AUDI Q4 E-TRON 50 QUATTRO

Electric family SUV has the same battery as its cheaper sibling but an extra motor

This is the one that counts for Audi. If the brand is to make a real stab at electrification, the Q4 E-tron needs to be the car doing the heavy lifting. We’ve driven the lower-powered, reardriven 40 before, so now it’s the turn of the pricier 50 Quattro.

Audi’s cousin of the Skoda Enyaq iv and Volkswagen ID 4 in this form gets a 77kwh battery (as in the 40) and two motors, together offering up 295bhp and 339lb ft. The healthy 94bhp uptick over the 40 means the 50 Quattro is 1.3sec quicker from 0-62mph, in part thanks to its small front motor giving all-wheel traction.

The flip side is a range of 291 miles, which is 25 miles down on that of the 40 and a massive 88 miles down on the Ford Mustang Mach-e Extended Range, if on par with the Polestar 2.

A flat floor and wheels pushed right out into the corners combine to provide plenty of room, and the three-stack dashboard arrangement looks smart. But – shock horror! – some of the interior feels a bit flimsy, especially on the steering wheel. Here, Audi’s switchgear no longer has that survive-anything feel about it.

Some polish is lacking from the way it drives, too. The ride is well controlled and never coarse, but for where this car is aimed, it’s too firm, shuffling between bump to bump rather than flowing over them. That’s possibly due to our car’s lack of adaptive dampers, as previous Q4s we’ve driven had this option fitted. Still, it’s missing the sophistication we’ve come to expect from Audi.

At least the 50 Quattro delivers the sort of ‘in-gear’ punch that makes 50-70mph overtaking easy, never running out of puff at such speeds.

And refinement is excellent, with the sort of wind noise isolation that lives up to the punchy sticker price.

The real-world range isn’t far off what Audi states, either: we matched the claimed efficiency of 3.3 miles per kwh on a mixed-roads journey.

However, the biggest problem for the Q4 is its aforementioned cousins. It doesn’t feel special enough to justify the premium badge or price, and besides, this more potent powertrain isn’t exclusive to Audi.

Given this, it will be interesting to see how Audi attempts to redefine ‘premium’ over the next few years.