Written by Luke Wilkinson Updated: 19 August 2025

Overview

Should you buy one?

Yes. The latest Audi A6 is a fantastic executive saloon. It’s a true jack of all trades, offering greater comfort than the BMW 5 Series and better dynamics than the Mercedes E-Class. I’m also a huge fan of Audi’s new MHEV Plus technology and I respect the brand’s decision to retain diesel as it’s a great fit for the car.

It’s also vast inside, offering loads of passenger space front and rear. Boot space is a bit neat compared to its rivals, but it’s still more than big enough for family duties. In fact, the only major issue I have with the car is its technology. I’m not stuck on the steering wheel buttons and the touchscreen is a little too complicated to be convenient.

I also have a few question marks about the A6’s reliability. Our test cars developed several electrical faults during our loans, the most serious of which prevented the rear right door from closing. The diesel’s rear left seat sensor was also convinced there was a passenger sitting there, even though it was empty. I’m willing to give Audi the benefit of the doubt for now as the A6 is still a brand-new car – but I’ll be monitoring the situation carefully.

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What is it?

In this bold new world of anonymous electric SUVs, I applaud Audi’s decision to launch a brand-new executive barge. Meet the sixth-generation A6 saloon – a car designed to put the latest BMW 5 Series and Mercedes E-Class back in their place.

What’s particularly surprising is that you can have the A6 with a 204hp diesel engine. Most other brands have shied away from the fuel because of its high levels of nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions – but Audi is brave enough to realise that, when used properly, it makes perfect sense in a car designed to spend most of its time on the motorway.

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The diesel is backed up by Audi’s clever MHEV Plus technology, which has more electrical assistance than your average mild hybrid system. That allows car to beetle around on battery power alone at low speeds, which is good for fuel economy. Alternatively, if you mainly cover local miles, you can have your A6 with a 204hp 2.0-litre petrol.

At the top of the range is a plug-in hybrid with a 299hp and a maximum electric driving range of 65 miles, which we’ve explored in a separate review. You can also have your A6 with countless options, including an infotainment screen for the front passenger, an electrochromic panoramic sunroof, a bangin’ stereo and rear wheel steering.

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The question is – can the new A6 out-drive the 5 Series and out-comfort the E-Class? Scroll down to find out what I made of it. And if you’re curious about how I reached my verdict on the car, head over to the Parkers how we test cars explainer page.

What’s it like inside?

I like the way the A6’s dashboard wraps around the driver, but I’m not completely sold on the technology. It looks great – it’s easily as sharp as BMW’s Curved Display and it’s far less ostentatious than Mercedes Superscreen – but it’s not the most intuitive to use. I’ll use the climate controls as an example. They’re a bit too fiddly. If you want to adjust the fan speed, you need to bring up a separate menu and faff about with frustratingly small icons.

The heated seats are on similarly tiny icons, and your sightline to the quick menu on the top right of the screen is blocked by the steering wheel. I reckon the cabin would benefit from some more physical controls, but I guess I could settle for bigger screen icons.

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You can also have an infotainment system for the passenger-side dashboard which, if I’m honest, is a bit of a gimmick. It largely houses the same functions as the central screen – and that’s not exactly difficult for the front passenger to access.

There is a privacy function that allows the front passenger to watch videos without distracting the driver, which is a nice touch. However, if the front passenger wants to watch a film, they probably already have a device in their pocket that would allow them to do so.

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The steering wheel is a bit of a let-down, too. I really thought Audi would have learned from Volkswagen’s mistakes and swerved haptic steering wheel buttons, but the A6’s wheel is peppered with them. What’s worse is they’re made from cheap, flimsy plastic and they don’t work properly. It’s far too easy to accidentally change the stereo volume or skip songs as you’re twirling the wheel.

Comfort

The front seats are very well shaped and they offer loads of adjustment. I’m particularly fond of the seat base and thigh support functions. I’m a weird shape – I’ve got unusually long legs for my height – so I often find myself sliding forwards out of car seats because they don’t extend far enough down to support my thighs. But the A6 is great.

I also liked the fabric upholstery my test car was trimmed in. It’s the same texture and colour as a drab business suit, but it was never uncomfortably hot in 30-degree heat. Plus, the extra grip provided by the fibres over Audi’s leather trim meant I wasn’t thrown around in my seat as much when driving more spiritedly.

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Rear legroom is generous for the outer two passengers, but the middle-seat passenger is seriously short-changed due to the huge transmission tunnel required for the prop shaft to the rear differential. The middle seat will be very uncomfortable on a long journey. At least headroom is no less generous than a 5 Series or an E-Class

Audi A6 boot space and practicality

The most basic petrol A6 has 492 litres of boot space, which is 28 litres less than a standard 5 Series and 48 litres less than a non-PHEV E-Class. Go for the MHEV diesel and that drops to 452 litres thanks to the battery pack under the floor. Still, the boot is quite long and the loading lip is shallow, making it easy to chuck in cases and golf bats.

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The A6’s interior storage compensates for the lack of space in the boot. You get door bins big enough to hold litre-sized water bottles, a pair of cupholders in the centre console and a well-sized glovebox. I also like the wireless smartphone charger under the touchscreen – it’s powerful enough to push electricity through my phone case, which I’ve found to be something BMW’s wireless chargers struggle with.

