Audi A6 Sportback e-tron (2025) Review

Introduction

The Audi A6 has been a huge hit for Audi, having spent more than 30 years competing with the BMW 5 Series and the Mercedes-Benz E-Class at the top of the executive car tree. But just as Mercedes and BMW are offering electric models based on the E-Class and 5 Series, the time has come for Audi to introduce a battery-powered A6 e-tron model.

The car in question is not quite a direct replacement for the outgoing A6 petrol, diesel and hybrid models – there will still be a combustion-powered A6 in Audi’s range going forward – but it’s a sleek, stylish, complementary model that sits alongside more conventionally powered cars. Majoring on range and technology, the five-door fastback is set to give the Mercedes-Benz EQE and BMW i5 a run for their money, but can the all-new Audi prevail against such competent competitors?

At a Glance

The new A6 Sportback e-tron looks a little more rounded than the old A6, but it’s still immediately recognisable as an Audi. The design is more aerodynamic than before, and technology plays a starring role even on the outside, where you get customisable light signatures, which offer customers a choice of different patterns to tweak the design of their vehicle.

Inside, meanwhile, the dashboard is even more tech-orientated than before, with a massive curved housing that plays host to the digital instrument display and the central touchscreen, both of which are sharp and smartly designed. Customers can also get a head-up display projected on the windscreen and a passenger-specific touchscreen on the passenger’s side of the dashboard. Space is ample, too, and the quality is every bit as robust as you’d expect from Audi, even if the design is hardly minimalist.

But the big draw of the A6 e-tron will likely be the massive battery under the floor. The base model’s 83kWh battery is big, but the 100kWh battery offered in all but the cheapest model offers an impressive range. The longest range comes from the ‘Performance’ model, which claims to cover up to 463 miles on a single charge.

And the A6 Sportback e-tron isn’t just efficient. It’s also very pleasant to drive, with Audi placing more emphasis on ride and handling in a bid to challenge the class-leading BMW i5. As a result, the A6 Sportback e-tron is very comfortable, and it handles better than the old combustion-powered A6, too, thanks to sharper steering and better suspension. It still isn’t as lively as the BMW, though.

Key Features

Audi has always been heavily invested in build quality and technology, both of which are key selling points of the brand’s products. And the new A6 Sportback e-tron is no exception, with a digital instrument display and central touchscreen residing in one massive display that spans much of the dashboard. Admittedly, the instrument cluster doesn’t quite have the appeal of the old Virtual Cockpit system in the outgoing A6, but it’s clear and easy enough to use, while the touchscreen is sharp and chock full of useful features. And, of course, there’s a brilliant head-up display on offer, as well as a clever passenger display for those in the left-hand seat.

And with the A6 Sportback e-tron, it isn’t just the screens that are high-tech. You get a choice of eight different light signatures at the front and rear to help with customisation, but that shouldn’t detract from the technology under the skin. Audi has given the A6 e-tron a choice of two massive batteries, which provide plenty of range. Official figures suggest even the smaller of the two power packs gives the A6 Sportback e-tron a range of 383 miles, while the bigger battery can up that to as much as 463 miles, depending on which motor layout you choose. Either way, the car’s official efficiency is remarkable and very useful in the real world, if not quite as impressive as the figures suggest.

Range & Batteries

The basic A6 Sportback e-tron comes with an 83kWh battery pack that feeds a single rear-mounted electric motor, but all other versions come with a bigger 100kWh battery pack.

But even the smaller of the two offers reasonable range, with the official economy test pegging it at up to 383 miles between charges, while the bigger battery claims a massive 463-mile range when paired with the Performance electric motor. And while it’s true that the more powerful, two-motor, all-wheel-drive Quattro and S6 models won’t manage the same range on a charge, they still claim more than 400 miles of autonomy on the official test.

In the real world, then, every A6 Sportback e-tron should manage more than 200 miles of motorway range between trips to the plug, but the single-motor Performance model should offer the greatest range of the lot, easily covering more than 250 miles on a charge, as long as you don’t drive like your hair is on fire. As is so often the way with electric Audis, though, you’ll struggle to get anywhere near the claimed economy unless you drive like a saint in the right conditions and on the right kind of roads.

Performance & Drive

Although the A6 Sportback e-tron is solely available in electric form, it still comes with a plethora of different versions for customers to choose from. Kicking things off is the base model, which uses an 83kWh to power a 326hp electric motor that drives the rear wheels alone. For many, that will be more than enough – particularly with a 0-62mph time of six seconds and a top speed of 130mph – but we’d recommend customers consider the more upmarket Performance model.

Using a 100kWh battery, it offers considerably more range than the base model – almost 100 miles, if official figures are to be believed – yet it still offers considerably more power and performance. The single electric motor still drives the rear wheels, but it offers 380hp, which cuts more than half a second from the 0-62mph time and offers the same, electronically limited top speed of 130mph.

