2025
Audi A6 E-tron

Our testers were universally impressed with the E-Tron’s electric powertrain. Its long range and strong, instantaneous acceleration were frequently mentioned as strengths. One tester said, “An overall nicely tuned electric powertrain. Power builds linearly with pedal position, and there’s a lot of it.”

Don’t misunderstand this: The A6 E-Tron can get up and flat-out accelerate when the driver asks it to. It’s just that the general “mood” is one of restrained strength. Another tester commented that “the AWD system does a great job putting the power down even while flooring it while turning from a stop, with just a trace of torque steer.” A different tester remarked that tapping the power felt a lot like driving an older A6 with the strong and enjoyable supercharged V6 engine.

Borrowing a still-relevant cliché that was common during an earlier era of automotive criticism, the A6 E-Tron is akin to a muscular athlete in a suit: The strength and performance are clear, but they don’t always have to be on full display.

Similar to the praise that was given to the powertrain, our testers also liked how Audi tuned the one-pedal driving feature. “This is Audi’s best implementation of one pedal driving so far,” said one tester. “It’s smooth but decisive, with an appropriate amount of deceleration. And it does bring the car to a gentle stop.”

Sliding the gear selector into the B setting engages one-pedal driving. In it, the A6 will slow aggressively when the driver lifts off the accelerator pedal, quickly bringing the vehicle to a complete stop. When the driver isn’t in B mode, manual deceleration is engaged using the paddles behind the steering wheel. There are two levels of deceleration, with “Level 2” providing stronger deceleration, but not as much as the B setting.

As we experienced in the Q6, the A6 E-Tron will coast on flat roads or ones with very slight declines, allowing it to roll along without any regenerative braking kicking in. This is nice both on the highway and around town, and allows the driver to use either the brake pedal or the paddles to slow down. The same tester as above added that there’s a “nice balance between coasting most of the time, but then in some [downhill] sections … I’d put it in level one regen just to make it easier to maintain speed.”

Pulling the paddles engages coast mode, allowing the car to roll along without any regenerative braking kicking in. This is nice both on the highway and around town, and allows the driver to use either the brake pedal or the paddles to slow down.

The creep feature is always active except when in one-pedal mode. This makes the driving experience feel more like a conventional gas-engine vehicle with an automatic transmission, as it can slowly pull forward when lifting off the brake pedal, such as when waiting in a drive-through line or when yielding at an intersection.

Unlike our Q6 E-Tron, which we took delivery of in mid-winter, we have been driving the A6 E-Tron through warm, enjoyable temperatures. This allowed us to really experience the car’s range under better conditions. Our test car has an EPA rating of 333 miles of range on a full charge, and that figure felt pretty spot on. We’ll share the results of our highway range test as soon as it’s complete.

One tester said that they drove “300 miles in the car and it was showing 3.6 mi/kWh, which is great. Range seems really strong, too. I drove all weekend without even thinking about having to charge.”

Another tester commented that they could just drive the car and take care of all their family’s needs without any range anxiety.

I drove the A6 E-Tron from our test track in Colchester to East Northport, NY, and back—a more than 300-mile trip. After leaving the test track with a full charge, all I needed to make it home without worry was a short 20-minute charge session at a highway rest stop. The coasting really allowed me to maximize range on the highway.

Much like Audi’s other new and recently redesigned models, the A6 handles well, but there’s nothing remarkable or class-leading about it. The car’s hefty 5,239-pound curb weight (per our own measurements) works to its advantage because it makes it feel planted. There’s little body roll and quick turn in response, and the A6 E-Tron corners flat. “Body roll is low even when pushing it,” said one tester, “and it’s quite stable even if you give a more abrupt throttle or steering input mid-corner.”

Unlike with the Q6, drivers also said that the steering is responsive without feeling darty or touchy. This makes it easy to maintain lane positioning at highway speeds.

It isn’t perfect, though. Nearly every tester said that the steering lacks feedback. One tester said that at speed, particularly in corners, the car would go from stable to unstable, then back to stable as speed increased. We’ll explore this when we conduct our road-handling and avoidance-maneuver evaluations.

No, this isn’t “auto journalists miss wagons, so a hatchback will do.” Most of us really like the hatchback (or Sportback, in Audi parlance) bodystyle and some of the features that come with it. For example, it’s nice that a cargo cover is included, something many SUVs either lack or make an extra-cost option. Plus, the rigid cargo cover is nicely integrated into the trim on the physical hatch and the cargo area. One tester noted that it’s nice to have the ability to power close and lock the A6 E-Tron with a button on the hatch.

