Audi A6 Avant Review & Prices

Audi has done so many U-turns on its naming policy over the years that if you’re not concentrating you might wonder what kind of car the new A6 Avant actually is. Don’t confuse it with the new A6 Avant e-tron, which is a fully electric estate car - the Audi A6 Avant (without the e-tron suffix) comes with mild hybrid petrol and diesel engines, and is basically a straight successor to the previous A6 Avant.

It’s like when a popular product introduces a new and improved formula, only to find out that rather a lot of people still prefer the old one - so they bring the classic edition back in a bid to keep everybody happy.

As a big, comfortable executive estate car, the A6 Avant can count among its alternatives the BMW 5 Series Touring, the Mercedes E-Class Estate and the Volvo V90, though it’s also a sleeker substitute to family SUVs such as Audi’s own Q5, the BMW X3 or the Lexus NX.

The A6 Avant may be all-new under the skin but Audi’s kept it looking familiar so it won’t scare off family estate car buyers. The large grille at the front incorporates the newly darkened Audi badge, and is flanked by sharp headlights.

The sleek sides move into a sloping tailgate with an interesting taillight setup - the indicators and brake lights are actually contained in smaller units under the wide running lights, a bit like many new cars do with their headlights at the front.

Basic Sport models come with a less aggressive bumper design and higher ride height, but the S Line does look better as it’s more hunkered down and the wider air intakes give the front a more purposeful look. Top-spec models also swap the exterior chrome for gloss black trim for a more moody aesthetic.

Inside, the A6’s dashboard is very similar to the one you’ll find in Audi’s latest electric cars. The driver information display and touchscreen infotainment system blend together and dominate the dashboard, and if you go for a top-rung trim level you get a third display for the front passenger.

It doesn’t feel quite as solid or as classy as the old A6’s interior - mainly due to the use of shiny piano black plastic everywhere. It also feels a little less impressive in lower trim levels, but it’s still nicely built and packed with technology.

Space for two rear passengers is great, though because some models are available with four-wheel drive there’s a very hefty transmission tunnel making the middle seat rather uncomfortable. Boot space, meanwhile, lags behind alternatives, being smaller than the BMW 5 Series and far behind the cavernous Mercedes E-Class Estate.

At launch, there’s a choice of just two engines - both four-cylinders in petrol or diesel form. Neither is liable to set the world alight, with only the diesel getting four-wheel drive - but both are smooth, quiet, and reasonably efficient. A plug-in hybrid will follow later.

Whichever engine you go for, the A6 is comfortable and quiet to drive, especially on the motorway. It’s not as much fun on a twisting road as a BMW 5 Series is, though.

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The A6 Avant range starts at just over £53,000, a little cheaper than the BMW 5 Series Touring and much cheaper than the Volvo V90 - though that only comes with plug-in hybrid engines. You’ll pay a few thousand more for the S line trim, and just under £61,000 if you want the high-spec Edition 1 variant.

The diesel engine is a substantial upgrade over the petrol in cost terms, but it’s well worth the extra for high-mileage drivers. It’s also nicer to drive than the petrol, and gets four-wheel drive as standard.

You’re unlikely to feel lacking for equipment even on the basic Sport model, but you’ll have to step up to the top trim level if you want flagship kit like the passenger display or high-end assisted driving features.

More comfortable than a BMW 5 Series on the motorway, but less exciting in the corners

In town

You do miss an SUV’s high seating position when you’re in the A6 - it feels very low to the ground, and as a result it’s not quite so easy to lord it over other traffic. Visibility out is very good, though, thanks to loads of glass especially in the crucial over-the-shoulder blindspot.

A 360-degree camera system as well as auto parking and all-round sensors all come as standard even on the most basic model, so the A6 Avant should prove easy to park - although it’s a very long car, so you won’t be squeezing it into the tightest of spaces.

The A6 Avant’s gearbox is smooth as they come and responds quickly if you need to nip into gaps, while the suspension deals well with bumps at low speeds - especially if you opt for a top-spec car on air suspension.

On the motorway

The A6 feels as though it was made for the motorway - especially if you opt for the long-legged diesel model, meaning you’ll be able to go over 600 miles on a tank if you’re careful.

Adaptive cruise control comes as standard, as does the usual glut of lane-keeping and speed limit aids.

The suspension deals very well with expansion joints and rutted road surfaces, and noise is kept to an absolute minimum - especially wind noise. In fact, the A6 Avant is one of the most aerodynamic cars you can buy, which definitely helps.

On a twisty road

Get to an exciting B-road and the A6 Avant doesn’t feel quite as much at home as a BMW 5 Series Touring does. Both engines sound quite coarse when they’re revved, especially the diesel, which doesn’t really befit the strong-and-silent nature of the A6. And even with the suspension in its stiffest setting, there’s quite a lot of body lean - more than you might expect from such a low car.

The steering also doesn’t reassure you like a BMW’s does, as while it’s light and accurate it doesn’t really give you much inkling of what the front wheels are doing. The A6 is more like a Volvo V90 in that regard - while you can drive it fast, you don’t really feel very rewarded for doing so.

