Audi’s larger executive car turns electric, with a cutting-edge platform giving it more than 400 miles of range
Rear-wheel drive, you say? An Audi estate with 375bhp and rear-wheel drive? Well, get your flying goggles on and pick your pig, because the unthinkable has happened. This is the new Audi A6 E-tron, which will arrive in the UK in the next few months.There’s an Avant estate option but no traditional saloon; that role is filled by the saloon-ish yet conveniently hatched Sportback.This electric-only A6 is offered with a couple of different battery options nestled into the Volkswagen Group’s new PPE platform, which also underpins the Audi Q6 E-tron and Porsche Macan Electric crossovers.The entry-level model makes do with an 83kWh nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) battery and 225kW charging from an 800V electrical system, not to mention ‘just’ 322bhp, all of which is good for a WLTP range of 383-361 miles, depending on whether you go for the Sportback or Avant.The Performance and Quattro variants get a 100kWh battery and either 375bhp or 456bhp respectively. The Quattro obviously gets dual-motor four-wheel drive, but it’s a pricey option, so the rear-wheel-drive Performance that we’ve been driving is likely to be a more popular option in the UK.Both can charge at up to 270kW, for a 10-80% top-up in as little as 21 minutes provided the the erratic gods of rapid-charging are favouring you.The Performance gets an impressive official WLTP range of up to 463 miles in Sportback form or 437 miles as an Avant (the Quattro sacrifices roughly 20-30 miles of range for its additional poke).That’s a hugely persuasive aspect of the A6, given that the BMW i5 is similarly priced and manages more like 350 miles to a charge (although the Volkswagen ID 7 is cheaper and manages 424 miles).At the top of the range is the Audi S6 E-tron. You can get this in both the Avant and Sportback body shapes.Standard, rear-biased four-wheel drive comes courtesy of a permanent magnet motor at the back with 375bhp and 428lb ft on call and an asynchronous motor at the front with up to 188bhp and 203lb ft.They deliver up to 543bhp and 620lb ft combined for a 0-62mph time of 3.9sec. Mind you, that’s only in Launch mode; leave that button alone and the S6 makes do with 496bhp and a 0-62mph time of 4.1sec. A certifiable laggard at that point, of course…Other S6 highlights include standard adaptive air suspension and 21in wheels, plus an interior that’s stuffed with screens and ambient-lit nappa leather and finished with a full-length panoramic glass roof offering various patterns of opacity.The S6 comes in fully loaded Edition 1 trim, so it does have all the gubbins you want – which may ease the pain of it being teeth-suckingly close to £100,000.
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