Audi’s S6 Avant EV Overpowers and Outsprints Its Predecessors

Back in the pure-combustion era, there were few breeds of car cooler than a high-performance German station wagon. If you had to pick one vehicle to drive for the rest of your life, it may well have been the load-lugging version of the Audi S6 or RS6, BMW M5, or Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG. There was—and remains—an appealing omni-capability about such models. They marry supercar levels of power and performance with a cargo bay that can swallow a washing machine, and, when offered alongside a sedan, the wagon was always the knowing petrolhead’s choice.

There’s something amusing about using a high-powered car for mundane family tasks, or seeing the family hound’s slobbery jowls pressed against the rear screen as his owner blew off yet another sports car at the lights. But those of us now sold on electric power for our daily drivers have had to wait a while for a premium German EV “estate car,” as the Brits call them. BMW, Audi, and Mercedes gave us electric SUVs first, as the big batteries required to deliver long ranges are more easily hidden in their bigger frames.

Those are often great cars, but keen drivers prefer the lower profile and weight of a purely road-optimized wagon. We had to wait until last summer for the first one—the BMW i5 Touring—and until now for the Audi A6 e-tron and S6 Avant e-tron. Mercedes still doesn’t offer one, and the Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo is more of a five-door EV sports car.

Audi’s new model lineup assigns even numbers to EVs and odd numbers to combustion and hybrid cars. So the outgoing Audi A6 executive range, which spawned the S6 and RS6 performance wagons, will become the A7, S7 and RS7. The new A6 occupies the same market segment but is purely electric and available as a Sportback hatchback and an Avant wagon. The high-performance S6 version can be had in either body style, though of course we drove the Avant. Sadly, only the Sportback version will be available stateside.

The S6 Avant e-tron has some big boots to fill: previous editions of the gas-powered S6 ran a version of Lamborghini’s 5.0-liter V-10, and later a twin-turbo V-8. On paper, this battery-powered successor more than measures up. With a system total of up to 543 hp, and the ability to cover zero to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, this new all-electric S6 overpowers and outsprints any past iterations of the model. And with a motor on each axle, it also replicates the outgoing S6’s hallmark quattro all-wheel drive. The 100 kWh battery gives an EPA range of 324 miles (dependent, obviously, on how you drive the vehicle), and its 800-volt architecture means you can firehose the electrons in at 270 kW. That translates to the S6 being able to charge from 10 percent to 80 percent in 21 minutes.

Sure, you can buy a Tesla Model S Plaid for less, and it will deliver nearly twice the power and half the acceleration time. But you seldom need (or want) to use acceleration that violent, and these premium German wagons have always been about that breadth of capability. A more powerful RS6 will follow, but, on the road, the new S6 is as fast as you’d ever need it to be: even more capable of compressing the distance between hairpins or the time needed to overtake than its forebears. It complements that power with a composed ride and sweet, responsive, accurate handling.

The S6 is aesthetically striking, if not conventionally good-looking. Impressive aero is critical to a long range, and with cameras for wing mirrors (even if the S6 Avant was available in the U.S., that latter feature would not yet be allowed)—the hatchback version is the slipperiest Audi ever, with the Avant not far behind. That explains the slightly odd-looking front end, with its solid grille, narrow daytime-running lights, and headlamps and vents buried beneath, but also the exceptional refinement, with a noticeable lack of wind noise. The black strip on the side breaks up the extra depth required to house the huge battery under the floor: the car is only slightly taller than the outgoing S6, which it hides well, but you do notice the higher floor once inside, and the slightly more awkward seating position for rear-seat passengers as a result.

The interior is still sensational though, as a top-of-the-line Audi’s should be. It is finished mainly in dark, artificial suede (branded as Dinamica). Great seat comfort and driving position is a given. The main instrument cluster ahead of you is a screen, of course: there’s also an augmented-reality head-up display and a curved 14.5-inch OLED touchscreen display. In addition, the front passenger has a separate 10.9-inch screen, from which they can control the audio and satellite-navigation systems, if you let them. There’s no doubting that you’re driving the fast Audi wagon of the future, but if that sounds like too much tech, you can configure it to your preference, including turning much of it off.

So is this new Audi S6 the zero-emissions, hot-shoe German wagon we’ve been waiting for? Annoyingly, the fact that the other S6 body style is now a hatch rather than a sedan partially robs the Avant of its trunk-space advantage—it’s only actually bigger after you put the rear seats down. And lesser A6-badged versions offer still-impressive performance but range of up to 390 miles.

Yet old S6 and RS6 buyers always had the option of a more sensible gas- or diesel-powered A6, and eschewed it in favor of a wagon that could pancake their dog’s face on the rear window. That Avant is definitely back, and we know which we’d choose.

Click here for more photos of the all-electric Audi S6 Avant e-tron.