Audi A6 e-tron Sportback: What is Audi’s future like to drive?

Remember the Audi A6? Well, take all of those memories and throw them out of the window because the new Audi A6 e-tron isn’t just a generational upgrade, it is a whole new approach to building cars. Earlier this year, Audi announced a seismic shift in how it names its model lines — all even-numbered cars will be BEV, all odd-numbered cars will be ICE. This means the A4 / A6 / A8 as we know them are either dying or dead. And from their ashes, will emerge the new age e-trons — clean sheet electric cars that bear nothing in common with their predecessors but mere nomenclature. 

The Audi A6 e-tron follows the steps of the Q6 e-tron, but it is the first sedan-like car to be based on this new PPE platform. I say sedan-like because this is actually a Sportback, with a sloping roofline and a hatch for a tailgate. Multiple drivetrains and body styles have been unveiled for international markets (including a boner-inducing S6 Avant) but we’re interested in the A6 e-tron Sportback Performance, what Audi calls its “range model”, which will likely be coming to India.When the A6 launches in India, its core rival will be the BMW i5 as the only other electric sedan in this class. 

2025 Audi A6 e-tron styling

This is a radical change for Audi. The A6 e-tron Sportback looks nothing like any Audi sedan that has come before it. Gone is the traditional face and it is replaced by a split headlamp you unit much like on the Q6 e-tron. There’s a large black mask that sits under the solid grille that encloses these headlamps, along with the vents for cooling and the ADAS sensors — an attempt to hide them from sight and shift your focus to the DRLs. Which you should, because they are very cool — you can change how they look (in sync with the rear DRLs) from the settings menu inside the car. Typical Audi to push the boundaries when it comes to lights — the rear light bar can also communicate with the driver behind it. For example, the lighting elements create two red triangles to warn of danger ahead. Or they can shine at full intensity if a car gets too close, to catch the attention of the driver behind. Oh, and the rings at the rear are illuminated as well, a first for Audi. 

In terms of its size, the A6 e-tron sits at 4.9m in length with a wheelbase of 2946mm, about the same as the A6 that it replaces. One area that has been a core focus for the designers was aerodynamics. It was honed and honed, to the point that the A6 e-tron is the most aero-efficient Audi ever made. Slits for air curtains in the front bumper, active flaps for cooling, slim greenhouse area, sloping roofline, optimised underbody, aero wheels, a rear diffuser that actually works and slim virtual mirrors (which the car pictured doesn’t have, and won’t be in India either) all come together to deliver a Cd of just 0.21. 

2025 Audi A6 e-tron interior and features

The dash is more an evolution of the last Audi interior but with some changes for the better. For starters, the lower screen which previously controlled your air-con controls is gone, everything is now housed in the main 14.5-inch curved infotainment screen. The Virtual Cockpit screen behind the driver gets an updated interface as well, and the passenger gets their own screen to fiddle with. What is radical is the augmented reality head-up display that overlays information on the road in front. Information like which exit you need to take at a roundabout is marked with coloured arrows, if the car in front of you slows down, red arrows appear on the road in front of you. Proper video-game stuff, overlayed seamlessly onto the real world. I’m unsure if this feature will make it to India, and if it will even work in our conditions, but it takes the interfaces to a whole new level. The only drawback is it works best when the native navigation, but we mostly just use Google Maps in India. Much more reliable. 

There’s a fair bit of equipment too — heated and massage seats, four zone climate control, a panoramic sunroof with switchable transparency (again something this car didn’t have, but they’d be foolish not to bring it to India), and an 830W B&O sound system. Storage areas are plenty in the centre console, and interestingly, the headlight controls have been moved from the dashboard to the driver’s side armrest. 

The backseat is nothing to write home about, though. While legroom is not so much a concern, headroom for anyone over 5ft 10in, will be. The seats don’t offer much under-thigh support either — a typical EV bugbear and a consequence of the floor being too high. You’d think these second-gen EVs would have sorted this out, but no. The fact that this is a low-slung sport back and not an SUV wouldn’t have helped here. While the A6 has always been an E-Class / 5 Series rival, this one won’t be at least in terms of backseat comfort.

