Audi walked back all-EV by 2033. The $80,895 S6 Sportback E-tron shows the cars survived.

Audi dropped its all-EV-by-2033 commitment last year and said it would instead sell a mix of gasoline, hybrid and electrified propulsion ^[2]. The 2027 S6 Sportback E-tron, starting at $80,895 ^[3], is the useful control case: the strategy changed, the product that was already engineered did not get worse.

The hardware reads as current rather than transitional. There is 800V architecture and a 100kWh pack with 94.4kWh net ^[4], 543hp drawn primarily from the rear motor ^[5], 3.7 seconds to 60mph ^[6], and 326 miles of rated range ^[7]. Audi claims 10 to 80 percent in as little as 21 minutes ^[8], which works out to roughly 189kW sustained across that window ^[25]. The Verge's reviewer reports seeing a 270kW peak at a local Electrify America station on one visit and as much as 194kW on another ^[1], numbers that bracket the implied average from both sides rather than contradicting it. On a 240V level 2 connection at 9.6kW, the same fill takes 11.5 hours ^[9], about 33 times longer ^[26].

The energy result is less flattering and worth stating plainly. Over 295 miles the reviewer averaged 2.4 miles per kWh, implying 226.56 miles of usable range ^[10]: 99.44 miles, or 30.5 percent, below the rating ^[27]. His stated conditions were a 19mph average speed in the Los Angeles basin with some highway and mountain running ^[11], and his tester wore the $2,000 Black Optic package's 21-inch Michelin summer tires, which he expects cost a few miles of EPA range ^[12].

The chassis argument is where the sedan case actually sits. There is no mechanical Quattro system to unsettle balance, just a motor on each axle and the battery in the middle ^[13], with multi-link and sport-tuned air suspension standard on 20-inch all-season tires ^[14]. The reviewer found ride quality good over LA's worst streets in both Comfort and Dynamic, and Dynamic Plus firmer but agreeable ^[15], with wind noise virtually nonexistent and the car planted on the freeway ^[16] despite weighing over 5,200 pounds ^[17]. Steering was too light in town and better weighted at speed, on a 16.4:1 ratio ^[18]. Nothing in the material tests an SUV on the same platform, so treat "the sedan is where this works best" as reasoning from the packaging, not a measured comparison.

The compromises are the ordinary ones. Rear passengers may feel squished under the Sportback roofline ^[19], though cargo runs 26 to 39 cubic feet behind a large hatch ^[20]. Regen comes in three levels, two on the paddles and one-pedal driving in B ^[21], and MMI on the 14.5-inch screen was lag-free ^[22].

Then the pricing. Options on the tester totalled $13,595, mostly luxury and tech: Audi exclusive materials, a head-up display, upgraded lighting, a passenger screen ^[23]. That is $94,490 as tested ^[28], 16.8 percent over base ^[29]. The only rival the review benchmarks is the BMW i5 M60, which the reviewer says travels about 45 fewer miles, makes 50 more hp, runs a similar 0-60 and costs a few grand more ^[24] - roughly 281 miles and 593hp on those figures ^[30], ^[31].

Worth watching: whether the EPA figure for the 21-inch summer tire configuration is published separately, whether third-party charging tests reproduce the 21-minute claim at the sustained rate it implies, and whether the Sportback body survives a lineup now planned around mixed propulsion.