2027 Audi Q6 e-tron Review | The Electric SUV That Finally Feels Like an Audi

This is the 2027 Audi Q6 e-tron, and it has enough battery underneath it to power a small village. But here’s the clever bit: it doesn’t look like an electric car. It doesn’t look like a spaceship, a jellybean, or a toaster with wheels. It looks like an Audi. So, has Audi finally figured out how to make an electric SUV that doesn’t feel like a science experiment? Let’s find out. 

This is the 2027 Q6 e-tron quattro, Audi’s mid-size electric SUV, and it might just be the electric car we’ve been waiting for. Not because it has the biggest battery. Not because it can accelerate hard enough to rearrange your skeleton, but because it feels like someone at Audi remembered that a car is supposed to be a car first and a technological statement second. 

What’s new for 2027

Having completely skipped the 2026 model year, Audi has decided the 2027 Q6 e-tron is now ready for its sophomore year. And what has Audi done with all that extra time? Well… mostly little things. Both versions now come with all-wheel drive, because apparently four driven wheels are better than two when you’re hauling around more than two tons of German engineering. The steering wheel has also been revised. Audi has finally ditched those ridiculous capacitive slider controls and replaced them with proper scroll wheels. Actual wheels. Things you can turn. 

Exterior

The Q6 e-tron is roughly the electric equivalent of the Q5, although Audi has stretched it slightly in virtually every direction. In other words, it’s large enough to be useful without requiring you to obtain a commercial driver’s license. There’s the rather elaborate interpretation of a grille, which serves no meaningful cooling purpose, but it looks the part. There are dramatic LED headlights and taillights that perform a little light show when you lock or unlock the car because apparently, the car needs to acknowledge your departure. There are also strong character lines borrowed from the Q5 and Q8, along with those chunky blister-style fenders that give the Q6 a suitably muscular appearance.  

Wheels and Tires

This one has the optional 20-inch wheels, wearing 255/50 rubber up front and a rather more serious 285/45 setup at the rear, and they look fantastic. Audi has clearly decided that if you’re going to spend a small fortune on an electric SUV, you might as well make sure it looks like it could chase down a getaway van.

The wider rear tyres aren’t just there for show, either. They give the Q6 e-tron plenty of grip when you lean on the accelerator, which is useful when you remember that this is an electric Audi and therefore has approximately the acceleration of a startled greyhound.

The 50-series fronts and 45-series rears also strike a reasonable balance between handling and comfort. There’s enough sidewall to stop every pothole feeling like a personal attack, while the wider rear tyres give the Q6 a planted feel when you start throwing it into corners.

And that is the slightly odd thing about the Q6 e-tron. It’s a large, heavy, family-friendly electric SUV, but Audi has gone to considerable trouble to make it feel considerably less like one, which is probably why those big wheels suit it so well. They make the Q6 look less like an appliance and more like something that might actually be interested in going somewhere quickly.

Power and Performance

The 2027 Q6 e-tron quattro uses two electric motors producing around 456 horsepower (in launch control mode) and a supposedly 631 ft-lbs of torque.  And yes, I know 456 horsepower doesn’t sound particularly outrageous these days. But 0-60 takes 4.4 seconds, and that’s plenty. In fact, it’s probably more than plenty for an SUV whose primary duties include taking children to school, buying groceries, and sitting in traffic while someone in a Prius explains to you how electric cars are saving the planet. 

Range and charging 

The 2027 Audi Q6 e-tron has an EPA-estimated driving range between 301 and 325 miles depending on the wheel and tire size.  

• 19-inch wheels: Up to 325 miles of driving range. 

• Larger wheels: Around 301 miles of driving range. 

The Q6 e-tron uses an 800-volt architecture and features a 94.4-kWh battery, which Audi says can charge from 10 to 80 percent in under 30 minutes on a fast-charging connection. It has a max charging speed of up to 270 kWh.

Driving

The Q6 is also surprisingly good in corners. The steering is quick, accurate and precise, allowing you to place the car exactly where you want it. You can hustle it through a series of bends with little more than a hand crossover on the steering wheel. The only thing missing is much steering feedback. You know exactly what the front wheels are doing, but they aren’t particularly interested in telling you about it. Still, that doesn’t really matter because the Q6 has tremendous composure. 

Then you remember the weight: this thing tips the scales at more than 2.3 tons. Around 1,300 pounds of that is the battery. That’s essentially a small elephant living underneath the passenger compartment, yet the suspension does a remarkably good job of hiding it. You can drive the Q6 enthusiastically through corners, and it remains impressively stable. 

Brakes and Regeneration

The brakes are good, too. There’s excellent pedal response, although with maximum regenerative braking selected, you’ll find yourself using the actual brake pedal rather less than you might expect since the Q6 e-tron features a predictive regenerative braking system, which uses data from a forward-facing camera to decide whether to recoup energy or coast. It works nearly flawlessly and avoids any unnecessary jerkiness while maximizing energy recapture. 

