Audi Q6 E-tron review

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New electric equivalent of the Q5 makes the most of its transformative luxury EV platform

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Ingolstadt may well want to tap up Guinness for its famous advertising slogan, because its new Audi Q6 E-tron is very good. But we have had to wait. 

I’m speaking comparatively here. The Q6 E-tron is the first car on sale to use the fancy PPE platform that Audi has developed with Porsche. 

PPE has been conceived specifically for electric cars of the ‘premium’ variety, and so – at least initially – will not be used by cars from the more volume-oriented Volkswagen Group brands (Volkswagen, Skoda, Cupra and Seat). 

It has been in the works for six years – an age in the eyes of Chinese car firms, which typically develop new EVs in less than two years. 

Alongside the Porsche Macan Electric, the Q6 occupies an interesting niche. The market for premium, mid-sized, electric SUVs seems like it’s well catered for, yet when you dive into it, you see that the Volkswagen Group cousins inhabit their own space. 

The Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 aren’t quite premium enough for fussy Brits, the BMW iX3 and Jaguar I-Pace are on their last legs and the Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV is more large than medium. 

Audi is also offering up a hot version called the SQ6 E-tron. Audi won't thank me for telling you this, but it feels more like a trim level than a stand-alone model.

The hot electric SUV uses the same dual-motor, four-wheel-drive powertrain as the regular Q6 E-tron but the power is turned up to 510bhp (in overboost mode), and while in the UK the SQ6 will be available exclusively on adaptive air suspension, that won't be the case on the continent.

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A full-fat Audi RS Q6 E-tron model is also in the works. It will most likely use the 600bhp powertrain from the Porsche Macan Turbo.

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DESIGN & STYLING

audi q6 e tron review 2024 01 front tracking

In Quattro form, the regular Q6 E-tron is equipped with an asynchronous motor at the front and a permanent magnet synchronous motor at the rear (both developed in-house) for “optimum efficiency” and a combined output of 383bhp. 

We have yet to try the Performance version, which has the rear motor exclusively for a total of 302bhp. 

The PPE structure takes learnings from the Volkswagen Group’s ubiquitous MEB platform, but has been engineered to better accommodate longer, more capacious, faster and more dynamically oriented EVs, to better differentiate Audi and Porsche products from their mass-market cousins. 

The Q6 looks and feels very much like an Audi product. From the front it has a familiar Audi nose, but the split headlights offer a small curiosity. The top set has individual bulbs allowing them to pivot and pirouette, while it's the ones below that actually house the main beams.

The profile reveals flared arches and a neatly tapered side profile, hinting at the slimline battery pack powering the car.

You’ll also find charging ports either side of the car. One side gets both fast and slow, while the other just gets slow.

The SQ6 E-tron gets adaptive air suspension, sport seats, sport badges and different alloys.

INTERIOR

audi q6 e tron review 2024 06 dash

Inside, the touchpoints are immaculately trimmed with suitably upmarket materials and the switchgear is mostly well thought out.

The head-up display is among the best in the business, with clearly legible numbers and a few cool touches such as displaying real-time sat-nav data onto the windscreen, showing you exactly which lane you should be in.

The speed is also shown in the head-up display. The size of the numbers can change temporarily depending on throttle input. For instance, if you mash it moving away from a toll road it will comically SCREAM your speed at you with increasingly larger fonts.

On the driver's door is a panel with buttons for the headlights, foglights and wing mirrors. The cruise control is on one quite old-school stalk beneath the steering wheel. The whole adjustment is also physical, but you need to use the infotainment screen for the climate control.

Functions such as lane keeping assistance and speed warnings are dealt with within a couple of clicks of the infotainment.

The infotainment package is as comprehensive as it is easy to use. The 11.9in screen in front of the steering wheel is easy to read, while the main 14.5in one in the middle is also slick.

I say middle because there’s also the option of a 10.9in front passenger display. This allows the passenger to make alterations to the radio (or Apple CarPlay/Android Auto), heating and nav instructions. They can also stream videos, but the driver can’t see them.

If I was picking faults, the drive selector is borrowed from elsewhere in the Volkswagen Group with a shiny plastic that looks cheap.

The rear boot - at 526 litres - is amply sized with underfloor storage for the cables. Yet there’s also a front boot with enough room for cables too. 

The leg room in each row is comparable to any rival, the slimline battery pack means the floor feels no higher than in a combustion-powered crossover, and the general ambience is one of airiness and reassuringly solid quality. 

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

Power is metered out predictably and judiciously. It feels as fast as the numbers would suggest, so no sensible SUV driver will be left wanting for performance. 

There are a few different methods of regenerative braking. First up is full-on one-pedal mode. Simple enough: switch to B on the gear selector. 

