Audi’s greatest electrical automobile has been given an overhaul.

With a much bigger battery, recent appears, and a brand new identify according to the petrol Q8, the modifications are extra important than the typical mid-life improve.

Then once more, the electrical automobile world is shifting so shortly Audi hasn’t essentially made these modifications as a result of it desires to – it’s been compelled into making its EV pioneer aggressive once more by a raft of robust rivals.

Sitting atop the vary is the SQ8 Sportback e-tron. With a crisp, good-looking exterior and the promise of punch from not one, not two, however three electrical motors beneath the pores and skin, it definitely has quite a lot of promise on paper.

In the true world although, it’s not the knockout you would possibly count on.

How does the Audi SQ8 e-tron evaluate?

View an in depth breakdown of the Audi SQ8 e-tron in opposition to equally sized autos.

Audi

SQ8 e-tron

How a lot does the Audi SQ8 e-tron value?

No member of the Q8 e-tron household is affordable, however the SQ8 Sportback e-tron on take a look at right here is the costliest member of the vary.

To see how the Audi SQ8 Sportback e-tron stacks up agains the competitors, take a look at our comparability software.

What’s the Audi SQ8 e-tron like on the within?

In typical Audi trend, the SQ8 is constructed to a significantly excessive customary inside.

The quilted crimson leather-based instantly appears excessive finish, and most of what you contact is strong. From the motion on the funky, wing-shaped drive selector to the best way the buttons on the steering wheel click-clack while you prod them, actual effort has gone into the small particulars right here.

However… strip away the drive selector, and this might be some other Audi cabin. The shows are all shared with its siblings, and the design is fairly pedestrian. In a $180k flagship electrical automobile, it’s not essentially particular sufficient.

The motive force and passenger sit in heated, leather-trimmed Sport seats with sporty-looking built-in headrests. They’re endlessly adjustable, and are all-day comfy due to the mix of assist and bolstering.

Audi’s in-car know-how is among the finest within the enterprise. The ten.1-inch touchscreen infotainment system has crisp graphics and snappy responses, and boasts wi-fi Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to again the DAB, AM, FM, and Bluetooth inputs.

The wi-fi CarPlay system is dependable, though it will probably nonetheless be frazzled by tram traces at instances, and the actual fact it’s paired with a quick wi-fi telephone charger means you possibly can reside with out cables more often than not.

Sitting under it’s an 8.6-inch show in your local weather controls. It’s nonetheless inferior to a correct financial institution of buttons and dials, however it’s among the many finest touch-based local weather techniques we’ve skilled.

All of the controls keep principally the place you left them, and the fake buttons use a haptic click on to offer some suggestions about what you’re doing. Good luck maintaining the display clear, although.

The Digital Cockpit stays the most effective within the enterprise; graphically extra refined than Mercedes-Benz can handle, simpler to learn than what BMW presents, and extra polished than the screens in lesser Volkswagen Group merchandise.

There’s loads of storage up entrance; most of it housed within the open area the place the transmission often sits.

Sure, you get the standard array of cupholders and a wi-fi telephone charger, however there’s additionally quite a lot of lifeless area which might have been used extra successfully. In essence, Audi has freed up extra space in the midst of the e-tron… however you possibly can’t really use it to retailer something.

At 4915mm lengthy and 1976mm vast, the SQ8 e-tron slots between the mid-sized Q5 (4689mm by 1893mm) and enormous Q7 (5063mm by 1970mm) crossovers based mostly on its dimension.

In observe, that performs out in a misleading quantity of rear seat and boot area.

Even with a panoramic sunroof and the Sportback’s sloping roofline, there’s sufficient headroom for six-footers within the rear, and the quantity of legroom on provide means you’ll comfortably match fully-grown adults behind fully-grown adults.

Rear seat passengers are handled to air vents within the centre and on the B-pillars, and have their very own temperature and fan controls.

Boot area is a claimed 528 litres with the rear seats in place, increasing to 1567L with them folded flat.

It’s an extended, flat area that may comfortably swallow a pram and your weekly store, though the sloping tailgate on the Sportback makes it much less sensible than the wagon in case you’re carrying cumbersome objects.

The powered tailgate wants numerous area to totally open, one thing price allowing for if in case you have a small storage.

It’s a disgrace the SQ8 e-tron will solely actually maintain cost cables in its entrance boot.

What’s beneath the bonnet?

The place the common Q8 e-tron quattro makes use of two electrical motors, the SQ8 provides a 3rd – two on the rear axle, one on the entrance – for much more efficiency.