The majority of our staff commented on the Sportback’s versatility. With the rear seats up, there’s plenty of space for luggage or groceries. Fold them down, and an adult-sized bicycle can fit. This stands in stark contrast to the small-ish trunk on the BMW i5 sedan.

The hatchback design, combined with the coupelike rear glass profile, does have negative implications for visibility (more on that below).

Most drivers found the front seats to be comfortable and supportive, even for long drives. The seat cushions are on the firm side, though they still have a plush feel. The bolsters on the backrest and bottom cushion provide just enough body-hugging support for twisty roads without feeling confining. The bottom cushion provides a nice pocket to further hold the occupant in place, and the four-way power-adjustable lumbar support earned applause.

Those who had issues with the seat said they felt a few distinct pressure points, particularly on the seatback.

“It’s so quiet that it makes it too easy to go fast.” That quote from our pre-writing meeting pretty much sums up the A6 E-Tron. At speeds below 55 mph, it’s extremely quiet, with well-sealed doors and windows. We didn’t experience any whining from the electric motors, a problem that plagues some EVs. Wind noise is pretty much muted below higher highway speeds, at which point it becomes a bit more noticeable. The only sounds that stand out are road and tire noise, particularly on the highway, where the slap from the big 20-inch tires over pavement seams and cracks punches through.

As much as we all like the idea and execution of the Sportback bodystyle for its generous cargo room, the styling impacts rear visibility. “The rear window is practically a slit,” “The visibility isn’t too bad other than the rear,” and “the rear window was so short I felt like I was missing out on seeing a lot of the road behind me.” Those are just a few of the comments on the view directly back.

But let’s start up front, where the view out over the E-Tron’s nose is acceptable. The windshield pillars are relatively thin, but get fairly wide at their base where they meet the dashboard. Some drivers found the dashboard tall where it meets the windshield, which makes it a challenge to know where the A6’s nose is when parking. While the surround view camera helps, there can be a slight delay before the infotainment screen catches up with reality.

There isn’t any gap between the side mirrors and the windshield/A-pillar, so that makes turning at intersections and navigating parking lots a challenge. Most drivers said the thick B-pillar makes lane changes a big challenge, and they would rely on the blind spot warning system when moving over. “I did not have a ton of confidence when changing lanes,” one tester said. A few drivers said their seating position basically put the B-pillar at the side of their head, so the view over the left shoulder was almost non-existent.

Views out of the passenger side windows aren’t much better, mainly because of the thick B-pillar and the seatback and head restraint for the front passenger. There is a small quarter window between the C- and D-pillars that is fairly useful, but overall, side visibility is lacking. “This would be scary to drive in a city where there are a lot of e-bike delivery riders,” said another tester.

The view directly back is a big challenge—not only from the chunky D-pillars and slit-like window, but also from the tall, bulky head restraints that block some of it.

As another tester said, “Ultimately, you end up relying a lot on the excellent surround view camera,” when reversing or parking.

A number of testers said that the steering wheel wouldn’t go low enough for them to find a comfortable seating position. Those who said this ranged in height from five and a half feet tall to well over six feet tall, so it’s not a body-size issue. A few drivers raised the seat up higher than they wanted to account for this frustration.

Getting into and out of the A6 E-Tron is a challenge that starts with the exterior door handles. There’s a space to grab, just like a handle that lifts up to open the door. But instead, there is a touchpad that needs to be pressed to release the door latch. There’s a noticeable delay between pressing the pad and the door releasing. It isn’t a deal-breaker, and at least the door handles don’t disappear into the door like on other EVs, but it’s annoying.

That’s when the gymnastics begin. The car sits fairly low, and the steeply raked windshield pillars and low, swoopy roofline really compromise cabin access. Front-seat occupants have to duck their heads to avoid hitting the roof or the windshield pillar. The process is made worse by the relatively large seat bolsters that drivers and passengers have to navigate over and across. The end result is that you fall into the car more than step into it. Closing the door also becomes a problem because the new control panel on the driver’s door has the grab handle far away from the driver’s seat, so it can be awkward to pull the door shut when it’s fully open.

Exiting the A6 is challenging because there isn’t much to grab onto as you get out of the seat.

Getting into the rear seat is even worse. In addition to the sloping roofline and prominent roof pillar, the footpath is fairly narrow. Once inside, there isn’t much footroom under the front seats. Getting out is a bit easier since the passengers can swing their feet out of the car before standing up.

Every new and redesigned Audi features a new control panel on the driver’s door. In addition to the lock and unlock buttons and mirror controls that typically occupy this space, Audi added seat memory, child lock, and headlight buttons. All are on a touch-sensitive panel that moves when the driver makes a selection, making it difficult to use.

