2026 Audi A6 E-Tron Review

Even after nearly 15 years of reviewing vehicles professionally, I still find myself scratching my head on occasion in wonder of certain market trends.

Take, for instance, the way SUVs fly off dealer lots while sedans languish. Or how electric vehicles (EVs) continue to be spurned in favour of gas-powered ones. Neither of those issues bodes especially well for the 2026 Audi A6 E-Tron, which happens to be a sedan that’s powered by nothing but electrons. And that’s a shame, because it means a majority of shoppers are missing out on something great.

Styling 8 / 10

Compared to the derivative, look-alike styling of this sedan’s sport utility twin, the Q6 E-Tron, the A6 E-Tron is long, low, wide, and sleek, exuding class compared to the sea of crossovers in any given parking lot. The arc of the roof line is squashed enough to give the A6 a decidedly sporty profile, sweeping down into a long liftback hatch. The rockers have contrasting accent panels that help break up the visual height of the doors, lending to an even squatter look. The rear is tidy with a slick light bar spanning the width of the backside, and it’s topped with an illuminated four-ring Audi badge.

The front end is the only angle of the car that lets it down at least a little. What would be a grille on a gas-powered Audi is instead a dimpled piece of body-coloured plastic, and the narrow strips of light is a look that’s been around since the Jeep Cherokee that hit the market more than a decade ago. Still, being able to tailor the LED matrix pattern to your personal tastes is a neat party trick.

Inside, the A6 E-Tron’s interior subscribes to the contemporary trend of the more screens the better, which is losing favour with more drivers all the time. Some of the plastics used on the door panels, and the aluminum trim specced in this tester, didn’t feel particularly luxurious, either, but the ambient lighting is nicely integrated throughout the cabin.

Features 9 / 10

Unsurprisingly, this A6 E-Tron in top-tier Technik trim was loaded with amenities. Features like heated and cooled seats are expected, as was the supple leather upholstery and (optional) 20-speaker stereo. But the front-passenger touchscreen and soft-close doors provided some extra punch, while the glass roof that can transform from fully transparent to translucent is a rare treat.

Safety 7 / 10

As the top trim in the lineup, this tester was fitted with all the standard crash-avoidance features like autonomous emergency braking, driver attention monitoring, lane-departure warning and departure mitigation, and blind-spot monitoring. It also featured Audi’s excellent adaptive matrix LED headlights, plus semi-autonomous driving capability, and a surround-view camera system.

Unfortunately, the lane-keeping assist reacted with surprisingly aggressive tugs on the wheel, and at one point while travelling a partly snow-covered highway, the system became momentarily confused and suddenly dove out of its designated lane, narrowly missing an adjacent vehicle, and terrifying yours truly in the process.

User-Friendliness 6 / 10

Audi is using the A6 E-Tron as a rolling showcase of technology. Like all modern luxury cars, this one has an incredible amount of configurability, allowing a driver to set up everything from steering feel to suspension firmness, throttle responsiveness, and the look and layout of the displays. Many of these are set-and-forget functions, but the sheer volume of information being presented to the driver, even when the displays are minimized, is frequently overwhelming.

Contributing significantly to the overload is the head-up display that incorporates augmented reality graphics to place navigation instructions within the driver’s field of view. While it helps ensure you won’t miss a turn, it can be quite distracting. Worse, though, is the follow distance warning that in dense urban traffic means a near-constant series of red bars right in front of the driver’s face while other motorists constantly cut in front. That, along with some of the other advanced safety features, was intrusive enough to warrant digging into the menus and switching it off.

The ambient lighting strip high on the dashboard is dynamic, too. If there’s a warning that needs the driver’s attention, it changes from whatever colour it’s been set to red. When the turn signal is on, it flashes green in the direction indicated, contributing to the stimulus overload as a result.

The menus in the infotainment system are fairly straightforward, and navigating features and functions is logical enough, plus the screen is big, bright, and responsive. However, the steering wheel controls are smooth panels that result in occasionally hitting the wrong spot and getting an unexpected result. Similarly, the voice control system was frequently triggered by normal conversation or singing, but was resolved when I shouted at it in frustration, at which point it amusingly confirmed it wouldn’t bother me anymore.

