Audi A6 e-hybrid: Silent, sleek, swift – and wholly unfair that not everyone can afford one

Audi has unveiled the new A6 e-hybrid, and let’s be clear – this machine doesn’t move, it glides, like silk slipping off a German perfume bottle. Gone are all traces of fossil-fuelled clatter, ripped out and replaced with a 2.0 TFSI engine, an electric motor, more batteries than Tesla dares to dream of, and just the right amount of engineering logic to make the whole thing feel like precision craft, not some marketing department’s moist hallucination.

The result? 299 horsepower, 450 Nm of torque, and the ability to slingshot itself from 0 to 100 km/h in six seconds flat – which is properly quick when you consider this is a car that swallows two kids, a dog, a cello, half of IKEA, and still has room left over for a slab of blue cheese.

And then there’s the high-voltage battery – the German answer to a midlife crisis. With 25.9 kWh of pure electric ambition, it promises up to 103 kilometres of range without burning a drop of petrol. If you live in the city, that’s more than enough to get to work, back, stop at the shops, hit the gym and still not go anywhere near a petrol station. And a full charge takes just 2.5 hours – which is exactly the time you need to finish your wine and explain over dinner why diesel Audis are so last decade.

Available in Sport, S line, and the utterly indulgent Edition 1, the latter bolts on 20-inch wheels, stitches red thread into the seats, and lines the interior with materials you’d expect to find only at a Bang & Olufsen design gala.

All models come equipped with quattro ultra all-wheel drive, all-wheel steering, and more digital switches and sliders than a space shuttle cockpit. Adjust your regenerative braking with steering paddles, dial in your exact battery charge target, and watch in wonder as the car decides all on its own when to save electricity – just so it can later glide through the city like a carbon-neutral 007.

It’s whisper-quiet inside – thanks to improved door seals, acoustic glass, and tyres with sound-deadening inserts. This isn’t just a ride. It’s a rolling sanctuary engineered by monks with PhDs.

Fancy a little jolt? Prices start at €65,800 – but let’s be honest, if you’ve got taste, you won’t be settling for just the "Sport" trim.