0:29 Have you ever wondered why you don't see
0:38 You see, there's a common notion that
0:43 Audi's are well boring.
0:44 And that's partly because they're not
0:46 really loud or aggressive when it comes
0:49 to their design.
0:51 They don't really have that look at me,
0:53 I'm a German mercenary kind of wbe, you
0:56 know? They are more subtle, understated,
1:01 And here in Dubai, subtlety is not
1:03 really what people are looking for in
1:08 But the thing is, Audis have always been
1:09 ahead of the curve when it comes to
1:12 tech. Take the Quattro system for
1:14 example. When it debuted back in the
1:17 early 1980s, it revolutionized Rally.
1:19 And to this day, the Quattro name is
1:21 synonymous with the Audi brand. Now,
1:25 what I have today is the Audi Q6 Ron.
1:27 Now, with this all electric SUV, Audi is
1:29 trying to recreate history, but this
1:32 time in the EV era. So, let's take a
1:34 look at why this car might just be their
1:38 most important step forward yet.
1:41 You see, the Q6 Ron is Audi's first mass
1:42 market electric car to be built on a
1:45 brand new platform. So, models up until
1:48 now, like the Ron GT and the Ron SUV,
1:50 were all based on either an existing IC
1:53 platform or they were niche Halo cars.
1:55 So this new platform will serve as a
1:57 base for Audi's upcoming electric cars
2:00 as well as brands under the Volkswagen's
2:02 umbrella like the Porsche Macan V for
2:04 example. Now if you're wondering why is
2:06 this all important? Well, take a look at
2:09 the rivals. The Q6 Ron goes up against
2:13 the likes of the BMW EX or the EX3, the
2:17 Mercedes EQE SUV as well as the Teslas.
2:18 Those are some heavyweights in the
2:21 industry. So Audi really had to step up
2:23 their game and the results are pretty
2:25 impressive. Thanks to the new platform,
2:27 Audi was able to improve the range,
2:31 which is now at a claimed 625 km on a
2:33 single charge, which is not bad. And
2:35 thanks to the new 800vt architecture,
2:37 the charging times have also improved.
2:39 Audi claims that the Q6 Ron can be
2:42 charged from 10 to 80% by using an DC
2:45 fast charger in less than 30 minutes.
2:47 So, on paper, the Q6 Ron looks
2:49 promising. And the tech is right up
2:52 there as well. But being an EV, it has
2:55 to look the part, doesn't it? And the Q6
2:57 Ron does that very well without being
3:01 too loud about it.
3:03 See, for as long as I can remember, Audi
3:04 has always played it safe when it comes
3:07 to the design. They've always had that
3:09 simple and elegant design language that
3:13 screams that they're mature and sorted.
3:15 And even as they're sliding into the
3:17 electric era, they've stuck to it. So,
3:19 right from the first glance, the Q6 Ron looks
3:20 looks
3:34 If you take a closer look, you'll notice
3:36 that after what, like a decade, Audi's
3:39 finally redesigned a little bit. The
3:40 first thing to talk about are the split
3:42 headlamp setup. Up top you have these
3:44 slim LEDs which are customizable so you
3:46 can change it depending on how distinct
3:48 a face you want to give the car. Below
3:49 it you have these headlamps which are
3:52 Audi's latest LED matrix headlamps. And
3:54 at the center you have a reimagined
3:57 sealed off single frame grill and below
3:59 it you have the sensors for the driver's
4:02 assist. And surrounded by it are air
4:04 flaps that deploy when the car is active
4:06 to let the air flow in. Well, with this
4:08 being an EV, you obviously have storage
4:10 underneath the bonnet, which if you open
4:13 up, you can find
4:15 up to 64 lit of storage space, which
4:18 will most probably be used for storing
4:23 From the sides, the Q6 looks confident
4:25 without being bulky. You have the
4:29 classic AV proportions, which are a long
4:32 wheelbase and short overhangs. Over
4:33 here, you have aerero optimized wing
4:35 mirrors with integrated turn signals,
4:37 and at the bottom, you have 20-in alloy
4:39 wheels. Now, one thing that I noticed
4:40 here is that they don't really have an
4:42 aeroop optimized design, which kind of
4:44 throws out a wibe if you ask me. Moving
