Advert
The Audi A6 Avant e-tron is a big, spacious, all-electric Audi estate with a range of over 400 miles, ultra-rapid charging of 270 kW, and an excellent driving experience.
Audi has been working through its range to give us EVs such as the Q4 e-tron SUV, the Q8 e-tron SUV and the e-tron GT saloon, but there’s been no large electric estate – until now; enter the Audi A6 Avant e-tron.
The petrol/diesel-powered Audi A6 has always been front-wheel drive (or all-wheel drive), in a world where most cars in this class are rear-wheel drive. However the Audi A6 Avant is now all-electric in e-tron form and has changed from front to rear-wheel drive, with a 375 hp electric motor and a 100 kWh battery (94.9 kWh net).
The exterior design is perhaps as expected in terms of side profile and the rear, and looks good in our opinion, but the front has gained two layers of lights; we’re not wild about the frontal styling. Perhaps this isn’t helped by the grey colour of our test car, even though Audi’s official name for the colour is plasma blue metallic (if you’re considering placing an order for this colour take it from us, it’s dark grey, not blue!).
The interior design is definitely what you’d expect from Audi; the cabin looks and feels high quality, with lots of technology including a large screen in the centre, another large screen in front of the driver, even a screen in front of the passenger, a head-up display, and some physical buttons. There’s also a full-length sunroof, which can be changed from clear glass to opaque glass at the touch of a button. Other interesting design touches include the Audi logo at the rear of the car being illuminated in red.
The Audi A6 Avant e-tron is 4,928mm long with lots of rear legroom and a big 502-litre boot, which can increase to 1,422 litres with the rear seats folded down. There’s not much space under the boot floor – most of it is filled with the battery – but you get a 27-litre front trunk (frunk) which can store charging cables.
The A6 Avant e-tron weighs 2,260 kg and has a towing capacity of 2,100 kg.
The change in the latest A6 from front to rear-wheel drive is good news. Aside from meaning that there’s no wheelspin or torque steer from the combination of front-wheel drive and the high levels of torque of an electric powertrain, it results in the A6 having more rewarding handling – helped by the A6 being lower than the Q6 SUV. This is combined with excellent ride comfort – both the primary ride over smooth roads and also the secondary ride over potholes – even with its huge 21-inch alloy wheels and very low profile tyres – which is a miracle.
It gets better; the A6 has a level of agility that’s been absent in many Audis over recent years – and that’s even with the 2,260 kg kerb weight. The steering also has some feel, and you can even wrap your hands around the spokes, which is very rare in new cars, as most spokes have become too fat due to all the buttons.
All this means that the A6 Avant e-tron is a genuinely enjoyable car to drive on twisting A and B roads. In such environments the steering wheel-mounted paddles come in useful to change the level of brake regeneration for a short period. You can also choose ‘B’ on the gear selector switch for a continual level of increased brake regen.
A drive mode switch on the centre console between the front seats gives you the options of Balanced, Dynamic, Comfort and Efficiency (it will default to Balanced when you start the car). With a 0-62 mph time of 5.4 seconds, performance is perfectly sufficient, but faster variants will follow.
Although the A6 e-tron is rewarding on country roads, it’s even more at home on long motorway journeys, when the car is very comfortable, quiet and refined, as well as planted to the road at higher speeds.
Our test car featured virtual door mirrors which are more aerodynamic than traditional mirrors. The mirrors project an image from the camera onto a screen on the inside of the door. Although this is impressive technology, there are some instances, such as reversing into a parking bay, where an old-fashioned mirror gives you a better view – even though you also get a clear view on the touchscreen from the reversing camera at the rear of the car.
The infotainment system is the latest in high-tech, with an 11.9-inch central touchscreen, a 14.5-inch driver display, a head-up display, and front passengers even get their own screen. The touchscreen generally works well, primarily because – unlike many other cars – you always have permanent shortcut buttons visible on the right of the screen, and permanent climate buttons at the bottom of the screen – even when using Apple CarPlay.
Audi’s satnav mapping has been excellent over recent years, but Google Maps is now clearer than Audi’s predominantly dark graphics.
Another driver-friendly feature is a button at the end of the indicator stalk on the left of the steering wheel which switches off the lane departure warning system. The driver’s door features a large panel of buttons for locks, lights, mirrors and seats. One of our favourite controls in the cabin is the old-fashioned rotary dial for the volume.
The Audi A6 Avant e-tron performance Launch Edition, as tested, has an official WLTP combined electric driving range of 402 miles, which is the same for the Edition 1. If you opt for S line trim, this increases to 434 miles, or 435 miles for Sport trim.
After a week on test the real-world range of our test car was averaging 320 miles – so considerably less than the official figure.
The A6 Avant e-tron performance Launch Edition (and Edition 1) has an energy consumption figure of 3.7 miles/kWh; this improves to 4.1 miles/kWh for Sport and S line trim.
Another excellent selling point of the A6 Avant e-tron is its maximum ultra-rapid DC charging rate of 270 kW, which means that a 10% to 80% charge takes just 21 minutes.
There’s an 11kW onboard AC charger, and the A6 e-tron has charging sockets on both sides of the car (on the rear wings) – a Type 2 socket on the driver’s side, and a CCS socket on the passenger side. The charging sockets open and close electrically.
The A6 e-tron comes as standard with a heat pump.
The Audi A6 Avant e-tron performance Launch Edition, as tested, is priced at £87,350, so it can’t be described as an affordable EV. Our test car came with two packages, the Sound & Vision Pro Pack and the Storage and Luggage Compartment Pack.
Trim levels are Sport, S line, Edition 1 and Launch Edition. The Audi A6 e-tron is also available as a fastback saloon.
The fact that you can now buy an all-electric Audi A6 Avant, with all the space that comes with it, shows the ever-increasing progress with the range of EVs on sale. And it’s an impressive car. The driving experience is excellent, with very comfortable ride quality and rewarding rear-wheel drive handling, a genuinely premium cabin and a user-friendly infotainment system. The ultra-rapid DC charging rate of 270 kW and the official range of over 400 miles should make this practical for most people, although the real-world range fell short of this. The main issue is the cost; £87,350 is a hefty price tag. The Audi A6 Avant e-tron is awarded a Green Car Guide rating of 9 out of 10.
Drive an EV for less than you think with Select Car Leasing 
Save 20-50% on an EV through salary sacrifice with The Electric Car Scheme 
ClearWatt supports buyers, sellers and owners of EVs with app-based battery health testing and detailed EV data insights available for every used EV in the UK. Take the stress out of buying a used EV with ClearWatt and save 10% on all their products with promo code “GCG10”. 
Zapmap: UK's No.1 EV charging points app 2025. Zapmap helps EV drivers search for EV chargers, plan longer journeys and pay for charging. 
With Pod, you're in good hands. With over 15 years of EV charging experience, drivers trust Pod to keep their EVs charged and ready to go. 
Paul Clarke, GreenCarGuide Editor
