New Audi A6 e-hybrid 2025 review: a talented car that’s held back by obvious drawbacks

The soft-touch Dynamica fabric fitted on the seats and some of the lower dash looks and feels fine, but the materials that surround it do only an average impression of leather, and don’t feel right for this price bracket. The hard plastic section below the central air vents is also unforgivably cheap and scratchy. 

The triple-screen infotainment set-up is easy enough to use, but the housing is chaotic, with huge bezels on the main section sitting uncomfortably with the haphazardly placed passenger screen. 

There are some ergonomic quirks, too, such as the touch panel for secondary controls including the side mirror and rear child door lock being mounted where you’d prefer to see a grab handle – as on the passenger side door. The steering wheel controls also feel cheap and, like almost every hard surface inside, prone to showing greasy fingerprints. 

Space up front is fine, and there’s a good amount of storage for small items, including a wireless phone charger and two USB-C points. However, largely due to the need to package so many different powertrain elements, the second row is a little cramped, with less legroom than you’d expect considering the car’s external dimensions. 

The boot is long and wide, but rather shallow, which leads to an average capacity for the class of just 354 litres – around 180 less than the previous-generation A6, albeit without plug-in hybrid tech. However, the boot floor is at least flat and leaves an unobstructed space when the second row is folded, in contrast to a PHEV Mercedes E-Class saloon. There is no dedicated space to store the charge cable in the Audi, though. 

Which leads us to those two key rivals. Both BMW and Mercedes offer plug-in hybrid variants of their executive saloons and they come with impressive electric ranges. However, if you look into the details, the BMW is still ahead when it comes to some key factors. Its bigger boot and lower base price keep it as our preferred offering, given that it matches the A6’s range, efficiency and tech, while also being lighter and very nearly as fast in a straight line.