Audi’s biggest electric car has been given an overhaul. With a bigger battery, fresh looks, and a new name in line with the petrol Q8 , the changes are more significant than the average mid-life upgrade. Then again, the electric car world is moving so quickly Audi hasn’t necessarily made those changes because it wants to – it’s been forced into making its EV pioneer competitive again by a raft of strong rivals.
Sitting atop the range is the SQ8 Sportback e-tron . With a crisp, handsome exterior and the promise of punch from not one, not two, but three electric motors under the skin, it certainly has a lot of promise on paper. In the real world though, it’s not the knockout you might expect.
No member of the Q8 e-tron family is cheap, but the SQ8 Sportback e-tron on test here is the most expensive member of the range. To see how the Audi SQ8 Sportback e-tron stacks up agains the competition, check out our comparison tool . In typical Audi fashion, the SQ8 is built to a seriously high standard inside.
The quilted crimson leather immediately looks high end, and most of what you touch is solid. From the action on the funky, wing-shaped drive selector to the way the buttons on the steering wheel click-clack when you prod them, real effort has gone into the small details here. But.
.. strip away the drive selector, and this could be any other Audi cabin.
The displays are all shared with its siblings, and the design is pretty pedestrian. In a $180k flagship electric car, it.