2025 Audi A6 e-tron drivetrain and performance 

In a way, yes. The numbers are certainly big. A 100kWh battery. 362bhp. 580Nm. 5.4 seconds to 100kmph. 210kmph top speed. Oh, and it is RWD! But the really big headline is the range: 756km on the WLTP cycle. Plenty of work has gone into achieving this — the aerodynamics, aggressive regeneration, air suspension that lowers by 20mm in Efficiency mode, and new motors. One of the engineers told me that they’ve engineered a dry sump for the e-motor (like a race car!), to reduce internal friction. A 6km range benefit. They’ve gone over things with a fine-toothed comb to extract every last drop of range from the big battery in the floor. In the real world, you can expect north of 500km consistently and maybe even 600km if driven sensibly. A full range test in India will shed more light on this. Soon. 

Those numbers ensure it is quick. It’ll properly shove you back into the seat if you floor the throttle pedal in the more aggressive Dynamic mode, but if you’re considerate of your passengers, it can be a very laid-back, relaxing, yet rapid turn of speed. It feels plenty quick, with enough firepower (or e-power?) to get to and stay at cruising speeds. There are very high levels of refinement as well, the cabin is rather quiet with only a hint of wind noise from the big mirrors on our car. 

New to this car is the B mode, which enables one-pedal driving. While the regeneration settings can be toggled through the paddles, this mode is selected from the stubby gear selector. It dials up regen braking to the max, and can even bring the car to a complete halt which again. It works pretty seamlessly, using a combination of regen from the motor and the mechanical brakes up front to slow the car down. The B mode worked particularly well coming downhill. The roads were winding and needed constant acceleration and deceleration. You just needed to ease off the accelerator to induce braking, controlling the rate of deceleration with the throttle pedal itself. Very intuitive, very natural. It isn’t for everyone, though and if you prefer using the brake pedal, I must say that it feels rather natural — Audi has always done their EV brake-feel very well.

2025 Audi A6 e-tron ride and handling 

The ingredients are all there to make it a great handler — battery low down in the floor, a rear-wheel drive layout (in an Audi!), the front wheels have to do nothing but steer — and that does aid with dynamics. The A6 e-tron feels easy to place and will dance along, but there’s a sense that this car has been set up more for comfort. Particularly in Comfort mode, where the air suspension and dynamic dampers are prioritising bump absorption over dynamics, and the steering is light. This is best left for the city, or highways. In the twisties, dial things up to Dynamic mode, immediately everything feels tighter. The steering weighs up, the suspension controls roll a little bit better, the throttle is more sensitive and it feels more tied down, and a lot sharper in the bends. It manages to disguise its weight fairly well too, but there’s still an underlying sense that outright dynamics has not been the focus here. 

Ride quality was hard to judge on these roads in Tenerife as they were utterly flawless. What I can tell you is that high-speed ride is impressive and it feels very tied down. Low-speed ride, particularly in the unique conditions we have, will only be known once we drive these cars in India. The air suspension system is an option internationally, but Audi would do well to bring it here especially considering the ground clearance is 125mm. It’ll just add that ability to raise it a little bit and be a little more stress-free in everyday driving. 

2025 Audi A6 e-tron verdict 

Overall, the A6 e-tron Sportback performance proves to be an impressive package — delivering cutting-edge tech in the cockpit, with a punchy motor and a well-rounded driving experience. There’s no direct rival to it in India at the moment. BMW has the i5, but only in the ballistic M60 variant, which would out-drag this day in and day out. The A6 e-tron is intended to be less of a toy and more of a one-car-to-do-it-all. With impressive range stats to boot, it actually might just be able to convince people to consider it for just that. The backseat isn’t going to close any deals, but there’s plenty else to look forward to when it launches here in the first half of 2025!