Audi Q4 e-tron
Relative of the Skoda Enyaq and Volkswagen ID.4 is the cheapest premium electric SUV out there On sale Now Price from £41,325
Audi comes out fighting with the cheapest premium electric SUV around
IF YOU STILL think electric cars are a niche choice, the new Q4 e-tron could well be the car that forces you to reconsider, because Audi is predicting this large, fully electric SUV will be its second-best-selling model next year.
Popularity is no guarantee of greatness, though, as the Transformers movies prove. So, is the Q4 e-tron worthy of your attention?
Well, under the skin it’s closely related to the recently launched Skoda Enyaq and Volkswagen ID.4, and that’s a fine starting point. Plus, while the entry-level 35 model has a modest 212-mile official range, the 40 and 50 versions both manage more than 300 miles on a charge.
We tried the mid-level 40, which has a single 201bhp motor that powers its rear wheels (only the 50 has twin motors and four-wheel drive) and takes you from 0-62mph in 8.5sec.
That’s slightly slower than Audi’s equally powerful Q5 45 TDI diesel. But if anything the Q4 feels a bit faster in everyday driving, because it surges forward almost instantaneously when you put your foot down, instead of requiring time to rev up or change down.
Just bear in mind that the rival Ford Mustang Mach-e is quite a bit nippier again, making overtaking easier. Meanwhile, the pricier Volvo XC40 Recharge Pure Electric will leave even the range-topping 50 version of the Q4 for dead.
On the other hand, the Q4 is quieter than both of those cars, because it’s much better at shutting out road noise. And while many electric vehicles – including the Mach-e – can be hard to stop smoothly (because they struggle to blend their normal friction brakes and the regenerative braking that tops up their batteries as you slow down), the Q4’s brake pedal is reassuringly consistent.
Ride comfort is another strength; the Q4 generally feels supple around town and settled on the motorway. We reckon it even has the edge over the impressively cushy Enyaq, although our car was fitted with a £950 damper control system that may well have helped it. Also, there is still a touch more low-speed fidget than you get in the very best petrol SUVS, simply because the heavy battery requires stiffer suspension to support its weight.
Our Sport-spec test car did suffer from a fair bit of body lean in corners, particularly with the trick dampers in Comfort mode. However, the Q4 grips strongly and its accurate steering gives you the confidence to hustle it along; we’d just suggest keeping it out of the unnecessarily heavy Dynamic setting.
The pricier S line spec brings sports suspension, which lowers the car’s ride height by 15mm and has the potential to improve agility at the expense of some suppleness, although we’re still to try this set-up.
It’s also worth noting that the 40 and 50 can charge at speeds of up to 125kw – fast enough to get their batteries from 10-80% in around 35 minutes or add 81 miles of range in 10 minutes, whereas the 35 has a 100kw limit.
The Q4 is roughly the same size as the conventionally powered Q5, and it matches that car’s 520-litre boot capacity, suggesting it could swallow as many as nine carry-on suitcases. Still, we would recommend specifying a heightadjustable boot floor (part of the £325 Function Pack) because, when set to its highest position, it removes the step up to the rear seats when they’re folded. It also enables you to keep the charging cable beneath the floor, away from your luggage.
As for second-row passenger space, here the Q4 is quite a bit more practical than the Q5, thanks to the small size of its electric motors and the fact that the wheels have been pushed closer to the corners of the car; a couple of sixfooters can stretch right out, and even a central rear passenger will be reasonably comfy, because the floor is completely flat.
Indeed, practicality is an area where you can really benefit by choosing a bespoke electric car rather than one that’s based on an existing model, with the Q4 much roomier than the XC40, both in terms of leg room and in-car storage.
Up front, you’ll find plenty of adjustment for the driver and a dashboard that is dominated by a 10.1in touchscreen for the infotainment system. This isn’t quite as intuitive as the system in BMW’S ix3, but it’s better than the Enyaq’s and much better than the ID.4’S, while the fact that the screen is angled towards the driver also improves ease of use from behind the wheel.
The Q4 feels classier than both its sister cars, too, despite some hard plastics on the doors. And its air-con controls are far less distracting, because they use conventional switches instead of touch-sensitive panels like you have to deal with in the ID.4, or icons on the infotainment screen, like you get with the Enyaq.
Although it wasn’t fitted to our car, the optional augmented-reality head-up display should further reduce the need to look away from the road; it can project images, such as sat-nav directional arrows showing you where to turn, so they appear to be on the road ahead.
Unfortunately, the need to accommodate this has forced Audi to push the windscreen pillars unusually far forward, where they can obscure your view at junctions, but over-the-shoulder visibility is impressive. You also get rear parking sensors as standard, but if you want a rear-view camera you’ll need to add the £1295 Comfort and Sound Pack, unless you go for Vorsprung trim.
Still, every Q4 comes with automatic emergency
‘Some Q4s exceed 300 miles on a charge and can top up from 10-80% in around 35 minutes’
braking, lane-keeping assistance, a DAB radio, Apple Carplay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring, a Type 2 charging cable and powerful LED headlights.
Overall, then, it’s easy to see why Audi expects the Q4 e-tron to be such a big seller, because it’s the cheapest premium-badged electric SUV that you can buy right now, and a very comfortable, practical and classy choice.
If you’re not so worried about the emblem on the nose of your car, we’d urge you to look at the Enyaq as well, because it’s very similar in a lot of respects and is available for almost £10,000 less if you go for the version that’s cheap enough to qualify for the Government’s £2500 electric car grant.
However, the gap is closer if you need the sort of range that you get with the Q4 40 variant that we tested. And buying on finance transforms it into something even more tempting, with our Target PCP figures showing this version is just £24 per month more than the equivalent Enyaq.