Audi A6 e-tron review – Ingolstadt’s electric answer to the BMW 5-series

It’s been over 30 years since the Audi A6 went on sale and in that time it’s become a staple in the practical family car segment. It’s had its ups and downs, but the A6 has remained a strong alternative to offerings from BMW and Mercedes-Benz for all those years – and now it’s received its most significant development. As is the way of the market in 2026, Audi is now selling the A6 with an all-electric powertrain.

Unlike some EVs, it’s not immediately obvious that you’re looking at a car without an engine, which is perhaps what Audi was aiming for. The silhouette of the e-tron is near-identical to its combustion-powered counterpart in both saloon and estate forms, and while it’s not a particularly appealing one (it looks a little cumbersome and bulky in our eyes), there is consistency across the range. Look more closely and you’ll spot a pair of huge charging flaps (more on those later), and a more aggressive, modern front fascia than the ICE equivalent. 

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The Audi A6 has traditionally been a car for all occasions – the school run, a weekend shopping trip or a run down to Europe – but whether or not this EV can truly meet the same criteria as its ICE predecessors in the real world is another question entirely.  

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Powertrain and technical highlights

This might be an EV, but don’t expect neck-snapping acceleration from the bottom of the range. Even in the middling A6 e-tron Performance we tested, performance is strong but not overwhelming, with the 0-62mph sprint coming in 5.4sec. This should be no surprise though, because the Performance is a single-motor, rear-wheel drive model; you’ll need to spend an additional £5000 to get the dual-motor Quattro for an improved 4.7sec time, although the A6 does gain weight in the process (185kg more than the entry-level car, to be precise).

It’s not brutally quick, but this is precisely what this car needs. This is a practical family estate car after all, and thanks to a well-calibrated throttle map it’s relaxing to drive at ordinary speeds, covering miles with ease. The e-tron Performance model will actually cover the most miles of any A6 e-tron, too, thanks to the fitment of the larger 100kWh battery pack you’ll also find in the much more powerful (and expensive) S6 e-tron. Audi quotes a range of up to 444 miles WLTP, although you’ll see more like 300 in real-world use based on our testing – we saw average efficiency of 3.7mi/wh. Opt for the entry-level 282bhp A6 e-tron and you get a smaller 83kWh battery pack for a maximum range of 364 miles.

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If more performance is what you’re looking for, the £93,125 S6 e-tron provides 546bhp and a 4.1sec 0-62mph time thanks to an uprated dual-motor setup. In our eyes though, the A6 e-tron Performance is the sweet spot of the range, with minimal weight gain thanks to a single-motor setup combined with the benefits of that huge 100kWh battery pack – for some perspective, the S6 e-tron weighs 2410kg, 225kg more than the rear-drive Performance and 300kg more than the entry-level car.

Ride and handling

Heavy electric cars are often given high spring rates to control their mass, but this is definitely not the case here. The A6 e-tron has a soft ride, but not to its detriment, as it leans into the powertrain’s leisurely feel to make it a comfortable car to spend time in. At higher speeds there is occasional patter that makes it through the chassis and into the cabin, but it’s a pleasant ride for the most part.

You’re unlikely to buy a standard A6 e-tron as a driver’s car, but if you do decide to increase the pace on a b-road, it turns in surprisingly eagerly – there’s no rear-wheel steering but it rotates with a lack of resistance you perhaps wouldn’t expect from a 2.1-ton estate. There’s plenty of grip too, partially thanks to chunky 275-section rear and 245-section front rubber. This isn’t to say it’s a particularly engaging car to drive, though, as a lack of steering feel makes it hard to know exactly how hard the tyres are working. 

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Interior and tech

Inside the A6 e-tron gets Audi’s latest infotainment setup, and it’s a huge improvement over previous models. There are swathes of screens and capacitive controls, which we’re not a fan of, but the software behind it all is as sharp and snappy as they come. This continues into elements like the head-up display, which is bright, sharp and has some of the most sophisticated graphics of any we’ve come across – if you’re not into HUDs though, it might be a little much for you.

This feels like a car that Audi has thrown all of its latest technology into, and that’s both good and bad. The wing mirrors on our test car were the optional ‘Virtual’ kind, swapping physical mirrors for cameras and a pair of displays in each door. High refresh rate, resolution and strong low-light performance make them as well integrated as you could hope, but having to forcibly break the muscle memory of looking at each mirror to look at a screen instead is just a step too far – perhaps if you drove this as your only car it would eventually become second nature, but after a few hundred miles behind the wheel it never did for me.

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Option a sunroof and not only do you get more light inside, you get party trick electrochromic glass, allowing you to change its opacity at the touch of a button – nifty, as long as you don’t ever have to replace it. The optional Bang and Olufsen sound system is good, and includes speakers in the headrests with, thankfully, a physical volume knob to control them. This is a very refined car even at motorway speeds, with very little wind, road or cabin noise, aiding the impressive performance of that sound system.

There are quirks beyond those virtual mirrors. The external charging flap is huge and a bit of an eyesore as a result, but to make matters worse, there’s one on each side of the car. While this is a nice quality of life feature to allow you to charge from either side, the added weight, complexity and cost of features like this feels unnecessary – especially when you consider they’re motorised, for whatever reason. The floor is unusually high in the back which reduces space for passengers, and visibility isn’t great either, with the high belt line and virtual mirrors making matters worse.

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Price, specs and rivals

The Audi A6 e-tron starts from £64,390, marginally less than it did just a few months ago and around £10,000 more than the entry-level petrol-powered A6. Our particular car was optioned to a punchy £87,360, but the e-tron Performance on which it’s based starts from £70,660 before options. Move up to the Quattro and the price jumps by another £5000. The S6 e-tron, meanwhile, starts from £93,125 in saloon form.

This car’s key rival is the BMW i5, starting from a slightly higher £67,795 price point in its most basic eDrive40 form. That car does come with 53bhp more than the equivalent A6 e-tron, though, making it a little more appealing spec-for-spec. £97,845 is what you'll pay for the i5 M60 xDrive, a near-600bhp equivalent to the S6, but one with more dynamic polish.

Audi A6 e-tron Performance specs