4:46 back, you have the Ron badging on the
4:48 bottom, and you have a motorized
4:50 charging flap over here, as well as on
4:52 the other side. And then at the back,
4:55 the tech does all the talking. These are
4:57 digital OLED tail lamps that can also be
4:59 customized. They also communicate with
5:01 the cars at the back by warning them if
5:04 there are hazards up ahead. That's Audi
5:06 in a nutshell, isn't it? Not being too
5:08 loud and just quietly flexing what they
5:10 can do with their technology. But of
5:12 course, the big difference that you find
5:15 on modern EVs is not about just the way
5:17 it looks on the outside. It's also about
5:25 It is in here that Audi's brought the
5:40 Third on the list is the biggest thing
5:43 in here. That's this large display setup
5:45 that's contoured to the driver. This
5:48 curved display setup consists of an 11.9
5:51 in instrument cluster and a 14 1/2 in
5:53 infotainment system. And if that's not
5:54 enough, you also get a 10 and a half in
5:57 display for the passenger as well. What
5:59 do these displays do? Well, starting off
6:00 on the left, you have the instrument
6:02 cluster or the virtual cockpit. Here you
6:05 get information like the speed, your
6:07 range, your battery percent, and you can
6:09 adjust your recuperation levels as well.
6:10 On the right side of the instrument
6:11 cluster, you also have information about
6:13 the radio station, your navigation
6:15 information, and you can also call the
6:17 latest contacts from here. Moving over
6:18 to the center, you have the main
6:21 instrument cluster. This is basically
6:22 your control center. You can control
6:24 pretty much everything about the vehicle
6:26 from here, which obviously includes
6:28 connected car tech, your ambient
6:29 lighting settings, the temperature
6:31 control, and everything else in between.
6:33 And then over on the right side, you
6:36 have something that I feel like is more
6:38 like an afterthought because it's a
6:40 display where you can basically just do
6:42 the basic elements of it such as
6:44 controlling the radio station and your
6:46 navigation information. That's it. So,
6:48 Audi might improve it in the future with
6:50 an overthe-air update, but as of now, it
7:02 In terms of look and feel, the common
7:03 trend that you see on EVs is that they
7:05 skimp down the materials in order to
7:07 keep the weight down. But thankfully,
7:09 Audi has not gone that direction. The
7:11 cabin of the Q6 feels very premium, and
7:13 that's thanks mainly to leather being
7:15 used at all the major touch points of
7:17 the car. You also have a large strip of
7:19 ambient lighting that runs above the
7:21 heads-up display and across the width of
7:23 the dashboard. The ambient lighting can
7:25 be customized up to six colors. They
7:26 also change according to the driving
7:28 modes. Moving over to the seats, Audi
7:30 has given a range of options to choose
7:33 from, ranging from Nappa leather all the
7:35 way to vegan leather. You also have four
7:36 different colors to choose from for the
7:38 seats. And taking the comfort factor up
7:40 a notch, you also get lumbar support for
7:42 the driver's seat as well as under thigh
7:44 support. However, features like massage
7:46 seats have been given a miss which at
7:49 this price point is kind of a miss in my
7:51 opinion. And then you have the steering
7:52 wheel which is almost an octagonal shape
7:55 which is finished in leather. Here you
7:57 have touch sensitive controls where you
7:58 can control your media settings. You can
8:00 answer phone calls and you can also
8:02 toggle the menu of the instrument
8:04 cluster as well. Moving over to the back
8:07 you have paddle shifters which in an EV
8:09 control the region. And then moving
8:10 further back, you have the wiper
8:12 controls. And below it, you have a lever
8:14 that's quite conventional. It controls
8:16 the driver assistance system. Now, this
8:18 kind of feels like it's out of place
8:20 because it's an electric car. And in
8:22 this day and age, most brands have moved
8:24 the settings over to the steering wheel.
