ROAD TEST: AUDI’S Q8 FLAGSHIP SUV
Audi’s new Q8 is yet another Mlb-evo-based SUV, so how well does it stand out?
MODEL TESTED 50 TDI S LINE Price £63,745 Power 282bhp Torque 443lb ft 0-60mph 6.9sec 30-70mph in fourth 6.9sec Fuel economy 28.8mpg CO2 emissions 178g/km 70-0mph 44.1m
How many modern premium car makers, when designing an all-new, clean-sheet, passenger car flagship, would come up with a high-rise, superstylish large SUV? Right now, with plenty doing exactly that, it’d probably be quicker to count how many wouldn’t – or yet haven’t.
While the Audi Q8, the new range-topping, coupé-aping luxury SUV to which we’re turning our attention this week, might be fairly closely related to the firm’s more conventional-looking Q7 and might also be following one or two other well-known added-desirability SUVS into an already reasonably well-established and lucrative market niche, it is perhaps most interesting to contemplate it along those lines. For more than a decade, the A8 limousine sat pretty and unchallenged at the very top of the Audi showroom model hierarchy, before the R8 super-sports car came along in 2006, admittedly as something of a speciality interest. Now, though, the Audi ‘8’ club swells to include a third member. So who’s the daddy: limousine, sports car or pumped-up SUV? Here’s our chance to examine the newest leadership candidate’s credentials.
The Q8’s mission, according to its creator, is to combine the elegance of a luxury coupé with the comfort, convenience and versatility of a large SUV. It’s a brief that has led several cars of its ilk down the garden path over the past few years, at least as far as the pronouncements of the Autocar road test are concerned. Making big, versatile and spacious cars look more elegant has often only proved to render them less spacious and versatile while adding little in the way of driver appeal. However, the car-buying public doesn’t appear to care too much: with BMW X6 sales now closing in on half a million, models of the BMW’S ilk are undoubtedly here to stay.
Stand by, in which case, to find out what Audi can get right that BMW didn’t quite and whether less can mean more when it comes to fullsized luxury four-wheel-drive Audis.
DESIGN AND ENGINEERING
Although its model nomenclature might suggest otherwise, the Q8 is 66mm shorter overall and 35mm lower than its Q7 sister car. It has a body that’s 27mm wider (without mirrors) than that of the Q7, but it uses the same axle track widths and the same wheelbase. And it’s revealing that, as we reported recently, Audi might have used the short-wheelbase version of the car’s MLB-EVO platform (as used by the Porsche Cayenne) if it wanted more of a dynamic point of differentiation from the Q7’s driving experience. Doubtless for its own reasons, though, Ingolstadt chose not to.
The Q8’s exterior design succeeds in as much as it makes the car stand out. It’s probably best from the frontal aspect, where that bold, exaggerated ‘singleframe’ radiator grille adds plenty of presence. This, Audi says, is the face of the next generation of all Q-badged SUVS, although to our
eyes it isn’t as elegant as Audi’s sales pitch might lead you to expect. It’s part of an overall design that’s certainly striking and recognisable as an Audi, but it doesn’t make the Q8 an instantly attractive, must-have luxury item. You can see where visual links with the original Quattro have been attempted, but not one tester thought any of them really hit home or that the Q8 exuded the same sense of dripping allure as last year’s Range Rover Velar – nor even the visual charm of a Volvo XC40.
Only one engine is available in the Q8 for those ordering this year: Audi’s 282bhp 3.0-litre ‘50 TDI’ new-money diesel, which will also be finding a home in the 2019-modelyear Q7 very shortly. Here it’s hooked up to a 48V electrical architecture and mild-hybrid large-capacity battery and advanced engine starter generator. A 228bhp 45 TDI V6 diesel and 335bhp 55 TFSI V6 turbo petrol will be offered next year, the latter being the only engine you won’t also be able to get in a Q7 (at least until Audi’s recently spied RS Q8 performance derivative arrives).
UK cars get sports-tuned adaptive air suspension and 21in alloy wheels as standard, with four-wheel steering available as an option (just as it is on the Q7) and fitted here to our test car. The SQ7’S optional sport locking rear differential and active anti-roll bars, meanwhile, have been left out of the Q8’s technology armoury, at least for now. Audi’s engineers say they didn’t feel as if they needed either the torque-vectoring diff or the active anti-roll bars to deliver a distinguished driving experience in the lower-roofed, naturally more agile Q8. We’ll find out if their confidence is well placed shortly.
INTERIOR
Given the Q8’s positioning as a flagship offering within Audi’s Q-series of cars, you may expect the SUV’S cabin to offer something a little extra in terms of visual or material wow factor over and above its maker’s other large vehicles. Instead, Audi has given the Q8 a cabin that looks and feels pretty much exactly the same as that of the A7 Sportback we road-tested earlier this year, albeit suitably enlarged to Suv-size proportions.
That Russian doll-style approach doesn’t mean the Q8 is left wanting in terms of its fit, finish or practicality, though. Brushed metal and glossblack panelling are used liberally through the big Audi’s interior (little surprise there), crafting an ambience that’s entirely upmarket and desirable if also a little sober and
clinical. Taking up a sizeable amount of dashboard fascia real estate is Audi’s dual-screen MMI infotainment system, which comprises a primary 10.2in screen above a smaller 8.6in unit, while Audi’s Virtual Cockpit also replaces traditional analogue instrument dials as standard. By incorporating the vast majority of vehicle controls within the twin screens, physical dials and buttons are scarce, the result lending the Q8 an interior that feels considerably more minimal than that of a Porsche Cayenne or Mercedes-benz GLE.
