylish sloping roofline eats into rear head room and makes it tight for anyone measuring 6ft or above. The estate car version is much better – for more on that, see our Audi A6 Avant e-tron review.

Better news is that you get a good amount of leg room in the back, although there isn’t all that much space under the front seats for your feet. The small 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 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.

Speaking of which, the A6 e-tron’s 502-litre boot is pretty impressive when compared to the BMW i5 and Mercedes EQE (they offer 490 litres and 430 litres respectively). It has more than enough space for lots of shopping or your family’s holiday luggage. There's also some storage space under the bonnet.

"It’s really handy that the Audi 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’re buying the Audi A6 e-tron Sportback with cash, it’ll cost you 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 slower 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 low list price bodes well for the A6 e-tron, meaning that it should cost slightly less 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, and 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, adding special S Line alloys, slightly revised exterior styling, a sportier steering wheel and sportier seats. Jumping up to 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 0r 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 – that’s below BMW, Mercedes and Porsche. A three-year/60,000-mile warranty comes as standard with the A6 e-tron.

As with reliability, the A6 e-tron is also too new to have been tested by the safety experts at Euro NCAP. Even so, it comes with lots of standard safety equipment, including automatic emergency braking (AEB), lane-departure warning, front cross-traffic assist, traffic-sign recognition and a driver attention monitoring system.

"Given that there’s so much standard equipment, you probably won’t mind that there are not many options for the Audi A6 e-tron. That said, audiophiles might want the (expensive) Sound and Vision pack, because it adds a brilliant Bang & Olufsen stereo upgrade." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

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