Audi Q6 e-tron Review & Prices

Audi’s first two electric SUVs have been pretty successful, but its latest model looks set to be the best yet. The new Q6 e-tron, unsurprisingly, sits between the Q8 and Q4 e-tron models, and so it’s a natural alternative for big, posh electric SUVs such as the BMW iX and Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV.

With its simple but smart styling, and an interior that’s very familiar from Audi’s combustion-engined cars, the Q6 e-tron hides its very high-tech and advanced underpinnings with a pretty approachable interface. It’s like putting a user-friendly skin on a complicated process - a bit like Carwow itself, actually.

The Q6 e-tron’s interior is still an advance over the electric models that came before it. It’s much more minimalist, with very few physical buttons - a lot like the EQE SUV and the BMW iX. There’s a pair of massive displays covering driver information and infotainment, as well as an optional screen that lets the passenger get a slice of the action.

Audi Q6 e-tron: electric range, battery and charging data

Range: 358-381 miles
Efficiency: 3.7-3.9 miles per kWh
Battery size: 100kWh
Max charge speed: 270kW
Charge time AC: 13 hrs 30mins, 0-100%, 7.4kW
Charge time DC: 21mins, 10-80%, 270kW
Charge port location: Front right and front left
Power outputs: 387/517hp

There’s also a cool augmented-reality head-up display capable of projecting information right into your sightline, while physical switchgear is limited to just the gear selector, a volume knob, the hazard lights and the drive mode selector. 

Practicality is essential in a family EV and the Q6 e-tron does pretty well on this front. Rear legroom is pretty good, though not exactly palatial - and there’s space for three adults to sit abreast in reasonable comfort. The 526-litre boot is bigger than the iX’s and the EQE SUV’s, and there’s a useful ‘frunk’ to store cables or messy items away from the passenger compartment. It can even tow up to 2.4 tonnes, which is comparatively rare in an electric car and potentially very useful. 

Audi will offer two versions of the Q6 e-tron at launch, both using the same 100kWh battery pack. The first is the Q6 e-tron quattro, which offers up to 381 miles of range - more than the entry-level versions of either the iX or the EQE SUV. The more powerful SQ6 e-tron has up to 372 miles of range. Both can charge impressively fast, and later on in the Q6 e-tron’s lifetime there’ll be a cheaper rear-wheel drive model. Though it’s not been confirmed, we’d also expect a more powerful RS Q6 e-tron model to follow.

We’ll get a chance to get behind the wheel of the Audi Q6 e-tron before too long, and when we do we’ll let you know just what it’s like to drive and to live with day-to-day. If you can’t wait that long, though, you can check out the best deals on the Q6 e-tron right here on Carwow. You can browse used Audi models, too, and remember that you can even sell your car online with Carwow as well.

A big boot and a useful frunk, but the interior doesn’t feel as spacious or airy as alternatives

The Q6 e-tron is a pretty big car, though it’s still quite a bit shorter than a BMW iX or a Mercedes EQE SUV. Still, front-seat occupants are well looked-after, with loads of adjustment in the driving position and comfortable, sporty seats with plenty of support. They’re electrically adjustable, and heated as standard.

The driver and front passenger get reasonable storage for odds and ends too. There’s a wireless phone charger, buried far enough down in the dashboard that your mobile won’t become a distraction. There’s also a pair of cupholders, capacious door bins and a large cubby under the centre armrest. 

Space in the back seats

Rear passengers don’t enjoy quite as much space as they would in the larger BMW iX or Mercedes EQE SUV, but there’s still plenty of room for a six-foot adult to sit behind a driver or front passenger of a similar size. Headroom is good too, and not particularly impacted by the big glass roof.

There’s no central transmission tunnel, which means that the rear centre passenger has enough room for their feet - though the middle seat base is quite narrow and firm. So three adults could quite happily sit abreast in the rear, but only for a short journey. ISOFIX points are available in the outer rear seats.

There’s also a fold-down armrest with twin cupholders, USB-C ports for gadget charging and useful sunblinds for the rear windows.

Boot space

The Audi Q6 e-tron has a 526-litre boot, which compares favourably with the 500-litre BMW iX or the 520-litre Mercedes EQE SUV. The cheaper Tesla Model Y is still the king of boot space though, with 854 litres.

It’s a wide, unobstructed space, and the rear seats drop totally flat nice and easily. They fold in a 40:20:40 split, allowing you to carry long thin items in between two rear passengers. There’s also space underneath the floor to store the parcel shelf, which is a useful touch.

Also very handy is the addition of a 64-litre ‘frunk’ taking the space where an engine would go in a combustion car. Neither the iX nor the EQE SUV have this, and it’s a really neat space to hold charge cables, or to store dirty or muddy items away from the occupants in the main cabin.

Smart and well-built, but a little screen-heavy and some areas look difficult to use

In contrast to some electric cars where light and space is the order of the day, the Q6 e-tron feels much more typically Audi with its use of dark materials and a fairly traditional layout. That’s no bad thing, and in fact you might prefer it to the more unconventional iX or EQE SUV. 

The top of the dashboard is dominated by screens. One seamless sheet of glass covers both an 11.9-inch display for driver information and a 14.5-inch infotainment screen, though unlike some Audis of old you don’t get a rotary controller to interact with this - it’s touchscreen or voice commands only. Optionally available is a further 10.9-inch display for the front seat passenger so they can control media or view data more easily.

The interface is fairly straightforward though suffers (as the iX and EQE do) with having so many features that it’s not always obvious which menus control which functions. You’ll soon learn where the essentials are, though. Climate controls are operated through the screen, which is par for the course with cars like this nowadays - but still less user-friendly than regular buttons.

The cabin environment is quite dark, but has big enough windows that it doesn’t feel claustrophobic. Material quality is top-notch, and there are some nice design touches like a full-width strip of fabric running from door to door. Some lighter finishes would lift the environment, though.

The entry-level Q6 e-tron (at the moment) is the quattro model. It returns a claimed 381 miles per charge, with a conveniently-sized 100kWh battery making its average efficiency of 3.8 miles per kWh easy to work out. That’s more (officially) than either the BMW iX or the Mercedes EQE SUV, which average 3.5mi/kWh and 3.2mi/kWh respectively. We’ll of course have to wait and see if the Q6 e-tron returns anything like its official range figure, though.

Audi’s new electric car platform is built with efficiency in mind, though. The electric motors weigh 20 per cent less than they do on the older Q8 e-tron, and take up less space too. The Q6 e-tron charges at an impressive rate, too - up to 270kW from a suitably powerful charger, which is faster than the iX or the EQE SUV and means a 10-80% charge in just 21 minutes. 

The Q6 e-tron hasn’t been tested by Euro NCAP just yet, but Audi’s record in this is pretty faultless - all but one of its cars tested since 2009 has scored the full five-star rating. The Q6 e-tron itself comes with tons of safety equipment - the usual autonomous emergency braking, lane-departure warning and pedestrian safety aids, but there are also particularly clever headlights which can highlight lane markings, or taillights that can turn into warning triangles for following traffic.

We certainly wouldn’t want to speculate about problems with the Q6 e-tron before it even goes on sale. However, Audi’s not known for being particularly dependable - and the brand had a real shocker in the 2023 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, coming 30th out of 32 brands. That’s several spots behind BMW and Mercedes.

The Q6’s underpinnings are new, and there’s so much tech that there is potential for teething problems - the earlier Q8 e-tron had issues with things like its electric door mirrors, for example. However, we’ll give the Q6 e-tron the benefit of the doubt until it’s been on sale for a while.