As for practicality, any concerns that the coupé-style roofline will eat into rear head space can be dismissed, because there’s an abundance of room in the back even for taller passengers. As for rear leg room, the Audi curiously doesn’t offer quite as much as the Cayenne despite its lengthier wheelbase. We measured a typical rear leg room figure of 790mm for the Porsche, while the Audi came in at a still abundant 750mm. The Range Rover Sport SVR we measured back in 2015 managed 740mm. Boot volume, meanwhile, comes in at a capacious 605 litres.
PERFORMANCE
If there exists something of a mismatch between the predatory aesthetics of the Q8 and this demure diesel powertrain, such is the car’s rolling refinement that for a large proportion of customers it simply won’t matter. With the benefit of optional double-glazed windows (negated in part by the echo-chamber tyres attached to vast 22in wheels, also optional), our test car’s cabin was only slightly more noisy at a 70mph cruise than that of a Mercedes-benz S-class.
Along with the conspicuously perched seating position and opulent cabin, the effect is profoundly becalming. When the 3.0-litre V6 finally makes itself heard – an event that only really occurs above 3000rpm – it does so with a remoteness found only in very large cars. The cruising credentials of the Q8 are further established by a touring economy of a shade over 40mpg and a standard 75-litre fuel tank, giving a potential range of 660 miles between stops. Along the way you’ll find the engine shutting off entirely should you coast in a window between 30 and 100mph, with the 48V mild-hybrid system at other times recuperating energy through the brakes. Incidentally, those brakes are excellent, should you ever need to exercise them fully. Full-bore stops from 70mph are over sooner than even Porsche’s latest Cayenne Turbo can manage, despite that car having 10-piston front calipers.
Elsewhere, the Q8’s superbly smooth engine is not as convincing as it is in the lighter A8. With its substantial fuel tank brimmed, our Q8 weighed 2285kg, which is a lot for any car, not least one with sporting pretensions. It’s a mass against which 282bhp and 443lb ft could only yield a 0-60mph time of 6.9sec, with 30-70mph – our overtaking metric – taking 6.7sec. For reference, those figures are healthy enough to show a Range Rover Sport TDV6 a clean rear skid-plate, but equally, even the 3.0-litre TDI Q7 we roadtested in 2015 proved quicker on both counts, despite its power deficit. Those who desire performance more on a par with even the latest hot hatches, let alone the quicker SUVS, should therefore wait for more powerful petrol and plug-in hybrid Q8 variants.
For everybody else, this 50 TDI unit will not only suffice but will do so with a surfeit of class. Our only significant criticism stems from a vacuum of torque beneath 1900rpm and the eight-speed torque-converter transmission’s sometimes lethargic kickdown efforts. The combination can make sharp progress at short notice a frustrating enterprise.
RIDE AND HANDLING
Here, the Q8 succeeds where its rakish saloon cousin, the A7, disappoints. The SUV rides well, and with the supple stability you’d expect of a big luxury car. Even with those 22in wheels, there’s very little of the brittle jostling that can blight the smaller car on rougher surfaces,
although the Q8 can’t quite match the velvet composure of the Q7. Given the limited performance of the 50 TDI powertrain, we’d be surprised if most owners didn’t leave the adaptive air suspension in its Comfort setting the majority of the time. This feels like the easy-going sweet spot for the car, although the heavy bodywork can all too easily heave the adaptive dampers to the limits of their travel.
Indeed, Q8 owners who might otherwise have bought a traditional SUV will rightly expect a level of handling prowess, and in Dynamic mode, they’ll get it. The Q8 never really pivots within the limits of its mighty grip levels in the satisfying manner of a Cayenne or Alfa Romeo Stelvio QV but, with the suspension firmed up, you can appreciate its relatively low centre of gravity (justifying the reason why Audi has chosen not to fit active anti-roll bars). With adhesion and stability a given, the optional fourwheel steering and a predictably uncommunicative electrohydraulic rack help lend the car unusual agility. You can drive deep into corners without unreasonable fear of either understeer or misplacing such a giant footprint. Lean on the front axle and a lift of the throttle can tighten your line, but it’d be a stretch to say this kind of behaviour comes naturally to the Q8. It’s too clinical for that, although pleasingly so all the same.
The exit of corners is where this car really needs to do more, and that may well come with more powerful models. The sports-tuned suspension is supportive enough for this torque-vectoring quattro set-up to deliver a greater proportion of the engine’s effort to the rear axle, and the chassis might then take a stance commensurate with the debonair bodywork. Until then, the Q8 remains an admirably competent steer, but no more.
BUYING AND OWNING
Audi is asking for a premium of less than £6000 for the step up from a like-for-like Q7 into a Q8 50 TDI S Line, and the influence of the Q8’s 5% advantage on three-year/36,000mile retained value over its sibling will probably only narrow the difference between the two cars on monthly finance. Considering that both a like-for-like BMW X6 and Range Rover Velar are also pricier at list price – and that only the Velar can beat it for retained value, according to CAP’S forecasts – it’s unlikely that many Q8 owners will complain that the car is overpriced.
You’ll need to wait until next year and stick to Audi’s lesser diesel engine if you want to avoid paying 37% benefit-in-kind tax as a company car driver, but that’s true of most of the Q8’s competitors too, excepting the plug-in hybrid versions of the Cayenne and Volvo XC90.
Our test car returned 28.8mpg overall, making it capable of a respectable 475 miles between fuel stops in day-to-day driving.
Lean on the front axle and a lift of throttle tightens your line