Two rear passengers can get comfy, but a third will be cramped - and the boot isn’t very big

The A6’s Avant’s front seats are a lovely place to spend time. They’re wide, comfortable and electrically adjustable as standard, with plenty of support for drivers of all sizes. They also go back an exceptionally long way - basketball players could get comfortable behind the wheel of the A6.

Storage for smaller items is a bit lacking, though. The door bins and glovebox are big, but there’s nowhere to toss keys or wallets except under the armrest. The cupholders also don’t get a cover, unlike in the BMW 5 Series Touring or Volvo V90 - so you can’t put your pocket contents in them and then keep them out of sight.

Space in the rear seats

Two occupants will be able to get very comfortable in the rear of the A6 Avant. Legroom and headroom is plentiful - it’s roomier than a BMW 5 Series Touring - and they get a great view out with big windows. The seats are squashy and supportive, and there’s a set of air-conditioning controls, a wide centre armrest, and door bins and seat back pockets for storage.

The rear doors open nice and wide and the ISOFIX points are easy to get at under convenient foldaway covers.

It’s a shame that it’s not as much fun for a third passenger, though. The centre seat is much higher and narrower than the outer two, and there’s a monster of a transmission tunnel disrupting the floor that a centre passenger will have to uncomfortably straddle.

Boot space

Boot space in the A6 Avant is plenty for most families but does lag behind the competition a fair bit. At 503 litres it’s smaller than the BMW 5 Series Touring (570 litres), Volvo V90 (551 litres) and the gargantuan Mercedes E-Class Estate (615 litres).

The boot is neatly trimmed and has loads of clever storage solutions to hold your luggage in place or divide it up - they store in a shallow compartment under the boot floor. It’s also nice that the rear seats fold in a 40:20:40 split rather than the more usual 60:40, giving you maximum flexibility when it comes to balancing passengers and load space.

The seats fold flat easily from levers in the boot, and they lie completely level with the boot floor, making it easy to load long or bulky items.

High-spec interior doesn’t feel as solid as you’d like in some places, and feels stingy in lower trims

The A6’s interior is very similar to that on the A6 e-tron as well as the taller Q5 and Q6 e-tron. It uses the same array of screens and much of the same switchgear, with mixed results. While it’s nicely built and reasonably user-friendly, it doesn’t feel as solid, classy or straightforward as its immediate predecessor.

The strongest factor in this is the excessive use of shiny, fingerprint-magnet piano black plastic. Not only does this look greasy and streaky almost as soon as it’s been touched, but it picks up dust really easily.

There are also a few areas where discrete buttons have been replaced by haptic panels - such as the combined lighting and mirror switch panel on the door, or the steering wheel controls. These flex under the finger and don’t feel as posh as the proper buttons you used to get.

All cars get two displays - a driver screen and a huge 14.5-inch infotainment setup. This controls just about everything in the car, including the climate - but it’s responsive and slick to use, the equal of BMW’s system in this regard. It’s just a shame you can’t navigate it with a scroll wheel while you’re on the move, to avoid having to reach out to scroll through menus.

Top-spec cars also get an additional 10.1-inch display for the passenger side, which allows them to control media or watch videos. It’s invisible to the driver when doing the latter thanks to a clever polarising feature. It’s a totally unnecessary addition - most passengers will probably prefer to watch something on their phone - but on models which don’t have it you get a really ugly slab of plastic in its place, which is a real pity.

Audi’s set to introduce plug-in hybrid engines to the A6 Avant at a later date, and these will certainly be the pick of the range for company car drivers. At present, though, there are just two engines - both 2.0-litre, four-cylinders with 204hp, though one is petrol and one is diesel.

The TFSI petrol engine is paired to front-wheel drive, returns up to 39.5mpg and emits 162g/km according to official figures. The diesel, meanwhile, returns up to 54.2mpg and emits just 137g/km. It also gets four-wheel drive, and thanks to greater low-end pulling power is definitely the pick of the engines.

However, neither can compete with a plug-in hybrid for running costs, making the BMW 530e or Volvo V90 T6 both better bets if you’re concerned about Benefit-in-Kind. If you want something like the A6 Avant, check out the fully electric A6 Avant e-tron instead.

All versions of the A6 Avant attract a chunky first year tax bill and are liable for the expensive car supplement in years two to six of ownership.

The A6 Avant scored a full five-star rating when tested by Euro NCAP - making it Audi’s 18th five-star result since 2015. The individual scores weren’t quite as impressive as on the all-electric A6 e-tron, but it still returned a high rating of 87% for adult occupants and 88% for child occupants.

All the safety equipment you’d expect is standard, and it’s easy to switch off the more irritating mandatory systems thanks to a shortcut key next to the gear selector. They’re quite sophisticated, though, so you might not feel too bad about leaving some of them on - the semi-autonomous motorway aids are particularly good.

Audi came a really disappointing 27th out of 32 brands in the 2024 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey - two places behind Mercedes and 13 places behind BMW. The A6 Avant uses all-new underpinnings and its engines are pretty new too, so there’s not much historical reliability data to go off. The old A6 wasn’t known for being particularly troublesome, but servicing any premium car can be expensive, so budget plenty for bills just in case.