Although it hurt me to part ways with my beloved Volvo V60 wagon, I felt like I was ready to make the switch to an EV for a while now; and that feeling grew even stronger given the current geopolitical scenario, which is making fuel prices ridiculous. Once I test drove this car, it was clear to me it was the one for me. Sadly Audi did not bring the wagon variant of the A6 e-tron to North America, but I found the sportback trunk to be quite respectable.

I've had it for about a month, and I've already put 2500km on it, so you can guess I enjoy driving it quite a bit. I've taken it on my favourite day trip, which is a loop from Vancouver, east to Hope, then north through Lytton to Lillooet, then west to Pemberton, and south through Whistler and Squamish back to Vancouver. Lots of wonderful scenery and fun and twisty roads.

The car handles exceptionally well on turns and straights alike, and it's quite snappy. At the same time the adaptive cruise-control makes it a wonderful cruiser. And it is able to follow a car ahead down to a stop and start back up again, which is great for slow bumper to bumper traffic.

Another little detail about the A6 I like are the non-retracting door handles. While they're still electric switches activated by a button inside the handle, the handle is always exposed.

Another EV I had considered was the Porsche Macan EV. Test driving it was a nice experience, and I definitely enjoyed the active air suspension, but it was significantly above my budget, even used ones. After I test drove the Macan, I felt inclined to try the Cadillac Optiq. Although it is quite impressive in many regards – for example I found the on-seat haptics for collision alerts a neat feature – I dreaded the digital rear-view "mirror" that's actually a camera. I find that very distracting, and using it in mirror mode by flipping the switch on the back produces a really dim image. On top of that, the fact it doesn't support CarPlay just meat it had enough negatives for me to think it wasn't for me.

Either of those SUVs would have been more practical for longer-distance trips to the north of Canada, especially in winter, and also out to trails and backroads in BC. However I'm confident the A6 will take me to many of those places without an issue, as long as I plan in advance.

I know this because I've already taken the A6 out to the top of a mountain through a deactivated forestry service road in the Okanagan, and it handled it superbly. It just needs a bit more patience due to lower clearance, but the air suspension helps. Unlike the Macan, which has air bags suspension, the A6 has air shocks. Although better than coil springs, they're not as immediately responsive and adjustable as the Macan's. You can adjust the ride height but it takes 10-20s for it to adjust, unlike the Macan and Taycan, which can be adjusted in a second or two.

So far, I'm very satisfied!

Owning an EV made me aware of this persistent feeling of guilt I had for driving an ICE car, especially when going through the beautiful BC forests. Knowing there's pollution you're responsible for that follows you where you go but that you can't see. There's an incredible sensation of liberation from owning and driving an EV, which although not perfect – EVs still produce pollution in the form of tire dust, for example – is significantly more environmentally friendly than a combustion car. It is hard to explain until you've been through it.