Latest news with #Q6Sportback
Top Gear
9 hours ago
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Audi Q6 Sportback e-tron Driving, Engines & Performance
Driving What is it like to drive? It might sound like damning with faint praise, but one of the virtues of the Q6 Sportback e-tron is that it's the sort of car that you can just jump in and get on with driving. It feels large on the move (visibility could be better, it's hard to judge where the car's extremities are), but will lollop along in a laidback manner. On the smooth roads around Munich we could immediately see how Audi has largely catered the car to the tastes of its home market. It's remarkably refined on the autobahn, keeping things hushed all the way past speeds that in the UK would see you in the queue for a bus pass almost as quickly. Advertisement - Page continues below So not really that fun to drive then? The bulk of the range does a very professional, competent job of getting you about the place, but another surprise is the SQ6, which while falling short of being what you might call 'fun' at least combines a startling turn of speed (4.3 seconds to 62mph) with perky handling that tricks you into thinking the car is more lithe and slinky than it really is. The quattro four-wheel-drive system is more of a psychological boost than a practical one in everyday driving. You'd be perfectly happy in the rear-wheel-drive version, which never really feels like it's going to trouble the electronic safety wizardry. Whether we'd say the same thing on greasy December roads is another thing. What about range and powertrain options? Official WLTP range is 339 miles in the 83kWh car, 408 miles in the RWD performance spec car, 395 in the quattro AWD model and 377 miles in the S-badged car. But how close you get to those numbers depends on how much of the performance you try and use. There are three flavours of powertrain – your standard setup, then 'performance' and 'quattro'. The entry one only comes with the 83kWh battery and produces 249bhp, upping it to 288bhp for brief periods if you use the launch control feature, when it'll do 0–62mph in 7.0s (7.6s if you don't – on all the other models where it's featured, it only makes a 0.1s difference). Advertisement - Page continues below Performance comes with the big battery and unlocks a higher power of 302bhp, which rises to 322bhp in launch control mode and 6.6s to 62mph. Quattro offers 383bhp whether you like or not (5.9s to 62mph) and the SQ5 is the perkiest with three e-motors producing 482bhp/510bhp and getting the car to 62mph in 4.3s. Top speed is 130mph unless you're in the SQ5, then it's 143mph. Phew. We've seen fewer numbers in a sudoku. And charging? How delicately can we put this – there's been a temptation with some of the EVs emerging out of the Volkswagen Group to chase headline charging figures that you'll manage for about 30 seconds on an extension cable coming out the side of a nuclear power station, after which electricity dribbles in. The Q6 Sportback e-tron manages to avoid the worst of this through 800V charging, improved thermal management, and the sheer size of its batteries. But peak charge speeds are 225kW for the smaller battery, 260kW for the larger batteried RWD car and 270kW for the others. Audi says the RWD performance car will get from 10 to 80 per cent in 22 minutes, or to put it another way you'll get 165 miles in 10 minutes at an appropriately powerful plug. If all you can find is a 50kW charger you'll be there for weeks with batteries this size, mind. Highlights from the range the fastest 285kW Quattro 100kWh S Line 5dr Auto [S+V] 0-62 5.9s CO2 0 BHP 382.2 MPG Price £74,950 the cheapest 185kW 83kWh Sport 5dr Auto 0-62 7.6s CO2 0 BHP 248.1 MPG Price £62,950 the greenest 285kW Quattro 100kWh S Line 5dr Auto [S+V] 0-62 5.9s CO2 0 BHP 382.2 MPG Price £74,950
Top Gear
9 hours ago
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Buy Audi Q6 Sportback e-tron Price, PPC or HP
Buying What should I be paying? There are three trims available for the Q6 Sportback e-tron – Sport, S line and Edition 1 – and each comes with three powertrain options (standard, performance and quattro – see the Driving tab for more info). At the top of the range is the SQ6 Sportback e-tron that just comes in Edition 1 quattro flavour. The entry-level Sport starts the bidding at £63,740 and the SQ6 maxes out at a dizzying £96,210. In Sport trim it's a £3.5k jump to the performance car, then another £5.5k for the quattro. S line trim starts from £66,740 and Edition 1 from £71,740 with the same hops up the ladder. Advertisement - Page continues below What are the trims like? In Sport trim you get 19in alloys as standard, LED lights front and rear, heated front and outer rear seats and steering wheel, three-zone climate control, 14.5in touchscreen with Audi's MMI Plus setup (that includes satnav), 360-degree parking cameras and adaptive cruise. S line adds 20in wheels, upgraded exterior styling, a fancier steering wheel and some other interior jazzery, while the Edition 1 model comes with Audi's extra fancy matrix LED headlights, sport suspension, posher interior, the 10.9in touchscreen passenger display and more safety kit as standard. The SQ6 Sportback e-tron is much the same in its Edition 1 trim, but comes with adaptive air suspension and Audi's distinctive OLED tail-lights. Which one should I go for? The Sport model will likely be a rare sight once people have seen it sulking on 19in wheels (though they must do wonders for comfort), but the S line setup is all the Q6 Sportback e-tron you'll really need. Advertisement - Page continues below Other interesting things to note – all Q6 Sportback e-trons come with heat pump, 11kW AC charging (on both sides) and 270kW CCS fast charging capability (just on the left) as standard. Need to do some towing? The quattro all-wheel-drive version is rated to drag along an impressive 2,400kg.
