Julian Kirk reports back on our Audi long-termer.

Audi Q6 S Line e-tron Performance

Price: £69,265 BiK: 3% Official Efficiency: 3.3mpkWh Official Range: 355 miles Range as tested: 250 miles Efficiency: 2.8mpkWh

Report 5:

 

Last month I mentioned a drop-off in efficiency due to the colder weather, and the trend is continuing downwards.

The Q6 is now returning 2.8 miles per kWh – down from 2.9 last time round and dropping from an all-time high in the late summer of 3.3. That represents a 15% drop in efficiency, which equates to a loss of around 45 miles in overall range.

With exclusively home charging at 21.8p per kWh, a full charge from zero to full costs me £21.80. As I said previously, it’s not the end of the world but it does necessitate an extra charge in order to complete the Q6’s mileage duties in the average week.

However, it’s worth remembering that even at 2.8mpkWh this still equates to 100mpg-plus in olde worlde fuel economy terms – not bad for a 2.2-tonne SUV.

And when you factor in a long service interval – two years or 19,000 miles – the cost-effectiveness of the Q6 really comes to light (well, as much as it can for a near-£70k premium SUV, but well ahead of our family Volvo XC90 and its yearly service requirement).

Obviously for drivers looking for ultimate efficiency, the size and weight of the Q6 count against it, but for an employee with a family and a healthy monthly car allowance, it is hard to argue against it.

The Q6 continues to offer smooth, relaxing mile-munching capabilities combined with a high-tech cabin bursting with apps and driver assistance systems. This gloomy time of year has also highlighted the benefit of ticking the options box for the panoramic roof – £1,525 well-spent thanks to the way it lifts the gloomy air of the black cabin.

Report 4:

The cooler weather has seen efficiency drop in the Q6 – so much so that a full charge now offers about 30 miles less range than in the height of summer (down to 260 miles from a peak of 295).

It’s not enough to cause huge concern, but it does mean that I now need an extra charge to complete four commutes a week. I guess this is the trade-off for having toasty warm hands and bottom, and clear windows all around.

Despite this negative, the Q6 remains a brilliant car to commute in – silent power delivery coupled with seamless acceleration and gentle retardation. Once up to cruising speed the lack of noise and drama is so noticeable, meaning a long-distance journey will no longer be a chore.

Even the suspension is supple – something you can’t often say about an S line Audi. I’m no engineer, but I guess that Audi has built in plenty of suspension travel to counter the considerable 2.2-tonne kerb weight of the Q6.

All told, the Q6 is a firm favourite, but there are a couple of niggles – the front passenger seatbelt buckle clanks against the plastic door trim when not in use, the door lock buttons on the driver’s door are too easy to accidentally activate, and the driver’s door opens so wide that it is a real stretch to close it (although this could be because of my stature).

Report 3:

The more miles I put under the Q6’s wheels, the more impressed I am – in fact, I think this is by far Audi’s most convincing electric vehicle.

With the range creeping up towards a real-world 300 miles and effortless long-distance journeys, it really is a very impressive car to travel in. Factor in the spacious interior and large boot and it makes a case for an all-round family car.

Obviously, the £70,000-odd price tag is not ideal, but with so many of us basing our decisions on monthly bills, I thought I’d dig around and see how the Q6 shapes up budget-wise.

If your employees are receiving a cash allowance, they can pick up a Q6 for £730 a month through Audi’s personal contract hire deal (£4,300 deposit/36 months/30,000 miles). Go for a PCP (again through Audi finance) and the monthly payment drops to £624 (£12,000 down/48 months/40,000 miles). And, of course, there are even greater savings if drivers go down the salary sacrifice route.

Away from the financial aspects, I’m getting more accustomed to all the technology built in and working out shortcuts to navigate through screens to get to the desired controls. What this does tend to mean, unfortunately, is a lot of fingerprint smears across the screens and the piano black centre console area, making the car look dirty even when it has only recently been cleaned.

And while I’m having a slight moan, the Q6 seems to have adopted a few of the electronic gremlins which reared their head in our previous A3 long-termer… We go through stages of myriad warnings coming up (everything from the mundane ‘assistant systems not available’ to the more concerning ‘suspension fault’). But as was the case with the A3, they disappear as soon as they arrive, with everything re-setting back to normal.

Report 2:

I’ve had a few weeks to get acquainted with the Q6 and this has allowed me to come up with some meaningful data on its running costs.

I’m currently achieving 3.0 miles per kWh – shy of the claimed 3.3 figure but still impressive, especially as most of my journeys have been stop-start affairs with the air-con running at the maximum.

A few longer trips have helped eke out the average figure, which means I’m getting a real-world 290 miles from a charge – pretty decent for a 2.2-tonne SUV.

I think with a few more longer distance trips (without the need for fierce air-conditioning) a useable 300-mile range is well within reach. And that would equate to a single charge to cover two round trips from my home in the Midlands to the Fleet World office north of London.

The Q6 is a car perfectly designed for commuting journeys like this one – two-odd hours of a frustrating crawl up and down the A1 makes you appreciate the silence inside the cabin and the comfortable suspension (it’s not often you say that about an S line Audi).

Elsewhere, the size of the Q6 makes it an ideal family holdall, swallowing tons of gear in the boot and with ample space in the back seats for two adults to have plenty of head and leg room.

Any niggles? Yes – the twin charge point doors seem hugely over-engineered, taking a fair amount of time to open and close (what’s wrong with manual versions?), and the black veneer trim inside the cabin is a dust and fingerprint magnet, meaning the car looks dirty and untidy within days of being cleaned.

First Report:

A little over three years ago I wrote a welcome piece to an electric Audi SUV, which seemed to be at the very cutting edge of EV technology. As I look back now to that report on the e-tron, with its claimed 192-mile range and £60,000-plus price tag, it made me appreciate the leaps that have been made in technology that are embodied in our new long-term Audi SUV – a Q6 e-tron.

Similar in size to the e-tron, the new Q6 costs a chunk more than its predecessor, but its motor and battery tech have had commensurate boosts too. With the Performance powertrain specified (adding £3,500 to the price), our Q6 is claimed to offer 355 miles of range and 3.3mpkWh efficiency (compared with around 300 miles for a standard version).

It’s too early to report on real-world range but I would expect to be able to top 300 miles on a charge once the need for full-power climate control has abated as summer draws to a close.

In terms of trim, we’ve opted for mid-level S line, although a Sport model can be had for a smidgen over £60,000. S Line adds the usual sportier styling and larger 20-inch alloy wheels as well as privacy glass and a heated steering wheel. This tops off an extensive list of standard equipment – to which we’ve added metallic blue paint (£725) and a panoramic sunroof (£1,525). Both are options we would recommend – the Plasma blue paint lends a refined air while the sunroof does wonders in lightening up the overbearingly black cabin.

We’ve only had the Q6 for a couple of days but it is already impressive – the ride quality is good and adds to the serene air of refinement once on the move. The cabin is large with plenty of room for four adults, the boot swallows two sets of golf clubs easily and the onboard tech such as the parking systems are excellent. In fact, the touchscreen controls and systems are a world away from those on that original e-tron SUV of 2022.

Progress is rapid in the EV sphere – just three years separate the e-tron and the Q6, but it feels like a generation of evolution between them.