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By Jonathan Crouch

The A6 Sportback e-tron offers us a very different kind of Audi A6. Jonathan Crouch takes a look.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 49

With this A6 e-tron, Audi reinvents its A6 model line as a full-EV. Offered in Sportback and Avant forms, it's one of the world's sleekest electric vehicles. And also looks to set fresh standards in terms of range, charging speed and cabin quality. BMW and Mercedes will be worried.

Backgroundword count: 165

Is this really the sixth generation Audi A6? Or actually a completely new kind of 'A6'-badged Audi altogether? We'd suggest the latter. The real successor to the outgoing fifth generation model will be badged 'A7', to meet Ingolstadt's new mantra that its combustion model lines must be designated by odd numbers. The A6 e-tron we look at here, in contrast, is quite a different thing, only offered as an EV and with a Sportback hatch body shape selling alongside the usual Avant estate in the model line-up. It shares nearly all of its engineering with the brand's Q6 e-tron SUV; which means use of the 800V electrical architecture and Premium Platform Electric chassis the Q6 shares with the Porsche Macan Electric. With the Sportback and Avant body shapes and the range of powertrains Audi plans to offer, the market reach here is wide; rivals could be anything from a Mercedes EQE to a BMW i5 Touring to a Porsche Taycan. Let's take a closer look.

Engines and Tech Specword count: 331

As you'd expect from such an aerodynamic car, all versions of this EV only design look very competitive on range. Even the smallest entry-level 83kWh battery (75.8kWh usable) which is borrowed from the VW ID.7 takes a car up to 384 miles; that standard version uses a 286PS rear-mounted motor (boosted to 326PS with launch control activated) and makes 62mph in 6 seconds. Most A6 e-tron customers though, are expected to choose the 'performance' version's larger 100kWh battery (94.9kWh of it usable), which is the most frugal variant in the range, able to take the car up to 464 miles between charges or (437 miles in Avant guise). Here, the rear motor develops 367PS (380PS with launch control) and gets the car to 62mph in 5.4s. Top speed is 130mph. There's also a dual motor AWD quattro version of this 100kWh model, which adds an extra front-mounted motor that pushes power up to 428PS (462PS with launch control) and drops the 62mph sprint time to 4.5s, though the extra weight means that range falls to a best of 440 miles. Much the same 100kWh / AWD format is also used by the sportier S6 variant, though here the motor tune is turned up to 503PS, so range drops to 407 miles. Using launch control in an S6 boosts that output for 551PS and gives a 0-62mph time of just 3.9s. Top speed is 149mph. An even faster full-EV RS 6 model will appear later in the production run. You'll need to make full use of the paddleshift two-stage energy recuperation system to get near those range figures, which when set at its fiercest is capable of sending up to 220kW of energy to the batteries as the car slows. Many customers will want to specify the optional adaptive air suspension system, which can change according to road conditions and will set the car's ride height at four different levels, the most economical one lowering the A6 by 20mm to improve aerodynamics.

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