8:25 When it comes to practicality, you get
8:27 two cup holders up front, which can
8:31 easily hold a 500 ml bottle.
8:34 You get two USB type-C ports up front,
8:36 as well as what used to be called a
8:37 cigarette lighter back in the good old days.
8:38 days. And
8:40 And
8:42 this is quite unusual. You also get an
8:45 ashtray here, which I think is a nod
8:47 back again to the good old days. Up top,
8:49 you also get this large panoramic
8:51 sunroof, which can be controlled from up
8:54 here. Now, let's hop over to the back
8:56 side and see how they fare. The seats at
8:58 the back feel a bit more harder when
8:59 compared to the front seats, making it
9:02 feel a little less comfortable. When it
9:03 comes to the leg room, with driver seat
9:05 adjusted to my driving position, me
9:08 being just under 6 foot, I have just
9:10 enough leg room. However, I do feel a
9:12 bit cramped at the back. But thankfully,
9:14 I have plenty of headroom, which is a
9:16 good thing. When it comes to
9:18 practicality, I have a large door cubby
9:21 on the in the on the sides, which can
9:24 easily hold a 500 ml bottle.
9:26 I also have storage behind the seats and
9:29 two AC vents in the center with the
9:31 controls for it at the bottom. I also
9:33 get heated seats at the back. Taking the
9:35 comfort factor up a notch, I also get
9:37 armrests that fold down from the middle.
9:38 In terms of safety features, you get two
9:40 ISOIX anchors on either seats. And
9:42 another feature worth noting are the
9:45 presence of curtains for the windows,
9:49 which in heat is quite commendable. Now,
9:50 let's move over to the rear and see how
9:53 the boot space fares. Now, when you move
9:54 over to the rear, you'll find a feature
9:56 that was first introduced back in 2010
10:05 Now, Audi claims that the Q6 Ron can
10:09 hold up to 526 L of luggage in the boot,
10:12 which is 20 lit more than the XM SUV and
10:15 about 6 L more than the EQE SUV. You can
10:18 also extend it up to 1,529 L by folding
10:20 down the rear seats. So, if you're
10:21 looking for an SUV that's practical
10:23 enough to go for a weekend trip or even
10:27 an airport run, well, this is pretty good.
10:59 on the road. The Q6 Ron feels just like
11:01 a proper electric car,
11:03 which by this point we already know that
11:05 it is, thanks to the new platform that
11:08 is, but above it all, it still feels
11:10 just like how an Audi should. And by
11:12 that, I mean that the Quattro system
11:14 makes more sense now in an EV than it
11:17 ever did in my opinion. You see, the Q6
11:20 Ron is not really a light car because it
11:21 carries a very heavy battery pack
11:24 underneath it. But the powertrain,
11:25 thanks to the quattro system, does not
11:28 make you feel that it is that heavy,
11:30 which is quite commendable.
11:33 That powertrain coupled with the instant torque
11:34 torque
11:36 just propels you from one corner to the
11:39 other. Speaking of the torque, let's get
11:41 into the power figures. The Q6 Ron is
11:42 powered by a dual motor setup that
11:46 produces 382 horsepower and about 600 Nm
11:48 of torque. See those stock figures are
11:50 very evident, especially on the highways
11:52 when you want to make those quick
11:54 overtakes. But another place where it is
11:57 that evident is in straight line
11:59 performance. Let me demonstrate. What
12:02 I'm going to do now is switch the
12:04 driving mode to dynamic, which turns off
12:07 the traction control on its own, and
12:08 then let's launch the car. So, how you
12:11 do that is by holding down the brake
12:13 pedal as well as the accelerator, and
12:15 then the dash says ready, and then you
12:28 That quick. It's just that quick. So,
12:30 after doing that test a couple of times,
12:32 we've concluded that on average, the
12:36 Q60R can do 0 to 100 in about 6 seconds.