Some customers, on the other hand, will prefer an all-wheel-drive A6 Sportback e-tron, and those customers are catered for by the Quattro. It has the same 100kWh battery as the Performance, but it adds a second electric motor to the mix, allowing the car to distribute 462hp between all four wheels. That means you get more traction – good news if you live somewhere prone to snowfall in winter – but you also get ballistic performance in the dry, with a 0-62mph time of just 4.5 seconds.

Finally, the range is topped by the S6 Sportback e-tron, which works in much the same way as the Quattro, but it provides a power hike to 551hp. That means getting from 0-62mph takes a mere 3.9 seconds, while the top speed has been raised to 149mph.

Whichever version you choose, the A6 e-tron will be quite a comfortable companion, riding the bumps with composure and preventing too many undulations from disrupting the comfort of that upmarket cabin. And Audi has fine-tuned the car’s handling in a bid to bring it closer to the BMW 5 Series than the old A6 ever managed.

To a large extent, the upgrade has worked – the A6 Sportback e-tron feels more engaging than any A6 model before it, with neat, tidy handling and a well-balanced chassis set-up – but it’s still more comfort-orientated than the BMW i5 with which it competes, so keen drivers will still prefer the BMW.

That said, the A6 Sportback e-tron is one of the most engaging Audi saloons since the e-tron GT was launched, and its balance of comfort and driver involvement is arguably more appealing than that of the i5 or the Mercedes-Benz EQE.

Charging

Although there are different battery options available for the A6 Sportback e-tron, both get impressive charging speeds. Even the basic model with the 83kWh battery can charge at speeds of up to 225kW when it’s hooked up to the right charging point, while the bigger 100kWh batteries will charge at up to 270kW. At that speed, the 100kWh battery can be filled from 10% to 80% in just 21 minutes, although achieving such speed will depend on various things, including atmospheric conditions and battery condition.

And the A6 Sportback e-tron will charge happily using more conventional AC power supplies, such as the one found from a ‘wallbox’ domestic charging point. Using one of those, you should be able to top the car’s battery up completely overnight, although with most wallboxes charging at around 7kW, it will take a while if the battery level is really low.

Running Costs & Emissions

With no combustion engines to be seen or heard, the Audi A6 e-tron will be cheaper to run than any combustion-powered rival, especially if you regularly charge at home. Cheap-rate electricity will give the A6 e-tron plenty of real-world range for a fraction the price of a tank of petrol, and even public charging will likely prove cheaper than filling up with fossil fuels.

However, the real benefit of the A6 Sportback e-tron will be for company car drivers. Zero tailpipe carbon dioxide emissions means Benefit-in-Kind taxation will be as low as possible, making it a no-brainer for those leasing a company funded executive saloon. That said, though, the same tax advantages apply to the BMW i5, Mercedes-Benz EQE, and every other electric car on the market, so it doesn’t put the Audi ahead of its battery-powered rivals in any way.

Interior & Technology

The new A6 e-tron’s interior takes plenty from the latest-generation A5, so it comes with a massive curved bank of screens that houses the digital instrument display and the touchscreen. That forms the focal point of a cabin filled with upmarket materials and constructed with Audi’s trademark attention to detail, but there’s no doubt technology is the highlight.

However, there are some flaws in the design. The digital instrument cluster, for example, is very sharp, very clear and presents all the information you need, but it doesn’t have the configuration options of the Virtual Cockpit fitted to the old A6, and it feels less special as a result. And because Audi has eliminated a number of buttons from the dashboard, the central touchscreen takes on some fresh responsibilities.

Perhaps the most notable of these is the climate control system, which now lives in the screen. Often, such an arrangement is as awkward as it is inadvisable, but Audi has left temperature controls in a toolbar at the foot of the screen so they’re always accessible, along with some other useful functions. The end result is a tidier execution of touchscreen climate control than most companies manage, but it’s still imperfect.

Less imperfect is the head-up display, which covers a surprisingly large area of the windscreen and offers augmented reality features, such as turn directions superimposed over the world outside, showing you which road to take at complex junctions. It also has some more superfluous – but no less appealing – features, such as the speed display that gets smaller when you brake and larger when you accelerate, adding to the sense of speed.

The other impressive tech feature is the optional passenger display, which offers all the talents of the central touchscreen but presents it to the front seat passenger in a clean, minimalist and user-friendly way. In fairness, the passenger display will rightly be deemed unnecessary by many customers, but that doesn’t stop it being a well-executed addition to the A6 e-tron’s cabin.

Certainly, it’s more user-friendly than the buttons on the A6 e-tron’s steering wheel. They’re crammed onto the spokes of the wheel with little space between them and little difference in feel, so it’s easy for a clumsy driver to press the wrong one, which can be somewhat irritating. And the window switches are no better.

But otherwise, the A6 e-tron’s cabin is remarkably well made, with all the upmarket materials feeling solid and well stitched together, giving it a premium and robust feel. In short, it’s exactly how you expect an Audi’s interior to feel.