Ride Quality

The Q6’s air suspension is particularly impressive over big bumps. Potholes are dispatched with remarkable ease, while speed bumps have about as much effect on the Q6 as a mosquito has on a rhinoceros. But the ride isn’t perfect. On smaller imperfections and rougher road surfaces, it can occasionally feel a little unsettled. It’s never uncomfortable, but you are sometimes reminded that you’re driving a very heavy machine supported by a considerable amount of electronic wizardry. 

Interior

The main infotainment system is relatively straightforward, although Audi has managed to bury so many functions inside different menus that you occasionally feel like you’re searching for a secret government document. You’ll get used to it. Eventually. 

The One Thing That Annoys Me

The climate controls. They’re on the touchscreen. Of course they are. Why would anyone want to operate the temperature with a simple physical control when they could instead hunt through a menu while driving at 70 mph? I will never understand this obsession. Climate controls should be buttons. Big ones. Preferably ones you could operate while wearing boxing gloves. 

Rear Seat Space 

The Q6 isn’t the roomiest vehicle in its class, but there is plenty of space for normal humans. A six-foot adult can comfortably sit behind another six-footer, and headroom remains generous despite the enormous glass roof. So unless your passengers are professional basketball players, there shouldn’t be much complaining. And if they are professional basketball players, frankly, they can buy their own Q6. 

Cargo Space

The Q6 e-tron has 30.2 cubic feet of space behind the rear seats, which expands to a respectable 60.4 cubic feet when you fold them down. That’s not going to turn it into a removal van, but it’s perfectly useful and actually gives you more room than the old Q8 e-tron. The rear seats also fold in a clever 40-20-40 split, which means you can carry passengers, luggage and the occasional ridiculously long object without having to choose between them. 

And then there’s the frunk. Audi has managed to find 2.3 cubic feet of space underneath the hood, which sounds impressive until you actually see it. It’s basically a glovebox that got lost. It’s also barely half the size of the frunk in a Tesla Model Y, and to make matters worse, Audi has installed a divider that doesn’t come out. So, you’ve got a tiny storage compartment, with a permanent wall in the middle of it, preventing you from putting anything particularly useful inside. 

Price

Base price is $64,500, but this one has a few options, including the Prestige Package for $8,000 with options like Adaptive Air Suspension, dual-pane acoustic glass, and a Bang and Olufsen 3d premium sound system.  It also has the warm weather package for $1,300, which includes manual rear sunshades, front headrest speakers, and ventilated front sports seats. The 20-inch wheels are $1,000, bringing the total price to $77,290.

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Verdict

Now, normally, when someone hands you the keys to a modern, battery-powered crossover, you brace yourself. You prepare for a depressing machine designed by accountants who hate cars, built with the handling dynamics of a wet cardboard box, and an interior that looks like an explosion in an iPad factory. But this? This is different. First of all, it’s fast. Not ‘tear your face off and leave your retinas in the postcode you just vacated’ fast, but fast enough to make you giggle like a schoolboy. 

Secondly, it handles. In a corner, it doesn’t flop over like a sedated hippo; it actually bites into the tarmac with a surprising, almost indecent amount of grip. Yet, somehow, they’ve managed this without turning the suspension into a pair of concrete boots. It’s comfortable, but it hasn’t been upholstered by a mattress salesman. 

The range is great the charging is faster than a greased ferret down a drainpipe, and the cabin? It feels genuinely expensive. Real materials. Buttons you can actually press. And best of all… it doesn’t shout at you. It doesn’t constantly beep, flash, or aggressively remind you that you are single-handedly saving polar bears with every single rotation of the wheels. 

It is, actually, rather good. 

2027 Audi Q6 e-tron quattro numbers

BASE PRICE: $64,500
AS TESTED PRICE: $77,290
VEHICLE LAYOUT: Front and rear-motor, all-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door SUV
ENGINE: 2 induction permanent-magnet AC motors
BATTERY: Liquid-cooled lithium-ion, 94.4 kWh
ONBOARD CHARGER: 9.6 kW
PEAK DC FAST CHARGE RATE: 270 kW
COMBINED POWER: 458 hp 
TORQUE: 631 lb-ft 
TRANSMISSION: 1-speed automatic transmission
0-60 MPH: 4.4 sec
CURB WEIGHT: 5,350lb (est)
CARGO VOLUME: 30 ft³, 60 ft³ with seat area
FRUNK VOLUME: 2 ft³
RANGE: 301 miles
EPA FUEL ECONOMY: 95 MPGe Hwy
PROS: Decently quick, improved range, beautiful interior, doesn’t shout that it’s an EV 
CONS: Fiddly steering wheel controls

2027 Audi Q6 e-tron Review