Long-term report: Is the Audi A6 Avant still the go-to estate car?

Isn’t it strange how things change… Not that long ago, the A6 was one of Audi’s best-selling models here in the UK. A quick wander around the car park of a motorway services and you’d simply be tripping over them – either in saloon or estate form.

Now though, SUVs have well and truly taken over – particularly for Audi, which now offers a staggering seven different high-riding, off-road-ish models to pick from.

So where does that leave more traditionally-shaped executive cars like the A6? That’s what we’re going to be learning over the next few months, as we put the very latest A6 Avant (that’s estate in Audi language) through it’s paces.

Firstly, a bit of housekeeping. We’re driving an A6, not an A6 e-tron: similar name, very different cars. The e-tron is fully electric, and sits on the same platform as the new (also fully electric) Porsche Macan and Audi Q6. Meanwhile, the regular A6 is either petrol or diesel-powered, and shares its platform with the smaller A5.

Our A6 is a plug-in hybrid, meaning the combination of a 2.0-litre petrol engine – shared with a multitude of other Audis and Volkswagen models – and a frankly enormous 20.7kWh battery. It’s good for around 60 miles on electricity alone, but is happiest when left to juggle between petrol and electric as it sees fit.

Combined, they put out a shade under 295bhp, letting the e-hybrid reach 60mph in under 6 seconds. Being part EV of course, it feels quite a bit more rapid than that in places – particularly from a standing start.

We’ve gone for mid-spec S-Line trim, and sprinkled on a selection of option packs: a panoramic sunroof at a heady £2,400, and a multimedia ‘sound & vision’ pack for an even more chunky £2,965. 20-inch alloy wheels, rather than 18-inch standard ones, added £2,300 to the bill, and our ‘midnight green’ paint option was a further £795.

That’s pretty much all you can add, at least on this trim level. For fancier options – like an extra infotainment screen in front of the passenger – or even some not so fancy stuff – like a heated steering wheel – you’ll need to jump up to top-spec ‘Edition 1’ at just under £70,000

That does mean our otherwise quite highly kitted-out A6 has some… let’s call them peculiarities in the way it’s specced. Adaptive cruise comes as standard for example, as does the usual nannying lane keep assist. But while lots of manufacturers tie the two together to let the car effectively steer itself with the cruise control on, our car doesn’t. For that – you guessed it – you’ll need the top trim level.

A few gaps on the options list aside though, our car is pretty generously equipped. For this generation, Audi has gone all in on infotainment – so you get a sizeable (and quite shapely) 14.5-inch positioned sensibly in your eye-line.

As you’d expect in 2026, it controls almost everything: climate control, heated seats, infotainment and navigation, with no physical shortcut buttons whatsoever. That has the potential to be a bit of a nightmare, but thankfully it’s all very sensibly designed, with decent-sized icons to jab at as you’re driving along.

So far, it’s also proved pretty robust – unlike the systems in some VW Group cars. It’s responsive with no lag whatsoever, and – hallelujah – doesn’t feel like there are dozens of bugs that need ironing out with software updates.

Audi’s app is pretty good too, letting you pre-heat or cool the car, flash the lights to help you find it in a car park, or indeed lock or unlock it. Being a PHEV too, you can monitor how long is left until it’s finished charging, or set a charging timer to use cheap overnight electricity.

Not that I’ll be doing much of that, if truth be told. As someone without a home charger, our car will be spending a lot of time running on petrol alone – much as many of the country’s PHEVs do, in all likelihood.

That means the A6 has a bit of a tough test ahead of it. Can it still deliver reasonable fuel economy when when it’s not plugged in? So far, our experience says yes: on long journeys, we’re managing around 40mpg out of the A6 without so much as going near a charger.

It may not sound a lot, but for a heavy, five-metre-long executive car with 300bhp to play with, that’s pretty good going. With petrol prices being what they are, let’s hope it can keep it up.