2025 Audi A6 and S6 E-Tron First Drive: A World Away From the Audis of Today

• The A6 and S6 E-tron are all-new fully electric sport sedans from Audi.
• They take the place of the previous gas-powered A6 and S6.
• They feel totally different from Audis that have come before, and that's a good thing.

The rebirth of the A6 and S6 as fully electric Sportbacks is a chance for Audi to stretch its legs and move away from the modest figure its midsize sedan has cut for the last 30 years. Nothing about the new car is shared with the outgoing A6 (save for the turn signal and wiper stalks). All A6 and S6 E-trons sport a 94.9-kWh (usable) battery pack in the floor and 800-volt architecture. The A6 can have either Quattro all-wheel drive thanks to two electric motors or one motor for rear-wheel drive. A modern rear-drive sport sedan from Audi? We're in uncharted territory, people. 

How does the first RWD Audi sedan in almost 100 years drive?

As you potter over battered inner-city pavement in the rear-wheel-drive A6 E-tron, you're treated to an almost dead-silent cabin, and the optional air suspension soaks up bumps like a dang sponge, even on 21-inch wheels. As you ramp up your speed on the highway, there is almost no perceptible wind noise coming from the mirrors or the front glass.

A lot of that has to do with this car's aerodynamics. The A6 E-tron has the lowest drag coefficient of any Audi ever made at 0.23. Audi says that in an EV, wind resistance is the biggest enemy to efficiency as you drive along at highway speeds. The faster you go, the more air you meet. However, the slipperier your car is, the less air you have to fight. The result is a car that's not only more efficient on longer hauls but whisper-quiet, too — and that's before you start up the excellent Bang & Olufsen sound system to drown out what little noise is left.

Making my way up Mount Teide — the dormant volcano that lies at the heart of the island of Tenerife — traffic clears and the roads transition from rutted to silky smooth as they follow the curves and crests of the mountain. Picking up the pace, the A6 E-tron comes alive. The electric motor offers 362 horsepower and only really loses grunt after long, straight stretches of flat-out acceleration. It's easy to be smooth and taper your throttle inputs when you want to carry speed through a corner rather than going flat out.

Audis are typically derided for their terminal understeer — not so the A6 E-tron. As you approach a corner, scrub off a little speed and turn the wheel, the front of the E-tron neatly follows the line you've set and carries genuine pace through the bend. It's not a point-and-squirt machine like so many EVs. The steering itself is a little numb, but the progressive system (that changes the effort needed to turn the wheel based on steering angle) has been so thoroughly retuned that, finally, you're not left guessing where this Audi's nose is pointing. 

Time for the fast one 

Michelin Pilot Sport EV tires, in combination with a sophisticated suspension setup, give the S6 E-tron masses of grip. It's just as deft as the base car, and the addition of a front motor and the required extra driveshafts don't obscure or corrupt the steering's tractable nature. The S6 is both lighter on its feet and more planted than the base A6 E-tron and easier to drive quickly than a BMW i5 or Mercedes-Benz EQE. 

Despite not making anywhere near as much power as the i5 M60 or the AMG EQE 53, the S6 E-tron deploys its 469 hp with more confidence, and it pulls harder for much longer than the base car. In corners you can feel the electric motors shuffling power from front to rear when you apply the throttle — the front axle is here to help you, actively pulling you through corners and making extra grip. The front motor is an asynchronous unit, meaning that it's only driven when electrical current is applied. When you aren't on the throttle, the front motor is essentially off, allowing the S6 to operate more efficiently.

The only area where the S6 E-tron suffers slightly is under braking. While Audi does a good job of blending regenerative and friction braking, after some hard driving the pedal starts to go soft. The brakes are only up to the task of hauling down the hefty EV for so long. By contrast, a BMW i5 M60 can be hooned around our test track for several laps on end without giving up the ghost. 

One-pedal driving and lots of range

There are four different regen settings on the A6 and S6 E-tron that you can select via the paddles on the steering wheel. There is no coasting function, but the lowest setting gives a very small amount of regenerative braking. There's also a one-pedal mode optimal for driving around town, but for faster driving, I prefer the least amount of regen. Flicking a paddle on the steering wheel and using the extra regen to help plant the nose into a corner, then backing off as I accelerate out is a fun dance to try to get right. 

The rear-wheel-drive A6 E-tron is estimated to get 370 miles of range if you opt for the 20-inch wheels, according to the EPA. There will be a rear-drive Ultra model that comes on smaller 19-inch rims and tires that are designed to minimize rolling resistance, and Audi says this setup increases range to 390 miles. If you opt for an all-wheel-drive A6 you can expect 333 miles of range, while S6 models should get a max of 324 miles. 

Inside story

The A6 and S6 both come with Audi's newest interior, where two screens dominate the experience. The 11.9-inch instrument cluster gets a new design but is still configurable to show useful info like your trip meter, how much power you're using, route guidance info, or some combination of the three. The infotainment screen measures 14.5 inches and has crisp graphics, but the interface is extremely menu-heavy. Audi added configurable shortcuts for your most frequently used items, but the system is far too dense to fully understand over the course of a few hours. That said, I don't like that Audi has yet again stuck the climate controls inside of a screen menu instead of putting physical controls on the console. Prospective buyers will want to spend time playing around in the system before signing the dotted line. Thankfully, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard.

The rest of the interior is typical Audi, but this time that's a good thing. Everything in the A6 and S6 feels extremely well bolted together, the leathers and fabrics are excellent to both sit on and touch, and the views out of both the front and rear are crystal-clear. There are small gripes, mainly the fact that small-item storage is lacking, the back seats are a little snug for my 6-foot frame, and Audi's new shift knob looks cheap compared to the rest of your high-class surroundings. That said, this interior is (almost) exactly what you'd expect from Audi. 

The verdict

The Audi A6 and S6 E-tron are particularly un-Audi in the way they tackle a good stretch of road. Both go, steer and grip like pure sport sedans, but neither feels compromised in terms of refinement or overall comfort. All signs point to Audi having finally found a way back to its best as it charges on with its electric revolution.