2026 Audi Q6 e-tron quattro review

Audi's electric vehicle line-up has long straddled the extremes of Australia's car-buying market. Its first all-electric car was the Audi e-tron large SUV, which was pitched at the high-end market, followed by the performance-focused Audi e-tron GT.

After a few years of resting on those cars, Audi's vehicle range was overhauled with the Q4 e-tron and Q6 e-tron – two cars aimed squarely at families and young adults, rather than early adopters with deep pockets.

In this review, the Q6 e-tron shapes up as the brand's most appealing electric vehicle yet – though only in certain guises. It's clear that the optional air suspension is a must-have, and certain option boxes should be ticked to liven up the experience.

Audis come with a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty in Australia; an arrangement matched by most other prestige brands like BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

The high-voltage battery is warranted for eight years or 160,000km – also a common arrangement.

Service intervals are spaced every two years or 30,000km, with a six-year service pack costing $2080. It's not the cheapest electric vehicle of its kind, though. Genesis offers five years of free servicing for the GV70 Electrified, meanwhile the Polestar 3 is free for the same period.

An annual insurance premium for the Q6 e-tron quattro runs to $4428 based on a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

The Audi Q6 e-tron scored a five-star ANCAP safety rating based on testing conducted in 2024.

It earned scores of 91 per cent in adult occupant protection, 87 per cent in child occupant protection, 81 per cent in vulnerable road user protection, and 82 per cent for its safety assistance systems.

As for the active safety equipment offered with the Q6 e-tron quattro, it gets just about all you could want from a modern, prestige car. Except for one odd misstep: there's no lane-centring to match the adaptive cruise control.

It seems to be a PPE platform issue, because the related Porsche Macan (on the same architecture) goes without this handy technology too. But, it's one that ought to be sorted soon – because cars that cost $100,000 less have them as standard kit.

Otherwise, the safety systems onboard the Q6 e-tron function appropriately without interrupting regular driving.

One cool feature the Q6 e-tron comes with is augmented reality for the head-up display – it shows you're getting too close to the car in front, it flashes up new speed limits when appropriate, and it puts navigational directions on the windscreen – it's really handy for how it displays information.

A 100kWh battery pack is fitted to the Audi Q6 e-tron, good for 542km (NEDC rated). This is a more lenient figure than the WLTP norm, and I subsequently found the Q6 e-tron could only show a maximum cruising range of below 500km on a full battery charge.

I noted an energy efficiency of 22kWh per 100 kilometres in my time with the car, where I primarily drove around suburbia. On a longer loop to the Mornington Peninsula, this consumption came down to 18kWh/100km.

As for recharging the vehicle, it recoups energy at a maximum 270kW rate. This is right up there alongside its peers, but falls behind some of the fastest-charging EVs such as the Zeekr 7X (above 400kW), MG IM6 (396kW), and the Porsche Taycan (320kW).

AC recharging is available through an 11kW onboard charger. It's helpful that there are two charge ports on either side of the car – one is for AC/DC charging, while the other is solely for AC recharging.

In middling Q6 e-tron quattro guise, the driving character of this specification is designed to strike a balance between comfort and capability. It's fitted with twin motors and all-wheel drive for enhanced power and grip over lower-specified grades, but doesn't output so much power as to step on the toes of the performance-focussed SQ6 e-tron.

The resulting driving experience finds a nice middle ground whereby there's plenty of power for executing everyday overtakes and traversing about town – but there's one area that feels far more frustrating than it should, for a car intended for day-to-day duties.

Ride comfort in the Q6 e-tron, without the optional air suspension ($4900 Tech Pro Package), is decidedly firm. The Q6 e-tron quattro is taut over all kinds of bumps in the bitumen, whether it's a speed hump, an expansion joint, or a manhole cover. It's flat and poised through corners, but the trade-off is a firm ride for every other scenario.

It doesn't ruin the driving experience, rather, it's more something you have to anticipate and 'drive around'. However, the Tech Pro Package is an option box I would be ticking if I were sitting in the Audi dealership speccing my own Q6 e-tron.

Otherwise, the electric powertrain is super quick to match throttle inputs, the regenerative braking functions well (and hands off tidily to the friction brakes when needed), while there are a selection of driving modes to cycle between. In addition to that, there are three separate regenerative braking modes that are changed via the steering wheel paddles.

The Q6 e-tron also comes with a separate 'B' mode that acts as a one-pedal solution to slowing to a halt. Nonetheless, all three felt too strong in their operation.

One area where the Q6 e-tron quattro excels is its refinement. It's eerily quiet inside the cabin while you're driving along, with road and wind noise turned down to a distant murmur. As for the build quality, there is no sense that any aspect of the interior feels loose, nor does it creak as the body flexes over undulations.

Steering the car is easy – the tiller in your hands is light and easy to manoeuvre in all kinds of situations. There's not much sense of feedback or feel, though the weight of the system does make the Q6 e-tron an easy thing to park. Likewise, the all-round visibility means slotting the body into tight gaps is a cinch.

The Audi Q6 e-tron was the first model from the brand to introduce the latest cabin design language – big screens (up to three, in our car's case), a high-set dashboard, and a minimalist central tunnel that prioritises practicality.

In my mind, Audi has always been at the forefront of cabin design with its sharp styling and no-nonsense approach to surfaces and panels.

The new Q6 e-tron continues the theme while updating it to 2026 standards. The wraparound ambient lighting bar beneath the windscreen is a nice element, and actually helps by lighting up when using the indicators, for example, and the addition of a black headliner, with this specification, keeps the feel upmarket.

