• Clean modern layout
• Mostly good materials
• Over-reliance on touchscreens

How is the quality and layout?

Step inside and the A6 E-Tron makes a great first impression. The dashboard design is sleek, with clean lines and plenty of soft-touch surfaces at eye level. The optional fabric inserts are a nice touch and add a dash of visual warmth.

Look lower down, though, and some of the material choices disappoint. Hard plastics on the door bins and lower dash feel out of place in a car that starts at more than £60,000. Rivals like the BMW i5 do this part of the cabin better.

The design is minimalist and modern, but some might miss the reassuring physicality of older Audi interiors. It’s well-built, just not as plush as we’d hoped. We’re also not fans of Audi’s new steering wheel, and in particular the touch buttons on them. They’re small and quite easy to press by accident with your thumbs.

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Infotainment and tech

The tech is impressive but not without its frustrations. Three screens dominate the front of the cabin – a 14.5-inch central touchscreen, an 11.9-inch driver display and a 10.9-inch screen for the passenger.

The main screen is fast and clear, with sharp graphics and a logical layout. The climate controls are always accessible via the lower screen area, but touch inputs can still be fiddly on the move.

Audi’s once-excellent Virtual Cockpit has taken a step back, too. The new setup uses touch-sensitive controls on the steering wheel that are harder to use, and the driver display isn’t as intuitive as before. Not a dealbreaker, but not progress either. it feels like it’s been changed just for the sake of it.

Comfort

• Excellent front seats
• Limited rear comfort
• Noisy plastics disappoint

The front seats are supportive and widely adjustable, with heating standard and ventilation optional. You can also add massage and memory functions depending on trim, though in typical Audi you have to pay a premium for such luxuries.

In the back, the raised floor and sloping roofline compromise comfort for taller passengers. You sit with your knees higher than ideal, and the narrow windows make it feel a little claustrophobic. Anyone taller will also want to avoid the middle rear seat as they’ll find an overhead lighting unit exactly where their head would go. The optional full-length glass roof does help flood the cabin with light, but is quite expensive and optional even on the most expensive grade.