Two final nits to pick include a wireless charger that positions the phone out of sight (for safety), but it meant forgetting it when leaving the car. The biggest frustration happened whenever the windshield needed a squirt of washer fluid, but always took at least a three-beat pause before anything happened. When you’re driving at highway speeds and can’t see, the windshield needs to be cleaned immediately, not when the car decides it’s ready to help.

Comfort 8 / 10

The A6 E-Tron Technik trim rides on an adaptive air suspension that does an amazing job of filtering out the worst of our miserable, frost-heaved road surfaces. It’s a very quiet car, too, not only for the absence of engine noise, but also being Audi’s most aerodynamic car, it slices silently through the air. Road noise is similarly hushed.

The rear seat offers a surprising amount of space given how sleek the car’s profile is. Very tall passengers may find an issue with headroom, but there’s ample space for two (with seatbelts for three) back there, and ample legroom, too. The front seats also offer plenty of room but they aren’t as adjustable nor as supportive as those found in competitive cars at a similar price point.

Practicality 8 / 10

Many buyers flocking to SUVs do so for the presumed practicality advantages over a traditional car. In the case of the A6 E-Tron, it comes standard with all-wheel drive, and as this tester was fitted with a set of winter tires, it navigated one of the biggest winter storm events of the year without issue.

Passenger space is generous, and the cargo capacity at 735 L under the liftback, will consume a surprising amount of stuff. Fold the rear seats down and that expands to 1,129 L, plus there’s also a small 28-L frunk as well. While a Q6 E-Tron’s cargo hold is dimensionally larger, much of its extra space is attributed to its squared-off, boxier height, which isn’t always explicitly necessary.

Power 8 / 10

All Canadian examples of the A6 E-Tron feature all-wheel drive, with a pair of electric motors motivating the car with 422 hp — and as much as 456 hp in small doses when launch control is activated. What really makes this car sizzle, though, is the 590 lb-ft of torque that helps make passing utterly effortless and keeps it ahead of other traffic when setting off. Audi claims the A6 E-Tron will hit 100 km/h from a standstill in 4.5 seconds, but it feels quicker than that and suggests the sportier S6 E-Tron 543 hp would be overkill.

Driving Feel 8 / 10

During a test week of relentless snowy weather, the A6 E-Tron put its standard all-wheel-drive programming to good use as it constantly had to manage slippery road conditions, the car’s excessive torque, and an enthusiastic driver behind the wheel. It was occasionally jarring as the system fought to redirect torque where it was most effective, and the regenerative braking is aggressive enough to cause the car to skid in the snow, reinforcing that it’s only wise to use that feature when traction allows. While there was no opportunity to properly assess the handling on dry roads during this week-long test, the big sedan nevertheless felt controlled, mitigating body roll exceptionally well, and even feeling like a smaller, nimbler car when playing around in the snow.

Fuel Economy 8 / 10

The A6 E-Tron is built on the same Premium Platform Electric (PPE) underpinnings the Q6 E-Tron and Porsche Macan Electric use. The 100-kWh battery (94.9 usable) juices the 800-volt architecture, and it will allow charging speeds as fast as 270 kW. Even with pre-conditioning the battery during the frigid test week, the fastest charge speeds noted were around 100 kW, which was still quick enough to go from 30 to 80 per cent in the time it took me to have a bio break, purchase some washer fluid, and answer a few emails.

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) rates the A6 E-Tron at a range of 536 km (the Ultra trim is rated at 607 km), but during this wintertime test it never exceeded 400 km.

Value 7 / 10

The base A6 E-Tron can be had for just over $86,495 before tax but including freight ($2,850). With more than $5,000 in options added to this Technik tester, the tally came to nearly $98,000 before the government’s share. While a lot of money, that’s also $40,000 less than a basic Tesla Model S (which, admittedly, offers more range and power). A similarly equipped BMW i5 would cost roughly the same but offer far less power than the A6, making this Audi a decent value in the segment. Still, to avoid the over-abundance of technology complicating the higher trims, the base model appears the better choice.

The Verdict

The 2026 A6 E-Tron is swift and stylish without giving up much practicality to the more forgettable crossover equivalent, plus it offers greater exclusivity given its relative rarity, and more importantly, greater range. That it’s likely to be largely overlooked for the SUVs in the showroom is a shame, and shows that sometimes the consumers are missing out on a great alternative.