In an age when even your refrigerator has a Wi-Fi connection, is it any wonder that the corporate titans in Ingolstadt are introducing the 375-horsepower Audi A6 Sportback e-tron and 456-horsepower A6 Sportback e-tron Quattro EVs?

Both are rolling citadels of silence, as is their sibling, the sportier 543-horsepower S6 Sportback e-tron. Yet they are every inch the performance-minded thoroughbreds. Range is rated from 324 miles to 392 miles per charge, depending on model.

Yet, considering the ghosts of Audi past and present, are these battery-electric vehicles true to their corporate heritage or are they appliances in an Armani suit?

After all, Audi was never the loudest voice in the room. Mercedes-Benz built its reputation on imperious luxury, while BMW relishes its own myth as the Ultimate Driving Machine. Audi? Audi is the Protestant cousin, the brand that arrived late to the party, quietly brilliant, relentlessly precise and always just a little aloof. Its interiors are sanctuaries of restraint, its Quattro drivetrains following the engineering Ten Commandments, which include Thou shalt not slither in the snow. Audi builds cars that are exacting and exhilarating with a relentless aversion to frivolity.

And so it goes with the 2026 Audi A6/S6 Sportback e-tron. Step inside the A6, and you find a two-tone interior and a sober band of matte-finished wood that stretches across the black trimmed instrument panel like a Weimaraner after a long nap. Directions are whispered from the headrest speaker, as though Ingolstadt decided what you really want is not navigation, but pillow talk. And the turn signal glows through a light pipe on the dashboard’s corner, a quietly deliberate touch that delights industrial designers and surprises others.

However, sit behind the wheel and the spell begins to crack. The dash is very high, forcing you to have the seat cranked up so high, you find yourself hunched and peering like Richard Nixon squinting into the California sun. And Audi manages to reveal its Volkswagen corporate heritage with cheap lower door panels and a glovebox lid so flimsy, you’ll expect it to fly open at any moment.

But all is forgiven once you're on the road. Here, the 2026 Audi A6 Sportback e-tron does what Audis always do: it absorbs, it smooths, it subdues. The adaptive air suspension flattens bumps with Teutonic calm while minimizing body roll. It’s standard on the S6 or part of the A6’s $6,300 Prestige Package. And the steering proves light and numb, unburdened by anything so basic as road feel, reminding you that this is not a BMW, and never wants to be. Consider it serenity if you’re in the right mood. Call it anesthesia if you’re not.

And then there’s the S6 Sportback e-tron, which is an altogether different beast. Not a beast in the sense of a Tesla, loud, brash and eager to announce its brilliance like a Silicon Valley intern. Instead, the S6 e-tron is more dangerous than that. Its speed arrives with silk gloves. Triple digits appear with such rapidity and utter lack of drama. Whereas other electric performance cars propel you with a roller-coaster, stomach-churning intensity, the S6 simply inclines its head, pours another glass of Riesling, and whisks you to an unlawful velocity with all the ceremony of a maître d’ removing a plate from the table. It’s speed with a pinky finger extended.

Yet the brilliance is marred by pedals that are jammed tightly together on the right, forcing your right leg against the center console, which is made of hard, unyielding plastic. In a Volkswagen Golf, this could be excused. But in a pricey, luxury EV? Someone in Ingolstadt must believe that discomfort is a form of discipline.

And so, we arrive at the great paradox of Audi in the electric age.

Here is a car that is immaculately engineered, superbly finished, as quiet as a cathedral at three in the morning and as fast as a lawyer chasing an ambulance. It’s luxurious in the European sense; restrained, tasteful and more about the absence of vulgarity than the presence of joy. It does not swaddle you in excess like Bentley. It does not thump its chest like a Mercedes-AMG, nor does it cajole you into mischief like a BMW M. It simply does everything right and nothing wrong, and leaves you in awe of its supreme competence. Like the Audis that have preceded it, the Audi A6 and S6 Sportback e-tron EVs make the case that luxury is about precision, discipline, and the slow extinguishing of whimsy. They are magnificent automobiles, brilliant in execution, if somewhat bereft of humanity.

2026 Audi A6/S6 Sportback e-tron

Base prices: $67,195-$$79,995

Powertrain: Single or dual electric motors

Horsepower: 375-543

EPA-rated range: 324-392 miles

Recharge time (240v): 11.5 hours

Length/Width/Height: 194/76/59 inches

Ground clearance: Not listed

Payload: Not listed

Cargo capacity: 26-40 cubic feet

Towing capacity: Not rated

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