Audi S6 Sportback e-tron vs BMW iX

The Audi S6 Sportback e-tron costs £14,720 more than the BMW iX. For that premium it adds 75 kW faster peak rapid charging. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the BMW iX comes out ahead overall.

The BMW iX is £14,720 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £152 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the BMW iX comes out roughly £14,800 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 342 miles for the Audi S6 Sportback e-tron and 355 miles for the BMW iX - effectively matched, and both well below their WLTP figures because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 21 minutes in the Audi S6 Sportback e-tron and 35 in the BMW iX, so the Audi S6 Sportback e-tron loses less time at each stop.

The Audi S6 Sportback e-tron is the easier car for tight UK car parks: it is 47 mm narrower than the BMW iX. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 477 mm of total clearance for the Audi S6 Sportback e-tron and about 430 mm of total clearance for the BMW iX. The Audi S6 Sportback e-tron also turns in a 0.5 m tighter circle, which helps with U-turns and multi-storey ramps.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Audi S6 Sportback e-tron and 84% for the BMW iX. That is close enough that capacity loss should not decide between them. Both use NMC-type cells, so for daily use keep the charge limit near 80% to slow degradation.