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Our Cars: Audi A6 Avant e-tron quattro
8 months ago
The electric A6 is a stopgap until Dan's petrol-powered S5 Avant arrives
I would like to say I spent days agonising over the S5’s paint colours, wheel finishes, interior stitching and so on, vacillating from one spec to the next until I’d found the perfect combination, but in fact the whole process was done and dusted in around five minutes. I will save the specifics for when the car is here, but once I’d disregarded all the monochrome paint colours, I was left with only two from which to choose. What’s more, if I wanted an interior colourway other than plain black, the exterior paint more or less chose itself, otherwise the inside and outside would clash.
Nor were there dozens of tasty gadgets and mechanical upgrades to salivate over. Oh well. I am rather pleased with the final specification and can’t wait to see it in the flesh.
But that probably won’t be until early next year, so for now here’s another electric Audi, albeit very different to my last. I thought I’d write about it because I really am curious to see how this sort of EV slots into my life. Truth be told, the S e-tron GT was a fine car but the wrong sort of machine for me. It was big without being roomy, meaning its suitability as a family car was limited. It was also trying to be, or rather it was, both a glamorous, high-performance sporting car and an EV. Which is fine, except I would far rather separate those two functions.
"While this A6 Avant e-tron is not at all as flashy as the GT, I do suspect it’ll slot more comfortably into my life"
Which is where the A6 Avant e-tron comes in. As an enthusiast, if I were to make room in my life for that glamorous, high-performance sporting car, I’d want it to be petrol-powered. And if I am to live with an EV, I want it to be functional, practical, spacious and comfortable. For now at least, I think an EV should take care of mundane daily driving duties and a petrol car the fun stuff. The S e-tron GT wasn’t practical, nor would it have any idea what to do with a gallon of petrol.
And so, while this A6 Avant e-tron is not at all as flashy as the GT, I do suspect it’ll slot more comfortably into my life. It’s roomy enough to be all the family car we need right now, but it’s also narrower than the GT (only by 40mm but it feels like more) so it’s easier to drive around town, park in tight spaces and it sits much more happily on my narrow driveway at home as well.
So, the question in need of an answer: can an electric car cut it as my family’s everyday, do-it-all wheels? Or will I find its limited driving range and the need to plug in on long journeys a burden when I’ve got my wife and kids in tow? That’s what I plan to find out over the coming months.
“Total output is 422bhp (or 456bhp in launch control, which I’m never going to use). That’s over 200bhp less than my old S e-tron GT, but in all honesty I don’t need any more performance in my family car. It is still massively quick off the line”
I think the A6 Avant e-tron is a handsome car, but I’ve not yet been inundated with compliments, so maybe it’s just me. The basic price of this Edition 1 quattro variant is quite strong at £83,340, made punchier still on this example by options like Daytona grey paint (£775), a panoramic glass roof with switchable transparency (£2375) and the Sound and Vision Pack (£3195), which includes an augmented reality heads-up display and a Bang & Olufsen stereo. A couple of other extras lift the total bill to £92,670. So yes, the car really ought to be pretty bloody good.
It’s certainly quick. With a motor on each axle it has four-wheel drive, and their total output is 422bhp (or 456bhp in launch control, which I’m never going to use). That’s over 200bhp less than my old S e-tron GT, but in all honesty I don’t need any more performance in my family car. It is still massively quick off the line, rapid enough to dust just about everything on the road short of a very serious petrol-powered performance car or an even more potent EV. I know it doesn’t look like a big number by today’s standards, but anything with more than 400bhp, particularly when it comes from a pair of e-motors, is plenty in a family wagon.
And all the rest, like ride, handling, steering? I’ll report back on that next time, once I’ve spent more time in the car. But a word or two on the interior. Like the S e-tron GT before it, this is a cabin characterised by fine material and build quality. It feels solid and sturdy and the chairs are comfortable. In photographs the almost oval shape of the large central touchscreen looks a bit odd, but you don’t really notice in person. So it’s a good interior, but like just about every modern car you’ll come across, it is stark, clinical, cool and a bit charmless. What’s happened to the warm, cosseting cockpit? I feel like I haven’t seen one in a new car in years.
While we’re on interiors, I just want to mention the third display in the dash – the one in front of the passenger. Why have car designers suddenly decided our passengers need their own touchscreens? I get the logic – they can easily scroll through radio stations or change the satnav destination while the driver does more important things. But is it really a great hardship for the passenger to reach over to the central display that already does all of that? Besides, this one doesn’t link up with CarPlay rendering it more or less useless.
The Sportback version of this A6 is the most aerodynamic car Audi has built to date (by which it means it has the lowest drag coefficient). With its longer roof and estate boot this Avant isn’t quite as slippery, but I’m hoping it still cleaves its way through the air more efficiently than most, helping it return a better miles per kWh figure than my old GT. As a rule of thumb, that car would manage 2.5 miles/kWh in winter in mixed driving and 3.0 in summer. On first impressions, I think this car is going to more or less match, but not better it.
Let’s see. And let’s see whether this car can possibly justify its near six-figure asking price, and how my family gets on with EV power. Like I said, I’m really looking forward to my next long-termer. A couple of turbos, 3-litre V6, four-wheel drive, compact estate body – should be fun.
Photography by Olgun Kordal