Top Gear
14 hours ago
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Audi Q6 Sportback e-tron Review 2025
This is the Q6 Sportback e-tron, which is Audi code for coupe – the slinkier version of the Q6 SUV that was launched in 2024. Was the model line created solely so someone at Audi HQ could sleep more soundly with a full flush of SUVs from Q2 through to Q8? Perhaps. It's a slightly confusing model to have in the lineup as it's barely a credit card bigger than the Q5 in any direction, but harks back to the bizarre era of about 15 minutes in length where Audi announced it was going to have petrol-based odd numbered models and electric ones with even numbers. Advertisement - Page continues below It looks very similar to the Q5 styling-wise, save for the sleeker headlight treatment up front. But then if you wanted to do any form of virtue signalling as an electric car driver an Audi SUV possibly isn't the thing to use. And how's it different to the actual Q6? Audi says the exterior is different from the shoulder line up, so there's a more rakish windscreen, swoopier 37mm lower roofline and obviously a sleek boot. But Audi also thinks if you look at it from the side you'll be reminded of a first generation TT, so salt pinches at the ready people. That curved roof does make it more slippery through the air – a drag coefficient of 0.26 makes it better than a bus but worse than a fish and good for up to 408 miles of range. It looks quite big. It does look big, but then all cars are huge these days aren't they? It's actually on par with some of its rivals – not surprisingly the same size as the Porsche Macan, with which it shares its technical undercrackers, mostly the same size (but a chunk shorter) than the Mercedes EQE SUV and Polestar 3. Advertisement - Page continues below Does anyone really want a coupe SUV? It appears they do, because carmakers keep building them. Audi reckons that 25 per cent of the Q6 models it sells will be the less practical Sportback model, and demand is particularly strong in its home market Germany. To be fair, if you're going to get a large heavy electric SUV you might as well really lean into it and go for a coupe version. The Q6 Sportback looks surprisingly good when you're standing next to it, but to our eyes the Polestar 3 does a much better job of blending rakish pretensions and reasonable taste. Talk batteries to me. The Q6 Sportback comes with the same set of powertrains from the standard Q6 SUV – batteries in large (83kWh or 75.8kWh usable) or XL (100kWh or 94.9kWh usable) and rear-wheel drive or quattro all-wheel drive propulsion. Audi says its thermal management of the batteries is 'impressive' (well it would, wouldn't it?) and that along with the 800V electrical architecture makes for peak 270kW charging (in the 4WD models) and a 10 to 80 per cent charge time of 22 minutes. If the stars align and you find a plug that delivers what it promises. So how far will it go? The rangiest model is the RWD Q6 Sportback e-tron performance model that's rated at 408 miles WLTP – the smaller batteried car will get you a still decent 339 miles and the SQ6 Sportback is rated at 377 miles. Once we've driven the car in the UK we'll have a better idea how close you can get to those figures in everyday driving. Check out the Driving tab for more info on batteries and performance. Does it drive alright? The Q6 Sportback has been engineered to please the home crowd and that's fine – it's impressively refined on the motorway, even at crazy autobahn speeds, staying quiet inside the cabin at 90/100mph. You won't be doing that in the UK of course, but it's still nice and quiet at traffic jam speed. We've only driven the car on the buttery smooth roads around Ingolstadt so far (and on optional air suspension too), so we can't comment too much on whether your teeth will fall out on UK roads, but the handling is direct and assertive, giving the car a perkiness that belies its size. The hotter SQ6 version was almost, dare we say it, quite fun. The only thing we didn't like was the brakes, which offer a good initial response but then get snatchy just before you come to a stop. Audi's managed to conjure up a smooth blend of discs and regen on some of its other cars, so it's a shame it's not quite managed it here. Our choice from the range AUDI 225kW Performance 100kWh S Line 5dr Auto £69,450 See prices and specs What's the verdict? ' Looking for an electric coupe-SUV and you really want an Audi? Bosh, the Q6 Sportback does the job ' Audi can churn out quick, dependable, tech-laden SUVs with its eyes closed. And the safety kit is almost good enough that they could stay closed. The whole Q6 offering doesn't do a great deal to stick out in your mind when you think of electric SUVs, but it fills a little gap in the company portfolio nicely. Looking for an electric coupe-SUV and you really want an Audi? Bosh, the Q6 Sportback does the job. One of the main virtues of this car is that it's simple to use and easy to live with – Piccadilly Circus-inspired dashboard notwithstanding, but that's really down to taste. We can think of more interesting cars, but if you're more worried about listening to a podcast in heavy traffic or trying to hustle the kids down the motorway, look no further.