To see how the Audi SQ8 Sportback e-tron stacks up agains the competitors, take a look at our comparability software.

How does the Audi SQ8 e-tron drive?

The SQ8 e-tron gained’t blow you away with its punch, however it should impress you with its polish.

It’s whisper quiet in day-to-day driving, with a long-travel accelerator that makes it simple to attract simply the correct quantity of torque from the motors. There’s no actual studying curve right here, it’s simply a straightforward automobile to hop into and luxuriate in instantly.

Journey consolation on the air suspension is superb at low speeds. The SQ8 e-tron steamrolls bumps as in the event that they’re not there, save for the occasional actually sharp hit that exposes the restrictions of a 2900kg automobile using on 22-inch wheels wrapped in liquorice-thin sports activities tyres.

The default Auto drive mode neatly balances consolation with physique management, however it’s doable to manually slacken issues off additional in Consolation – or to drop the journey down in Eco, for higher aerodynamics however worse general consolation.

At shut to 5 metres lengthy, the SQ8 e-tron is an enormous bus. But it surely’s simple sufficient to squeeze via tight areas due to the wonderful surround-view digital camera and parking sensors, to not point out the actual fact our tester was fitted with correct mirrors instead of the foolish cameras which can be optionally available.

Actually put your foot down and the SQ8 e-tron will get a transfer on, throwing passengers again of their seats and maintaining them there all the best way to the Australian authorized restrict.

But it surely’s not a neck-snapping beast just like the tri-motor powertrain and its close to 1000Nm of torque would possibly counsel. It’s in step with the S badge, which has all the time stood for pleasingly punchy engines relatively than outright weapons, however it’s price contemplating how briskly rivals just like the BMW iX M60 are.

On the plus aspect, the SQ8 e-tron is a beautiful freeway cruiser.

It’s whisper quiet on coarse Australian nation highways, and the air suspension offers it a beautiful long-legged feeling at pace. Similar to within the Q7, you may fortunately set the cruise management and drive from Melbourne to Sydney in a single sitting… if the vary was lengthy sufficient, which we all know it isn’t.

Audi’s driver assists are wonderful. The adaptive cruise is tremendous clean when it brakes and accelerates to keep up a niche to the automobile in entrance, and the lane-centring system confidently positions you within the lane with out attempting to wrestle the wheel out of your arms.

They take a load off the motive force, relatively than giving them much more complications as is the case in some rivals.

As for when the street will get twisty? Flicked into Sport, you get a lot of weight from the steering and tighter physique management, however it doesn’t ever actually shrink round you.

Quick sweepers – that are horrible in your vary – are the place it’s happiest, and even then persistence is a advantage. With respect for its heft this could be a fast automobile throughout the bottom, however realistically there’s extra driving enjoyable available elsewhere within the Audi vary.

What do you get?

The SQ8 e-tron sits on the high of a three-grade lineup.

Q8 50 e-tron highlights:

Wheels, suspension, brakes, dynamics

• 20-inch alloy wheels in 5-arm aero type
  • Graphite gray
  • Diamond-turned end
  • 255/50 R20 tyres
• Adaptive air suspension
• Anti-theft wheel bolts, unfastened wheel detection
• Collapsible short-term spare wheel
• Audi drive choose
• e-quattro totally variable all-wheel drive

Exterior

• LED headlights
• LED daytime working lights
• Excessive beam help
• Rear dynamic indicators
• Exterior mirrors
  • Heated, folding, auto-dimming
  • Reminiscence operate
  • Kerbside operate, passenger aspect
• Excessive gloss styling package deal
  • Window slot trims in anodised aluminium
• Roof rails in aluminium
• Comfort key
  • Full keyless entry, begin
• Electrical tailgate
  • Programmable peak
  • Gesture management

Seating and fabric

• Commonplace entrance seats
• Leatherette upholstery
• Electrical entrance seats incl. driver reminiscence
• Heated entrance seats
• Dashboard higher, decrease inside parts in leatherette
• Inlays in brushed aluminium, darkish

Inside

• Auxiliary air-conditioning
  • Pre-conditioning through MMI or MyAudi app
• Twin-zone local weather management
• Auto-dimming inside mirror
• Door sill trims in aluminium
• Inside lighting package deal
• Leather-based steering wheel incl. shift paddles
• Headlining in lunar silver cloth
• Load sill protector in stainless-steel
• Consolation entrance centre armrest
  • Adjustable fore-aft place, angle
• Ground mats entrance, rear
• Storage and baggage compartment package deal
  • 2 x cupholders in rear centre armrest
  • Nets in baggage compartment