Safety

Euro NCAP tested the A6 Avant in 2024 – and it left the facility with a five-star safety rating. The testers were particularly impressed with the car’s child occupant protection ability, as both the six- and ten-year-old dummies emerged from their wreckages virtually unscathed.

The A6’s standard safety technology is generous. You get lane assist, adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking, along with a traffic sign recognition system. There’s also a driver monitoring system that I found to be a little too eager to scorn you for not paying attention to the road. That’s difficult to avoid when you’re fiddling with the touchscreen’s frustratingly small icons.

Reliability

Audi hasn’t got off to the strongest start here. When we tested the A6 PHEV, it developed a fault with its high-voltage battery pack that prevented us from driving in EV mode. Plus, its rear driver-side door wouldn’t close. The electronically operated door handle couldn’t reset its latch, so I had to lash it to the other rear door using a ratchet strap to stop it from flying open into passing traffic.

Then, when I sampled the diesel, the weight sensor on the empty rear left seat was convinced there was a passenger on it that wasn’t wearing their seatbelt. That sent the dashboard into a bonging frenzy until I pulled over and buckled the phantom in place.

Audi A6 engines

At the time of writing, the A6 was available with either a non-electrically assisted 2.0-litre petrol or Audi’s 2.0-litre diesel MHEV Plus system. I’ve only tried the diesel so far, but I reckon it’s the one to go for. Yes, it might be £4,000 more expensive than the petrol, but you get the same amount of power, an extra 60Nm of torque and better fuel economy.

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Plus, the diesel is backed up by Audi’s MHEV Plus system, which I’m a huge fan of. It’s a sophisticated version reimagining of mild hybrid technology with just enough grunt to shunt the car around on electric power alone. That means you can creep around town and crawl along in traffic on silent EV power. In fact, it drives more like a full hybrid system, just without the weight and price penalty.

What’s it like to drive?

It’s great. The A6 strikes a keen balance between the sharpness of the 5 Series and the comfort of an air-sprung E-Class. However, I recommend you need to splash a bit of cash on a couple of options to get the very best from your car.

The first is air suspension. The standard setup isn’t great at dealing with potholes, while the lowered sports suspension fitted to S line models is always too unsettled, even on well-surfaced roads. Audi’s air suspension has a greater breadth of ability, being able to float down the motorway like a magic carpet and level the body out like a plumb line once your hit a fun A-road. It’s sublime, even when teamed with Audi’s enormous 21-inch alloys.

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I reckon Audi’s rear-wheel steering system is worth having, too. The upgrade makes this five-metre-long land yacht feel as agile as a fishing skiff, whether you’re pedalling it down a B-road at Mach 4 or squeezing through a tight multi-storey car park. Turn-in is especially impressive. It’ll nose into corners like it’s a metre shorter.

There’s an extra comfort benefit to the technology, too. It makes the A6 smoother when you’re swapping lanes on the motorway. At speed, both axles turn in the same direction, allowing the car to crab across the carriageway – and that means your passengers experience lower G-forces. It’s uncannily smooth.

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Audi’s all-wheel steering gets even better when you team it with the diesel model’s quattro all-wheel drive system. Good grief, is it planted. I had to work incredibly hard to unstick the car – and even then, the computers were on me like a shot to shuffle the power between the axles to bring my lairy antics under control.

The upshot of this is that the A6 is a very safe, phenomenally grippy car. If you live somewhere with slick, challenging, off-camber roads (such as the Scottish Highlands, the Lake District or the Peak District), this car will eat them for breakfast. Providing you’re good at judging its girth against passing tractors and campervans.

What models and trims are available?

There are three specifications to choose from called Sport, S line and Edition 1. The entry-level Sport model is priced from £54,830 and comes as standard with 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, 14.5-inch infotainment system and an 11.9-inch digital gauge cluster.

Mid-range S line cars start from £57,630 and build on that specification with 20mm lower sports suspension, 19-inch alloys, more adjustable heated sports seats, a flat-bottomed sports steering wheel, privacy glass and a more aggressive body kit.

The top-spec A6 Edition 1 gets even more equipment. Upgrades include 20-inch alloy wheels, black exterior trim, dark chrome exhaust tips, red brake calipers and leather seat upholstery. You also get an extra 10.9-inch infotainment screen for the passenger-side dashboard. Prices start from £62,530.

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But it gets more complicated than that because the A6 diesel I tested isn’t listed on Audi’s configurator. My car  was trimmed in a hidden fourth specification called ‘Launch Edition Plus’ – and it sports almost every optional extra the brand could cram into the car.

This includes adaptive air suspension, all-wheel steering, all-wheel drive, a Bang & Olufsen stereo, an electrochromic panoramic sunroof and Audi’s fancy MHEV Plus powertrain. It costs £67,325, which looks like good value when you compare it to the £65,000 you’ll spend on a similarly equipped rear-wheel drive BMW 520i.

Now click through to the next page for breakdown of the Audi A6 saloon’s strengths and weaknesses.