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The Audi Q6 Sportback e-tron offers space, refinement, the normal high quality Audi interior, an official WLTP driving range of up to 374 miles and 260 kW ultra-rapid charging.
The original Audi e-tron SUV appeared in 2019, which later became the Audi Q8 e-tron, before production was ended. We’ve also had the smaller Audi Q4 e-tron SUV. The Audi Q6 e-tron, not surprisingly, is designed to fit in between these two models, and the Sportback version is now available, which, as the name suggests, aims to give the Q6 a more sporty appearance compared to the more practical shape of the SUV.
The Audi Q6 e-tron is based on the same bespoke electric platform as the Porsche Macan EV. The new ‘Premium Platform Electric’ (PPE) features 800-volt technology which allows ultra-rapid charging. Our Q6 Sportback S line e-tron performance test car had a 100 kWh battery (94.9 kWh usable capacity) and rear-wheel drive.
The Q6 e-tron’s exterior styling looks like a typical large, wide, chunky Audi SUV. Styling at the rear is very similar to other electric SUVs from the brand; the front looks quite fussy, and as this review was being written, Audi announced that it is having a ‘design reset’, with a much cleaner, more simple design style going forwards, as previewed by the Concept C, which looks reminiscent of the original Audi TT. The visual appearance of our test car wasn’t enhanced by its grey colour, although Audi calls this colour ‘Plasma Blue’.
The interior also won’t be a surprise to Audi owners, giving an impression of high quality and high tech. Rear legroom is generous, and the boot is spacious at 511-litres, which can be increased to 1,373 litres with the rear seats folded down, and there’s also a 64-litre front trunk (‘frunk’). You do lose some height in the boot due to the fastback rather than SUV body shape (the SUV model has a slightly larger 526-litre boot). A useful feature is the ability to store the parcel shelf under the boot floor.
The Q6 e-tron driving experience is as refined as you would expect from an Audi, with the normal instant torque from the electric powertrain and a 0-62 mph time of 6.7 seconds. It’s more comfort-focused than the tighter Porsche Macan, and the higher profile tyres than the previous Q6 e-tron SUV that we tested meant that our Q6 Sportback e-tron had slightly more comfortable ride quality, but the ride is still firm. Overall the Q6 Sportback e-tron feels heavy (it weighs 2,400 kg) rather than an agile driver’s car, so you don’t feel as though you get maximum handling benefit from the rear-wheel drive chassis.
There’s also some road noise on certain surfaces, with the large wheels and tyres being a key factor in this.
The small gear selector on the centre console gives you the options of R, N, D and B for increased brake regeneration, and there are also steering wheel-mounted paddles to change the level of regen. A Drive Select button gives you drive modes of balanced, dynamic, comfort and efficiency.
The e-tron’s cabin looks and feels high tech. The dashboard features a wide curved screen incorporating the driver’s display and the central touchscreen, which provides detailed mapping, and there’s also a head-up display.
The touchscreen has helpful permanent shortcuts on the right of the screen for features such as Home, Radio, Phone and Nav and Apple CarPlay. Some basic climate controls are always visible at the bottom of the screen but there’s no obvious button for Climate; you have to press the fan symbol to bring up the full Climate menu on screen to change fan or ventilation settings.
You can easily switch off the lane departure warning system with a press of the button at the end of the left-hand steering wheel stalk. But if you set up the e-tron to your liking, many of your preferences will have to be re-set if you get out of the driver’s seat, when the car will switch itself off.
If you’re looking for controls for the lights, they’ve moved to the panel on the door where the mirror controls are located.
Our Audi Q6 Sportback e-tron had a price tag of £70,240 yet it was our first Audi press car in many years that had manual rather than electric seat adjustment.
The Audi Q6 Sportback S line e-tron performance has an official WLTP combined electric driving range of 374 miles. Although we’ve won various eco-driving competitions over the years, in normal driving, we couldn’t get close to this figure. After a week on test the Q6 e-tron’s range was averaging 278 miles, almost 100 miles less than the official figure. The Q6 Sportback S line e-tron performance has an official WLTP consumption figure of 3.5 miles/kWh.
The Q6 e-tron has an impressive maximum rapid charging rate of 260 kW, which should deliver a 10% to 80% charging time in just 22 minutes, allowing over 150 miles of range to be added in just 10 minutes. It can also charge at up to 11 kW AC.
The Q6 Sportback e-tron has not one, but two, charging sockets either side on the rear of the car, a Type 2 socket on the driver’s side, and a CCS (including a Type 2) socket on the passenger side.
Equipped with Plug & Charge, the Q6 e-tron authorises itself at compatible charging stations when the charging cable is plugged in and commences the charging process. Charging is also fully automatic. If a charging station works with 400-volt technology, the Audi Q6 e-tron can, for the first time, enable bank charging. This means that the 800-volt battery is automatically divided into two batteries at equal voltage, which can then be charged in parallel with up to 150 kW.
The Audi Q6 Sportback S line e-tron performance is priced at £70,240. Our test car had the option of Plasma Blue metallic paint (£725) (we would still say this is more grey than blue).
The Q6 e-tron is available in three trim lines, Sport, S line and Edition 1. All-wheel drive is available as well as rear-wheel drive, and the Q6 e-tron also comes in an SUV body style.
The Audi Q6 Sportback e-tron is what you would expect from an electric Audi SUV. It looks the part, the interior is well designed with high quality materials and the latest technology. It’s refined to drive and it’s spacious. However it feels heavy rather than agile to drive, the real-life driving range was disappointing, and manual seat adjustment seems surprising for a car that costs £70,000. The Audi Q6 Sportback e-tron is awarded a Green Car Guide rating of 8 out of 10.
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