Infotainment

• 12.3-inch Audi digital cockpit
• Audi smartphone interface
  • Wi-fi Apple CarPlay, Android Auto
  • Wired Apple CarPlay, Android Auto
• Audi music interface
  • 2 x USB ports entrance (cost, knowledge switch)
  • 2 x USB ports rear (cost)
• Audi telephone field mild
  • Qi wi-fi smartphone charger, 180W
• Audi sound system
  • 10 audio system
  • 6-channel amplifier
  • 180 watt system output
• DAB+ digital radio
• Head-up show
• Audi join plus

Q8 Sportback 55 e-tron provides:

Wheels, suspension, brakes, dynamics

• 21-inch Audi Sport alloy wheels
  • 10-spoke rotor design
  • Anthracite black
  • Gloss turned
  • 265/45 R21 tyres

Seating and fabric

• Sport entrance seats in Valcona leather-based

Inside

• 4-zone local weather management
• Electrical steering wheel regulate incl. reminiscence

SQ8 e-tron provides:

Exterior

• 22-inch Audi Sport alloy wheels
  • 5-arm interference design
  • Titanium gray
  • Gloss turned end
• Pink brake calipers
• Matrix LED headlights
• Electrical, heated aspect mirrors
  • Auto-dimming
  • Reminiscence operate
  • Aluminium-look end
• Metallic paint
• Rear privateness glass
• S physique styling
• Panoramic sunroof
• Metallic paint

Inside

• S Sport seats incl. S emblem embossed
• 12.3-inch Audi digital cockpit plus
• 16-speaker Bang & Olufsen audio
• S ground mats
• Aluminium-look inside trim
• Sports activities steering wheel – heated

Choices

The next choices can be found on the SQ8 Sportback e-tron.

Sensory Bundle: $9600

• Digital Matrix LED headlights
• Door entrance LED lights – entrance, rear
• Tender shut energy latching doorways
• Outer rear heated seats
• Prolonged effective Nappa leather-based trim
• Air high quality
• Rear sunshades – operated by hand

22kW AC Charging Bundle: $6900

• Further onboard charger – as much as 22kW AC
• Audi join charger – as much as 22kW AC

Digital Mirrors: $3500

Is the Audi SQ8 e-tron secure?

The SQ8 e-tron retains the pre-facelift mannequin’s five-star ANCAP security ranking, based mostly on 2019 Euro NCAP assessments.

It scored 91 per cent for grownup occupant safety, 88 per cent for baby occupant safety, 71 per cent for susceptible street customers, and 78 per cent for security help.

Commonplace security options embody:

• 8 airbags
  • Twin entrance
  • Twin front-side
  • Twin rear-side
  • Twin aspect curtain
• Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB)
  • Automobile to Automobile (5-250km/h)
  • Pedestrian, bicycle owner detection (5-85km/h)
  • Flip help
• Adaptive drive help
  • Adaptive cruise management with cease/go
  • Distance indicator
  • Site visitors jam help
  • Lane steerage help
• Blind-spot monitoring
• Exit warning system
• Entrance, rear parking sensors
• 360-degree cameras
• Collision avoidance help (evasive steering)
• Rear cross-traffic help

How a lot does the Audi SQ8 e-tron value to run?

The Audi SQ8 Sportback e-tron is backed by the identical five-year, unlimited-kilometre guarantee because the broader vary.

CarExpert’s Tackle the Audi SQ8 e-tron

The SQ8 Sportback e-tron is a wonderful automobile. It’s additionally behind the electrical curve, regardless of a current replace.

The great? The inside is immaculate, it rides properly on its air suspension, and in typical Audi trend the crisp exterior turns heads with out resorting to low cost methods. It’s additionally fairly fast when you think about it weighs virtually three tonnes.

However… that elephantine kerb weight means it doesn’t encourage you to drive shortly, and its acceleration is middling by EV requirements – the BMW iX xDrive50 isn’t a efficiency automobile, however it’s half a second faster to 100km/h.

You additionally don’t get practically sufficient vary from the huge battery pack, so the softer driving dynamics don’t translate right into a succesful long-haul cruiser.

It’s an instance of the compromise inherent in cramming a new-school powertrain into an old-school components. Audi can (and will) do higher.

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