The location pushes the window controls farther back along the armrest, making them awkward to access, particularly for people who sit closer to the steering wheel. The positioning is just unnatural compared with nearly every other vehicle.

There’s little delineation between the buttons on the panel. For example, it’s easy for the driver to inadvertently fold the side mirrors because they pressed the wrong portion of the pad. This is, at best, a distraction—their motion takes their eyes away from the road. At worst, it’s dangerous because the mirrors could fold at the moment they’re needed. The only separation between each “button” is a small raised line.

The controls on each side of the steering wheel spokes are similarly frustrating. The center of each pad has controls that can be adjusted just by touch, such as audio volume or the screen in front of the driver. The controls at each corner of the pads are like the ones on the driver’s door. They are all part of the same pad but must be pressed to engage. Like the door controls, the only separation between the “buttons” is small raised lines. And because the controls are on a single plane, they can’t easily be operated by feel.

The navigation system failed to impress a few testers. One found that it was too slow to show information about the next turn, which resulted in him regularly missing turns. Using the map view in the gauge cluster helped, but there’s no reason why that should be a workaround when the navigation app is already displayed on the center screen.

Another tester could not get the system to respond to voice commands when the car was moving, preventing them from entering a destination mid-trip. The “solution” that Audi software suggested via a pop-up message on the screen: use the handwriting function on the center screen to enter the information! That may be the ultimate in forced distracted driving.

If the user wants to cancel the route, the small checkered flag with an “X” over it that they are supposed to press is not immediately obvious, and it is a challenge to press it while driving.

Audi continues to use power-operated charge port doors on its EVs. This caused problems on our Q6 E-Tron during a snow and freezing rain weather event, where the doors iced up and couldn’t be opened. The manual door on the Q4 is easier to operate, and the design doesn’t take anything away from the experience.

A few little things were also annoying

• Making manual adjustments to the fan speed requires multiple taps on the infotainment screen to get to the proper climate settings page.
• The On/Off toggles in the infotainment system are shaded similarly whether they’re on or off. It’s an annoying thing to have to guess at when driving. Given how often automakers (or their software development partners) change things for the sake of change, it isn’t out of the question that the slide toggles would work opposite to convention.
• The E-Tron is yet another EV that comes from the factory programmed to turn off when the driver’s door is opened and the car is in park. Stopping at the end of the driveway to grab the mail or a newspaper, or move a toy/bicycle/object out of the way, necessitates restarting the car just to make it to the parking spot.

What We'll Keep an Eye On

Audi has charge ports on both sides of the A6, similar to those found on the Q6 E-Tron and Porsche Taycan. The right side of the car has a low-speed J1772 AC port, while the left side has a CCS (Combined Charging System) port, which can accommodate both low-speed AC charging and DC fast charging. This offers more parking options with low-speed chargers, though drivers will likely have to back into a parking space to allow the DC fast charging cable to reach the port. Opinions are mixed on this arrangement, particularly because Audi has yet to add a NACS (North American Charging System) "Tesla-style" port.

Initial impressions of the A6 E-Tron’s ride comfort ranged from mostly positive to neutral. Everyone agrees that it’s stiff, though not to the same level as we experienced in the Q6 E-Tron. “Firm, but not abusive” is the way one tester summed it up. Some of that firmness undoubtedly comes from the 20-inch wheels that Audi shod with all-season, run-flat tires. Run flats are stiffer than regular tires by design. Overall, the car’s suspension does a good job of absorbing the impact from most road imperfections. Drivers found it appropriately taut for the sporty nature of the car. 

But there are times, such as when a single tire hits a pothole, that a harsh jolt punches through. In addition, multiple bumps in a row can upset the car to the point of feeling jittery.

Even though most drivers found the driving range plentiful, we will still confirm the EPA rating by running the A6 E-Tron through our EV highway range test at a continuous 70 mph to see how it performs in the real world.

The A6 E-Tron comes standard with automatic emergency braking, blind spot warning, rear cross traffic warning, lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, rear parking assistance, and driver attention monitoring.

The general sentiment on the A6 E-Tron (and the Q6) is that the lane keeping assistance (LKA) can feel intrusive, lane centering assistance (LCA) is pretty good, except that there were times when the car would wander between the lane markers. However, it did struggle with wider lanes and would sometimes force the driver to take over. At slower speeds, the LCA system pulls on the steering wheel more noticeably. Adaptive cruise control (ACC) is very smooth with acceleration and deceleration, but it can behave unpredictably and speed up into the back of a vehicle for no apparent reason. This is something we will keep an eye on. While there isn’t a direct driver monitoring system (DDMS), both ACC and LCA can be used independently.