PASSING THE BATON
Audi’s new coupe-SUV borrows the family genes, and puts them to great use in an irresistible package of style, power and technology
The Q7 was the go-to luxury SUV for almost a decade, and now the Q8 draws heavily from it
T ALL STARTED – LIKE ALL GOOD stories these days – with a post on social media, by someone we consider to be an authority on all things automotive. The gist was a 250km run over some awful patches of road to a famous hill station, in a bit under three and a half hours. I know it doesn’t sound like much but trust me, it is. I have often found myself on those very roads in piddly hatchbacks and have had to resist the urge to smack my head against the steering wheel. For kilometre after kilometre, you dodge pothole after gigantic pothole, only to find yourself unable to dodge them anymore. It never ends! The result? Rearranged internal organs and eardrums reverberating not so much with the sound of music that I turn up to the max on such drives, but with the pain of sharp, shrill noises from panic braking and being at the fag end of the tiny suspension travel that hatchbacks come with. That’s the price to pay for enthusiastic driving on such roads, and that is when you get it right. Get it wrong and blown tyres are the least of your worries. Of course I must clarify that I am no great driver and my modest skills and talent are no match to those of the aforementioned motor-noter. However, there is something to be said about the sheer capability of the car that he was driving, the Audi Q7, the go-to luxury SUV for the better part of a decade.
The Q7 is what really kicked-off the trend for luxury SUVs in India. It was everywhere you looked — Bollywood, cricket, real estate barons, mantris — if you considered yourself important, you got yourself a Q7. If you were important, a Q7 came to you. Kudos to Audi, they figured out product placement like no one had, and the paparazzi snapped the Q7 an awful lot.
The big SUV had a stunning run, catapulting Audi to the top of sales charts and being singularly responsible for building the brand in the country. It was, however, too good to last. The emissions scandal hit the VW Group in general and Audi in particular, the second generation Q7 that came in 2016 swapped the bullying stance of an SUV for the added practicality of an estate, and it all coincided with a glut of rivals from every single one of the premium brands. The Q7 could no longer cut it as Audi’s image shaper, and just in time for the brand’s revival in India, comes the Q8.
COUPE-SUVS ARE THE NEW NORMAL. THEY swap out the practicality of the third row for the swoopy sexiness of a dipping roofline and a commensurate, actually disproportionate(!), hike in price. The Q8 you see here is twice the price of the Q7 — and the only reason for bringing along the latter is to add that allimportant perspective; to help us gauge just how much further Audi have pushed the envelope with their new image shaper, and what that portends for the next wave of Audis that their new India head has promised. And on the styling front, I am happy to give it two thumbs up.
Built on the same platform as the Q7 (it even has an identical wheelbase, although it is much shorter overall), the Q8 is styled markedly differently. The massive, chamfered, octagonal grille; the raked rear section after the C-pillar; and the sharp, muscular body set it apart. It looks straight out of a sci-fi movie with design elements like the ones seen on the all-electric e-tron. And the muscular haunches, they reference the old Quattro rally cars.
IT IS STRAIGHT OUT OF A SCI-FI MOVIE WITH DESIGN ELEMENTS LIKE ON
THE E-TRON
Inside, the Q8 feels even more distinctive. The twin screens on the centre console (that replace the MMI controller) along with the latest version of Audi’s Virtual Cockpit, point to a technologically driven interior. And it is. Almost everything in the cabin is controlled via the two touchscreens that get haptic feedback. There is lots of leather and wood inside the cabin and it screams quality — something that the Q7 really spoilt us with. And as dusk settles, the sense of occasion that the Q8 has, with its mood lighting, is quite something.
In terms of practicality the Q8 has enough and more space in the middle row, just a bit shy of the Q7 but, of course, you are more hemmed in with the shallow window line. Headroom, surprising considering the roofline, is not a problem and the frameless doors add a wonderful sense of occasion — a clear reminder that the other car based on this platform is, wait for it, the Lamborghini Urus!
As for the driving, there’s only one word I can use to describe it, and that’s imperious. In that sense the Q8 is a dead ringer for the Q7, an SUV that the editor describes as The Most Comfortable Car for Indian roads. The Q7’s adaptive air suspension was a benchmark when it launched, and still is. The way it absorbs everything that comes its way has to be felt (or rather not felt at all!) to be believed. No amount of broken roads or bad surfaces have a bearing on the ride comfort. Not just that, the way that the Q7 can stick to its line through a corner, considering this is a two-tonne plus SUV, makes it extremely versatile.
Q8’S BALANCE OF RIDE AND HANDLING IS ACTUALLY VERY WELL JUDGED
FOR INDIA
Sure there is roll, and that is what the Q8 takes out of the equation. If the Q7 is nice, the Q8 is excellent. It may not defy physics like a Cayenne Turbo, incidentally built off of this same platform, but that’s not what you buy an Audi for in the first place. No, what the Q8 does is carry sufficiently scary speeds round corners without compromising on ride comfort. Our test Q8 runs on the optional 21-inch rims, a straight-forward recipe for reducing one’s spine to jelly, but it still delivers rather good comfort on all kinds of roads. Not that I would recommend taking a crore-and-a-half-rupee SUV offroading but it can also do that, as the editor experienced a few months ago in Dubai, what with the height adjustable suspension and various off-road driving modes.
The default stance of the Q8 is more towards the dynamic side of things, but its balance of ride and handling is actually very well judged for India. Other sport-SUVs feel too stiff but this manages to be both enthusiastic without being brutal on the back. And the sense of urgency is ramped up with the 3.0-litre turbopetrol V6, replacing the V6 diesel that has bowed out
IN CLASSIC AUDI FASHION, THE Q8 COCOONS YOU IN LUXURY WHILE RETAINING THE ABILITY
TO SHRINK TIME AND DISTANCE
of Audi India’s range, along with every other diesel engine. With 340bhp and 500Nm, there’s nothing to complain about for the enthusiastic driver with an ample surge of bottom-end torque and a linear surge to the top. 0-100kmph takes a claimed 5.9 seconds and it maxxes out at a top speed of 250kmph, satisfyingly more than the Q7’s 7.1 seconds and 234kmph. Will we miss the diesel? Of course, not the least for the diesel’s 800-900km range on a full tank. But a petrol is what you will get on any and every Audi you buy from here on, so we just got to fill up more often while appreciating the added doses of enthusiasm, easily reigned in by the large 285-section tyres and quattro four-wheel drive
More than anything, it is the sheer sense of power that these SUVs give you that collectively put them in a class of their own. On our roads, where potholes and unmarked speedbreakers often send sedans and hatchbacks flying off their tracks, the Q7 and now the Q8 flatten things under their massive tyres. You get speed and comfort. The faster you go, the less you feel of the outside world. In classic Audi fashion, the Q8 cocoons the occupants in luxury while retaining the ability to shrink time and distance. And it presents the future for Audi, informing the design and technology of Audi’s next Q range, including the bread-and-butter Q7 for which a complete overhaul is imminent. ⌧
Audi Q7 courtesy: Car Mentors, Pune
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