Q2 out to Captur small SUV market

GOING into production with the Q2 was a no brainer for Audi.

Its big Q7 SUV sells well, so does its smaller Q5 and Q3, so why not build a smaller one and get some of the gold that lies in the compact SUV segment currently mined by cars such as the Nissan Juke, Renault Captur and Mazda CX-3?

Audi, playing its premium brand card, is well placed to reap healthy profits.

So here we have the new Q2. It’s available in three different trim levels starting with the basic SE, which Audi reckons only 3% of customers will choose, then the Sport and finally the S-Line. We’re testing the middle one and you have the choice of 1.4-litre petrol or 1.6-litre diesel engines with a three-cylinder 1.0-litre powerplant coming along later.

We drove both petrol and diesel but have chosen the 1.4 petrol to test. The diesel is simply not as pleasant to drive as it’s noisier on start-up and when pushed hard.

The 1.4-litre petrol is the clever 150bhp unit that features cylinder de-activation which knocks the engine down to two cylinders when it’s not accelerating or under load.

Audi has a habit of making Russian doll cars that look the same but differ in size – like the A4 and

A6. They’ve broken the mould with the Q2, though, because it looks quite different to its big brothers with sharper lines and light-catching surfaces on its flanks.

There are a host of options for personalising your Q2, including different colour options for the C-pillars and splashes of colour inside. With careful choice you can make your Q2 look decidedly cool.

The compact Q2 is similar in size