Practicality & Boot Space

As the Sportback name suggests, the new A6 Sportback e-tron is not actually a saloon car, but a hatchback. Whereas the old, combustion-engined A6’s boot aperture had the aspect ratio of a letterbox, the new model sees the rear window lift with the bootlid, creating a gaping tailgate that makes filling the luggage compartment more straightforward.

Officially, that luggage compartment measures 502 litres, which puts it roughly on a par with the BMW i5 and should provide more than enough space for most. Interestingly, it’s exactly the same space you get from the estate version – the A6 Avant e-tron – on paper, although the numbers are a bit misleading because of the way in which the estate’s boot space is measured.

Even so, the A6 Sportback e-tron should be spacious enough for most, even with that svelte roofline that makes it look so appealing. Admittedly, it does limit rear headroom slightly, but only the tallest adults will really suffer from a lack of space back there. For most, the ample legroom will make life more than comfortable enough.

Especially as neither your passengers nor their luggage will have to share space with dirty, unsightly and sometimes damp charging cables. All versions of the A6 Sportback e-tron come with a 27-litre storage area under the bonnet, allowing you to stow the cables up front, so there’s no need to drape wet cables over your luggage and spoil your nice new suitcases.

Safety

The new A6 e-tron performed astonishingly well when it was crash-tested by Euro NCAP, the European independent safety body. Not only did it romp to a maximum five-star rating, but it achieved scores of more than 90% for both adult and child occupant protection, making it one of the safest new electric cars on the road.

Hopefully, however, customers won’t ever have to test those credentials, and Audi has certainly fitted lots of safety kit to help keep you clear of trouble. Even the base models come with a 360-degree parking camera and adaptive cruise control that maintains a safe distance to the car in front. Lane departure warning and autonomous emergency braking, which can stop the car automatically if the driver fails to react to a hazard, are both included as standard, too.

Options

Audi is offering the A6 Sportback e-tron in a choice of three different trim levels at launch, with the Sport model marking the entry point in the line-up. That car comes with plenty of equipment, despite its lowly place in the range, getting 20-inch alloy wheels, heated front seats and three-zone climate control. A 360-degree parking camera and adaptive cruise control are both thrown in, too.

Moving up to the S Line version gets you sportier styling including some bespoke 20-inch wheel designs, privacy glass and a flat-bottomed steering wheel, as well as sportier seats and stainless steel pedals. All those features apply to the Edition 1 models, but they also adds red brake callipers, heated rear seats and the passenger touchscreen, as well as 21-inch alloy wheels and dark exterior trim accents.

Once you’ve made your choice, there’s the usual fleet of wheel designs, interior trims and colours (may we recommend the gorgeous Malpelo Blue?) on offer, as well as some other choice options. The Sound and Vision pack, with its augmented reality head-up display, Bang & Olufsen sound system and various other goodies, is a particularly desirable addition to the standard specification.

Rival Cars

The A6 e-tron faces an ever-growing cadre of rivals, and the market seems to get more and more competitive as the months go by.

Naturally, the main alternative is the BMW i5, which is the keen driver’s choice in this part of the new car market, and comes with plenty of space, lots of tech and a cool, upmarket image. But the other main rival is the Mercedes-Benz EQE, which has a huge battery and majors on range, as well as having a streamlined body shape and some massive screens in the cabin.

But the A6 Sportback e-tron’s rivals don’t just come from southern Germany. Over in South Korea, Hyundai-owned premium brand Genesis is building the very comfortable, very usable Electrified G80, which is beautifully built and quite pleasant to drive, if a little bit cramped in the back.

Volvo is set to enter the market soon, too, with the forthcoming ES90 electric saloon, while Volkswagen’s ID.7 is a more budget-friendly alternative to the Audi despite having some of the same technology on board.

And for those who can stomach the idea of driving a Tesla, the Model 3 is a much better car than ever before, with improved handling, ride comfort and looks. It may be smaller than the Audi on the outside, but it’s roomy and better made than its predecessor, which may put it in the Audi’s path.

If, on the other hand, you value sportiness over practicality, the Porsche Taycan might be a compelling choice for some, with great range in its less powerful forms and spectacular handling, as well as great performance. Rear cabin space isn’t brilliant, it’s true, but if you think of it as more of a four-door sports car than as a saloon, it’s a stunning electric vehicle.

Verdict & Next Steps

Although the A6 e-tron doesn’t necessarily deliver the astonishing range it promises, there’s no doubt this is one of the most useful electric cars out there. Pleasant to drive, comfortable and well equipped, it’s the ideal electric executive car for many customers, and we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it. The only thing to do now is to choose which version you want.

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**Score based on Select’s unique meta score analysis, taking into account the UK’s top leading independent car website reviews of the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron.

**Correct as of 21/03/2025. Based on 9 months initial payment, 5,000 miles annually, over a 48 month lease. Initial payment equivalent to 9 monthly payments, or £5,464.80 (Plus admin fee) Ts and Cs apply. Credit is subject to status.