12:38 In terms of how you feel behind the
12:40 wheel, the first thing I want to talk
12:43 about is that noise that's coming out of
12:45 the motors. I'm not sure you can pick it
12:47 up, but it feels like a spaceship. Feels
12:50 very futuristic. Now, couple that with
12:52 the fastoving trees in the background,
12:54 and I feel like I'm in the Back to the
12:56 Future movie. Now, the next thing I want
12:58 to talk about is the tech that comes
13:00 with the car. So, you get all the basic
13:02 features like adaptive cruise control,
13:04 the distance control, and of course, a
13:07 speed limiter, which are all great and
13:09 quite useful. You also get lane
13:12 departure warning, lane keep assist, and
13:13 everything that almost feels like
13:16 standard with premium cars of this
13:18 category. In terms of range, the company
13:21 claims that the Q6 Ron can do up to 625
13:23 km on a single charge. But in my
13:25 experience, you can expect about 500 km
13:28 in the real world, which is sufficient,
13:30 but it depends on your lifestyle. So,
13:31 we've talked about the good parts. Now,
13:34 let's talk about the cons. See that 500
13:37 km of real world rains that I said about
13:38 does make you feel very anxious at least
13:42 to me. For a person like me who travels
13:44 up and down Abu Dhabi and Dubai on a
13:47 daily basis, I will not be able to go a
13:49 day without charging it. But at the same
13:51 time, if it's a petrol powered car, I
13:54 can easily do 2 days on a full tank. And
13:56 the final con that I want to talk about
13:59 is the tech. Yes, it is loaded with tech
14:03 and it is meant to make drives safer,
14:06 but to me it feels very intrusive. Take
14:08 the lane keep assist for example. I
14:10 can't tell you the number of times I've
14:12 missed an exit because the system was
14:14 too slow and did not let me change lanes
14:17 quickly enough to catch the exit. And if
14:19 you live in Dubai or even visit Dubai
14:21 once in a while, you would know how much
14:53 Now that my time with the Q6ron is
14:54 coming to a close, it's time to draw
14:57 verdict. But first, let's set the
14:59 perspective right. See, if you're
15:00 watching this video, then the chances
15:02 are you would either want to compare the
15:04 Audi to its most obvious rival, the
15:07 Tesla, or you just want to know how an
15:09 electric Audi feels like. So, let's
15:11 address both questions now, shall we?
15:13 See, with a starting price of about
15:16 330,000 dirhams, the Q6 Ron puts itself
15:18 squarely in competition with the Tesla
15:20 Model X. Now, when compared to the
15:23 Tesla, the Audi is better equipped, more
15:24 comfortable, and is clearly a better
15:27 looking car as well. But the thing is,
15:29 Audi's ecosystem is still not as
15:32 well-rounded as Tesla's. In simple
15:34 words, it's more like an iOS versus
15:36 Android kind of a scenario. But if
15:38 making a statement is what matters to
15:40 you more, then I think that the Audi
15:41 does a better job at it. And when it
15:44 comes to how the Audi feels as an
15:47 electric car, well, the Q6 Ron looks,
15:49 goes, and feels more like a car. and
15:51 less like a gadget. And if you've driven
15:53 a Tesla, I think you would know what
15:55 that statement means. However, when it
15:57 comes to buying the car outright, unless
15:59 you're committed to going fully electric
16:01 right away, I would rather suggest that
16:05 you opt to lease it. See, EV tech is
16:07 still evolving at this stage. And even
16:08 though it is developing at lightning
16:10 speed, especially with swappable
16:12 batteries in the horizon, it's still a
16:14 bit too early. So again, in my opinion,
16:16 I would rather suggest that you lease
16:18 it, say from the self drive app. That
16:20 way, you get to live with the car for a
16:21 while and see how it truly fits your
16:23 life. And by the end of the contract,
16:26 you can maybe either choose to buy it
16:28 outright or you can even upgrade it to a
16:30 newer model. Who knows, with Chinese
16:32 manufacturers coming up with innovative
16:34 ideas like range extender technology,
16:37 maybe the nextG Audi Q6 Ron might appeal
16:40 to a larger demographic of buyers. Well,
16:42 that wraps up today's video. Until we
16:43 see you next time, this is Philip
