Corporate comfort: Can Audi’s A6 e-tron outshine German rivals?

Audi’s plan was simple at the start of this year: even numbers for the electric models and odds for the rest. Then they got cold feet.

Amid stuttering electric vehicle (EV) sales last year, concerns arose that most current A6 buyers might not transition to electric nor appreciate being forced to choose either A5 or A7 if they preferred combustion power.

So Audi reverted to the norm: the A6 will be offered in combustion engine versions alongside this all-electric “e-tron” version.

U-turns like this – carrying both financial and reputational costs – don’t exactly inspire confidence in a brand’s boardroom. Yet it was probably the right call, albeit belatedly announced.

Corporate comfort: Can Audi’s A6 e-tron outshine German rivals?

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The name reversal symbolises wider turmoil within the Audi brand and its parent. Up to 7,500 jobs in Germany will be cut over the next four years. It follows 9,500 production job cuts since 2019. This is largely due to sales trouble in its big global markets, such as China.

While the publicity talk is all about an electric future, in the boardroom at Audi’s Ingolstadt headquarters, one suspects the threat of a global trade war takes precedence.

Into these uncertain times arrives the new Audi A6 e-tron. Its styling reflects the turmoil at head office. It’s certainly smart, and in our Avant/estate format admirably sleek, but from some angles it also looks surprisingly like a Peugeot. And the Sportback version has a silhouette that could be an homage to the discontinued Ford Mondeo.

You can take that many ways: as a critique of Audi or acclaim for Peugeot. I’d opt for the latter, for the French car brand is turning out some intriguing designs these days. The point is that it requires a bit of a leap for the current Audi A6 owner, used to decades of conservative “evolution”.

And for all the time Audi has spent on naming conventions, the recently arrived design boss, Massimo Frascella, should now focus on the front nose. Having decided 20 years ago that big grilles were the defining design signature for the brand, it’s now struggling with what to do in the age of electric, where grilles are redundant. Certainly, the plastic facade that adorns the otherwise impressive Q4 e-tron isn’t the answer.

The good news is that Frascella, who arrived from Jaguar Land Rover last June, knows exactly how to style alluring premium cars. He was instrumental in designing the likes of the new Land Rover Defender and Range Rover Sport. There are reports he is already working on a sleek revival of Audi’s famous TT.

On a more positive note right now, the A6 interior is as polished and premium as you’d expect, the MMI interface – with controls displayed on the 14.5in touchscreen – is as intuitive as you’d hope, and Audi is fighting hard against its German rivals to retain its place as the benchmark. Here, the cabin is consistently good without making any grand technological leaps.

In terms of space, legroom is decent in the back, suffering the same fate as most EVs in that the high floor means that your knees are more crouched than you’d expect from a full-scale executive saloon, but there is plenty of room between passenger and front seats. Oddly, boot space is 502 litres in both the Avant and Sportback, so you only get the added benefit of “estate” format when you fold down the rear seats.

Which, given the Sportback can eke out an extra 30km to 50km of range over it sibling – along with being nearly €2,000 cheaper – makes the Avant less attractive.

Our test car boasted 270kW (362hp) charged by a 100kW gross capacity battery pack, with an officially listed range of 751km.

Our car was, however, laden with heavy optional extras and the official range figure specifically for our car was 658km. Out in the real world, our car was delivering 22kW/h per 100km, which suggested a top range closer to 500km.

Charging is one of the A6’s trump cards. It might not match the reported advances by BYD that will allow EVs to fully charge in five minutes, but thanks to a high-powered 800-volt charging system, it can charge at up to and can add as much as 310km of extra range in just 10 minutes of charging. That’s of course if you can find a superfast charger – and one that’s working properly.

An admirable feature on the A6 e-tron is that you get a Type 2 charging port on both sides of the car, which is useful at charging points with short leads and also on awkward driveways.

As expected, the on-road experience is defined by refinement. Even in a class that sets very high standards, this A6 proved to be impressively poised.

The battle here is mastering the agility of a 2.3-tonne car with a low centre of gravity. The A6 cruises smoothly at motorway speeds, just as you’d expect from a big German executive car, and is adept around town, even on the optional 21in alloys.

When you start to push on, the power is delivered smoothly. Acceleration is sharp with a sprint to 100km/h in 5.4 seconds in our Performance version – even the entry model managed it in 6 seconds.

There is also a very good manual regenerative braking set-up, controlled from the steering wheel paddles, that can be used to mimic engine braking.

The decision to opt for rear-wheel drive for its single motor versions is a step away for Audi – one that was heralded in the Q6 e-tron. Does it make a noticeable difference? It does to the balance when you are weaving through the bends on Irish country roads littered with muck from tractors.

Yet it never loses that sense of composure you expect from this car, always erring to a sensible rather than sporty drive.

In the pursuit of the corporate executive cash, Audi’s new A6 e-tron is competitively priced at €76,600 for the 210kW Advance version in sportback format.

Our test car was the mid-level Performance S Line version, which starts at €92,775 but tipped into six figures with the addition of nearly €21,000 worth of options. It’s odd that so much was spent on options, for there is plenty of equipment and comfort features offered as standard.

Of the options on our car, one deserves special mention: the virtual exterior mirrors at €1,861. Audi claims that replacing the wing mirror with a camera that projects on to a screen on the door delivers a few extra kilometres in range, but its main purpose is as a talking point. It’s meant to convey tech kudos on the owner.

We’ve tested these cameras on several cars at this stage, and on every occasion, the tech is simply not as useful as the simple wing mirror. Save your money.

Rivals like the Mercedes EQE and the BMW i5 are more engaging and fun to drive, but the A6 e-tron can match them for poise, range and refinement. In this corporate car park challenge, the Audi EV is the comfortable choice.