S line interior styling comes as standard with the Q6 e-tron quattro variant, which means you get a pair of nice and supportive front seats (with S emblems in the head rests), aluminium pedals for the driver, and it makes the cabin feel as sporty as a full-fledged SQ6 e-tron.

There’s storage in the form of twin cupholders in the centre console, a big compartment to house larger items, a wireless smartphone charger, and twin USB-C ports to charge devices.

Unfortunately, Audi has gone with touch-capacitive controls for the steering wheel, which means you're forever accidentally pressing these while twirling the steering wheel, and they even make an appearance on the door panels – to change things like the seat memory. I'd have thought the brand would have taken a leaf out of Volkswagen's book and removed these from current products, but here we are.

Likewise, you’ll find air-conditioning adjustments within the main screen, which is a minus. Although the controls are hard-coded along the bottom of the display, using dials and knobs is far easier than prodding your way through the screen.

However, it’s nice to see a normal start button, volume dial, and a functional gear selector around the centre console.

Audi has ensured there's plenty of space for passengers in the second row, with ample head room and leg room behind my own driving position. Disappointingly, the second row seat doesn't slide or recline.

Although the Q6 e-tron comes in Sportback guise with a tapered roof line, it's this wagon version that you'd want if you were regularly carting around rear-seat passengers.

There is 526 litres of stowage space in the boot (about what you'd expect of a medium SUV), which expands to 1529L with the rear bench folded flat. Naturally, there's a power-operated tailgate, but a nice-to-have is under-bonnet storage that amounts to 64L.

The new MMI (Multimedia Interface) software introduced with the Q6 e-tron is a big improvement over Audi's older software, and it introduces new heights for over-the-air connectivity that has become so popular with Australian car buyers.

Viewed through a 14.5-inch curved touchscreen angled towards the driver, the layout of this new Android Automotive-derived tech is easy to get your head around and swift to switch between myriad screens. Not only is it visually impressive in the way the screen curves around the steering wheel, also integrating the 11.9-inch digital dash, but it's relatively easy to use.

There’s native satellite navigation, digital radio connectivity, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, plus internet connectivity to run downloadable apps.

Buyers are given three years of Audi connect plus access with their Q6 e-tron purchase, after which it transitions to a paid subscription through their myAudi account.

As for the wireless smartphone mirroring technology (Android Auto and Apple CarPlay included), I had issues with the CarPlay connection that randomly disconnected a few days into the vehicle test. We've had this issue before with a previous SQ6 e-tron loan, whereby the smartphone either needs to be reconnected or the car needs some 'time out' time overnight.

In my case, it was the former that fixed the problem.

The 11.9-inch screen in front of the driver contains useful information about the vehicle's efficiency and key driving data, though it's not the last word in customisation. I wish there were the ability to tweak the left and right edges of the screen, for example. Likewise, you can no longer transform the display into a full-screen map, like with previous Audi Virtual Cockpit systems.

In effect, the Q6 e-tron is an electric version of the popular Audi Q5 medium SUV. However, they are built on different platforms – the petrol Q5 uses the new PPC architecture, while the Q6 e-tron utilises the PPE platform shared with Porsche and its electric Macan.

Pricing kicks off at $100,000 for entry-level versions, approximately $20,000 more than the equivalent Audi Q5 petrol models. The car I was sampling in this review is the up-spec Q6 e-tron quattro, with twin electric motors and all-wheel drive. It costs $122,500 before on-road costs, but it's not the most expensive in the range. That title goes to the Audi SQ6 Sportback e-tron priced at $156,400 plus ORCs.

There are few current yardsticks to compare the Q6 e-tron against because both Mercedes-Benz, with its electric GLC, and BMW, with its forthcoming iX3, are still yet to launch in the Australian market. However, the Genesis GV70 Electrified is one close rival, and it costs $132,800 before on-road costs.

As for Audi's own line-up, the Q6 e-tron range plugs the electric medium SUV void in the German car maker's showroom where no model existed previously. Gone is the Q8 e-tron, though this was a size larger anyway.

Along with 285kW performance, the Q6 e-tron quattro is fitted with a 100kWh battery (and recharge speeds up to 270kW), the S line styling package inside and out, a set of 20-inch Audi Sport wheels, and aluminium pedals for the driver.

This spec also inherits equipment from less-expensive trim grades, such as matrix LED headlights, heated seats and steering wheel, tri-zone climate control, three separate screens in the front row, 360-degree surround-view cameras, and adaptive cruise control.

One thing it misses out on is lane-centring to match that adaptive cruise control, which is a curious omission.

If you're deadset on buying new from the showroom floor, visit an Audi dealership to check out the Q6 e-tron in the metal.

As one of just a few luxurious medium-sized EVs at the moment, a Q6 e-tron shapes up as a worthy way to spend over $100,000. The interior remains tech-relevant and information-rich, the presentation of the cabin is top-notch, and even its electric-vehicle attributes shine through.

However, the devil is in the detail. Although the Q6 e-tron drives nicely as a sporty-leaning SUV, you'd really want to be ticking the option box for the air suspension. I've previously driven an SQ6 e-tron, where air suspension is standard, and that was a far more comfortable ride.

As it stands, the Q6 e-tron quattro – without air suspension – doesn't hit the luxury brief when it comes to the everyday driving stakes. Even though just about every other facet will impress.

Tom started out in the automotive industry by exploiting his photographic skills but quickly learned journalists got the better end of the deal. With tenures at CarAdvice, Wheels Media, and now Drive, Tom's breadth of experience and industry knowledge informs a strong opinion on all things automotive. At Drive, Tom covers automotive news, car reviews, advice, and holds a special interest in long-form feature stories.

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