Julian Kirk reports back on our A6 Avant plug-in hybrid long termer.

Audi A6 Avant S Line e-Hybrid Quattro S Tronic

P11d (BiK): £64,340 (10%)  MPG/CO2: 109.1mpg/59g/km Test mpg: 58.2mpg

Report 5:

 

When you’re buying a vehicle, the accepted logic is that a PCP is the best bet, but having a play on Audi’s finance calculator reveals that another option may be better.

Our top-of-the-range A6 currently comes with a £6,750 deposit contribution for Audi’s three-year/30,000-mile PCP product, leaving you to find £11,775 for a deposit and then 35 monthly payments of £639. You can then pay nearly £26,000 to own the car, or use your equity to fund another PCP.

But if you just want to walk away after that three-year period, Audi’s current personal contract hire deal makes more sense – £3,865 down followed by 35 months at £644. And if you want the full maintenance package and tyre replacement, it will be £684 a month.

That seems really good value for a big, fully loaded family car, and the £40 a month for servicing and tyres is also good value, as a new set of tyres all round is going to take up about half of that figure anyway.

Interestingly, that £684 monthly price is cheaper than the smaller A5 Avant which costs £700 a month for the same engine and specification level. So in Audi’s finance calculator world, you pay less and get more by opting for the A6.

All of which continues to prove my point that the A6 is a really under-rated executive car. While an SUV is now seemingly the default option for anyone taking a cash allowance, the deals available on the A6 show that it’s worth having a shop around before ticking the big, shiny 4×4 box.

Report 4:

In previous reports, I’ve praised the driveability of the A6, and a large part of this can be attributed to the four-wheel steering system fitted to our test car.

At low speeds (up to 37mph), the rear wheels turn by five degrees in the opposite direction to the fronts, helping to improve low speed manoeuvrability. This is really noticeable when you’re trying to park a car as long as the A6 in a tight car park, or make sharp turns in built-up areas.

At speeds faster than 37mph, the rear wheels steer in the same direction as the fronts, making manoeuvres more stable, for instance lane changes on motorways.

The overall result is a big executive car which handles like a smaller compact executive model, so you get the best of both worlds with the A6 (so long as it is a Quattro four-wheel drive model) – lots of room inside but with the driving dynamics of a smaller car.

I’m also getting small car levels of fuel economy thanks to the hybrid set-up of our test car. While my average of nigh-on 60mpg is way off the claimed (and, frankly, unattainable) figure, it is still an impressive number for a car as large as the A6 and which tips the scales at more than two tonnes.

Elsewhere, I’ve come to appreciate the switchable transparency on the sunroof… while I still think this full-length glass roof is something of an expensive gimmick, switching the transparency to opaque has really helped keep the cabin cool during the recent heatwave.

If only the climate control system was as easy to work out – I’m still switching between seemingly endless versions of air conditioning, with several buttons available, from ‘eco’ mode to full-on gale force wind-generation. While this variety is great, I do yearn for a simple control to turn to lower the blast coming from the vents.

Report 3:

I was sat in traffic behind an A6 Avant e-tron the other day, which got me thinking about how the all-electric A6 compares to our plug-in hybrid version.

Unsurprisingly, the electric model is miles ahead when it comes to driver taxation, enjoying much lower BIK percentage bandings.

Our test car is currently in the 10% banding, meaning a BIK bill for a higher rate tax-payer of £214 a month. This will rise to 11%/£235pm next financial year, before rocketing to 18%/£386pm in 2028/29.

Those figures suggest this is the golden time to be in a plug-in hybrid before the taxation rules make them all but pointless. By comparison, the electric regime is enjoying more stability, annual increments of 1 or 2% seeing an e-tron’s monthly bill for the same taxpayer rise from £90pm this financial year to £158pm in 2028/29.

When you see the figures in black and white, it’s very hard to argue against, despite the A6 e-hybrid being an impressive all-round car.

Another surprise was that the e-tron has around 100 litres’ more boot space than our car – the plug-in battery pack under the load floor robs the A6 e-Hybrid of some useable space.

The only area where the e-hybrid does score is in range – I can comfortably get around 400 miles from a tank of fuel and a full charge, while the Audi quote for the A6 e-tron (without the uprated battery in the Performance model) is a maximum of 360 miles… so a real-world figure of around 300 miles would be more likely.

Report 2:

 

When I introduced our A6, I extolled its credentials for being a great high-mileage business express and the past month has seen this well and truly put to the test.

A series of long motorway runs have reinforced my view that this A6 is a great choice if you’re covering big mileages – around 400 miles of range and, despite the S Line specification and 20-inch wheels, decent ride comfort.

At motorway speeds the cabin insulates you from wind and road noise and the A6’s large footprint imbues a real sense of stability at higher speeds.

Of course, these sort of runs don’t do a hybrid car’s economy much good, resulting in our average economy dropping to 63.3mpg – still impressive for a big ICE vehicle, but short of the claimed 100mpg-plus.

However, balancing this is the e-Hybrid’s effectiveness on shorter urban runs – a four-hour charge liberates around 55 miles of pure EV motoring, meaning I can go almost a week on my average commuting regime. To put that in to perspective, on my 17p/kWh home tariff, that’s about £4.

The aforementioned long motorway trips have also given me the chance to assess some of the options fitted to our test car. The 20-inch RS alloys are a decadent £2,300 option which you can obviously do without, but they really enhance the stance of the A6. Likewise the metallic blue paint, although this is a much more affordable £775.

The one option that is almost impossible to justify is the full-length panoramic sunroof with switchable transparency. Once you have marvelled at the ability to change the opacity from clear to opaque, and giggled at the striped opacity function, you’re left with a large glass roof which you just wish you could open. A cheaper opening glass roof would be a much better choice, although Audi does not offer this.

First Report:

After a few months of driving a Q6 e-tron – the pinnacle of Audi’s current EV offering – it feels almost like a step back to take the keys to a plug-in hybrid model. From pure electric motoring we’ve now added in a thirsty and fossil-fuel munching petrol engine, somewhat at odds with the evangelical push for the adoption of pure EVs.

However, as we all know, not every driver either wants or can live with an EV, so a plug-in is the best compromise in the short term (until the Government starts increasing the Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) bandings ever further upwards from 2028).

So what we have here is almost the quintessential high-mileage company car – able to muster around a 400-mile range of combined petrol and electric power, good levels of comfort and technology, loads of cabin room, affordable BiK bills and strong residuals.

Recently revised, the A6 is a stalwart of the Audi line-up, occupying what is now a shrinking executive sector as SUVs in all shapes and sizes take over. But is it still a tempting alternative for a company executive?

Absolutely… shorn of the excessive weight of a pure EV’s battery pack, the A6 combines mile-crushing comfort and pace with a surprising level of agility on cross-country roads. It’s a car you can cover big distances in five-up with a bootful of stuff. And with the petrol tank brimmed you have around 360 miles of range, while the battery pack offers a claimed 60 miles fully charged.

Our test car is in the default S line specification, adding in all of the sporty accoutrements you expect – the bigger wheels, bulkier body kit and lowered ride height imbue the A6 with a real sense of purpose.

We’ve added to that purpose with the addition of a gorgeous set of grey 20-inch RS alloy wheels (a hefty £2,300) to offset the £775 metallic blue paintwork. Other options include the panoramic full-length sunroof with switchable transparency (£2,400) and an uprated stereo with headrest speakers (£150). All of which adds £5,625 to the £70,155 list price.

As the A6 has only just arrived on fleet it’s too early to calculate running costs, but we’re already impressed with the pure EV range and comfort. We look forward to putting many more miles under the wheels.