This paper presents measurements of the electron drift velocity Vdr in SF6 gas for high reduced electric fields (E/N = 330–5655 Td (1 Td = 10e−17 V cm2)). The drift velocities were obtained using the method of Lisovskiy and Yegorenkov (1998 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 31 3349) based on the determination of the pressure and voltage of the turning points of rf capacitive discharge breakdown curves for a range of electrode spacings. The Vdr values thus obtained were in good agreement with those calculated from the cross-sections of Phelps and Van Brunt (1988 J. Appl. Phys. 64 4269) using the BOLSIG code. The validity of the Lisovskiy–Yegorenkov method is discussed and we show that it is applicable over the entire E/N range where rf discharge ignition at breakdown occurs for rf frequencies of 13.56 MHz or above.