MUST TRY HARDER AUDI’S Q8 E-TRON WAS A DECENT CAR WHEN IT

AUDI Q8 E-TRON 55 S-LINE

arrived five years ago. It was the first of the big German brands to launch a supposed cash cow electric SUV, beating the BMW iX3 and Merc EQC to market. And it was a competitive car.

It was updated during 2023 and, well, nothing really changed. Yes, here we are in the fast-paced shifting sands of EVs, yet Audi stood still. It’s understandable – after six years on sale, this is a mid-life refresh, the same as every else has done since the year dot. New bumpers, tweaked trims but not a lot else. That should be fine, but the trouble is the Q8, as Audi’s flagship SUV, comes across as pretty ordinary.

Subjectively, it remains class competitive, and it’s not like everyone else has been coming along with giant leaps for their second gen machines. The Jaguar I-Pace and Merc EQC continue to plod along, Tesla’s done little to the Model S. However, our expectations are shifting.

And frankly the Q8 e-tron doesn’t come across as the luxury SUV it purports to be. It simply feels like a slightly scaled up Q4 e-tron. It doesn’t feel much more upmarket inside, isn’t particularly fast and has no genuine standout features. And yet Audi asks upwards of £70,000 for a basic one. Our advice? Buy secondhand. They’re cheap as chips.