Then there’s Auto, which takes your surroundings into consideration. Or you can use the paddles behind the steering wheel to make the adjustments yourself. Auto is good enough for most situations, and the brake pedal remains consistent, hardly fading and giving you no ‘oh God, I need to press this much harder’ moments. 

It’s quiet, too. Audi says acoustic refinement has been a big part of the testing programme, to which the subtle motor whine, minimal road roar and tyre rumbling are testament.

The rear motor is more powerful than the front one, and in Dynamic mode more torque is shoved to the back wheels. You feel this in low-speed hairpins but not really elsewhere. 

Off the line, the SQ6 feels much quicker, which is reflected in a 0-62mph time 1.6sec quicker than that of the regular model.

The SQ6’s well of kilowatts feels like it will almost never run dry, plus it gets a launch control system that temporarily unlocks the full 510bhp performance (normally you have a still-healthy 483bhp and 428lb ft to play with).

RIDE & HANDLING

All of the German-spec Q6s that I tested had air suspension, but in the UK this will only be available on SQ6 models, so I will have to reserve full judgement of the regular model’s ride until we drive it on standard springs. 

Still, unpaved roads and very old Tarmac revealed a seemingly unflappable chassis set-up that succeeds in rounding out the imperfections that so often catch out heavy EVs. And it really shone in dealing with potholes. 

I was amazed how serenely it can glide over them, even on enormous 21in wheels. The steering is light and communicative. The driving modes can change its heft but not much of its feel. 

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

audi q6 e tron review

Between the axles is a battery pack of about 100kWh, equipped with 800V electricals for charging at speeds of up to 270kW. Where the infrastructure permits, it can charge from 10-80% in 21 minutes.

Efficiency is the name of the game: in pursuit of a lofty 373-mile-plus range figure (for the regular model), engineers have thought about the drivetrain and power electronics system in granular detail.

Silicon-carbide semiconductors are used throughout, for example, for their reduced heat emissions and thus minimal energy wastage. The stator wiring in the motors has a square cross-section – more efficient than using conventional round wire, which leaves microscopic wasted spaces between each winding. 

And the battery itself comprises 15 individual prismatic cells, filled with suitably energy-dense nickel manganese cobalt and arranged so as not to leave any useful space unfilled – unlike a ‘pouch’ or cylindrical arrangement, which inevitably creates useless voids throughout the battery structure. 

My very unofficial testing for both S and regular models, over motorways and A-roads, revealed figures of around 3.0mpkWh. Not great, in other words.

But nowhere near as bad as the 2mpkWh we were getting from our SQ8 E-tron long-termer.

VERDICT

audi q6 e tron review 2024 19 rear static

The Q6 E-tron feels very different to its German rivals thanks to its bespoke architecture, and it offers a very different proposition to them.

It drives brilliantly and its interior is just on the right side of techy while still offering buttons and a bit of Audi tactility.

Audi Q6 E-tron news

Hot Audi RS Q6 E-tron due in 2025 with more than 600bhp
Hot Audi RS Q6 E-tron due in 2025 with more than 600bhp
Audi Q6 E-tron range tops out with hot £93k SQ6
Audi Q6 E-tron range tops out with hot £93k SQ6
Audi Q6 e-tron: in the design team's own words
Audi Q6 e-tron: in the design team's own words
Audi Q6 e-tron: 6 big things you need to know
Audi Q6 e-tron: 6 big things you need to know

Pure genius? The PPE platform certainly is. If the Q6 can achieve close to its claimed 381 miles of range while being this coherent to drive, it will be class-leading - or at least joint top with the Macan Electric.

The SQ6 just doesn't drive differently enough to the regular Q6. Maybe I will feel differently once I've had some seat time in a Q6 on the standard steel springs, but in a world where the RS Q6 is likely to have more than 600bhp, some clever driving modes and some brash styling 'upgrades' and the regular Q6 will cover 24 miles more for £23,000 less, the SQ6 is a tough sell.

Audi has attempted to position this model as a halfway house between sensible (Q6) and bonkers (RS Q6), but unfortunately it feels a bit sober while being wildly priced.

Murray Scullion

Murray Scullion
Title: Digital editor

Murray has been a journalist for more than a decade. During that time he’s written for magazines, newspapers and websites, but he now finds himself as Autocar’s digital editor.

He leads the output of the website and contributes to all other digital aspects, including the social media channels, podcasts and videos. During his time he has reviewed cars ranging from £50 - £500,000, including Austin Allegros and Ferrari 812 Superfasts. He has also interviewed F1 megastars, knows his PCPs from his HPs and has written, researched and experimented with behavioural surplus and driverless technology.

Murray graduated from the University of Derby with a BA in Journalism in 2014 and has previously written for Classic Car Weekly, Modern Classics Magazine, buyacar.co.uk, parkers.co.uk and CAR Magazine, as well as carmagazine.co.uk.