Audi Q8 2019 Review – Australia

If the coupe crossover is about looking different, then it’s worth examining the Audi Q8’s visuals. Sure, it’s big -- wide, especially -- but it carries off the fastback-on-a-tall-body look surprisingly well.

With its crisply ironed lines it’s obvious this is an Audi while the introduction of new corporate design features such as the across-the-tail lighting and slightly boxed guards are still in harmony with the rest of the car.

Open the door and survey the interior and the first thing you notice is how much the Audi Q8 has embraced the digital era.

There are just 11 buttons on the centre console, and none on the centre stack. By comparison, the Lexus LX 450d has 35 switches and buttons on its console and centre stack.

Most of the Audi Q8’s controls are housed within the 10.1-inch and 8.6-inch touch-screens on the centre stack. The upper screen concentrates on the nav system, settings and apps, while the lower screen is for the climate control system.

One of the most dangerous driver distractions can be the vehicle’s own infotainment system. If you’ve ever found yourself sliding down into the depths of a car’s menu system that would sooner display the time in Harbin, China before letting you turn the air-con fan down, you’ll know what I mean. The Audi’s system is nothing like that.

Instead you’re presented with a simple menu drill-down process, with a positive noise and touch response to pressing the screen so you know you’ve hit a button without taking eyes off the road.

The upper, 10.1-inch screen is set nice and high so you’ll at least have the road in your peripheral vision when glancing at selections.

But like any touch-screen, you’re not going to know for sure you have the right button without looking, like you can with an analogue button, especially with the relatively fiddly, low-set climate-control screen. Analogue done right is much better in this regard. Such is progress.

The instrument cluster comprises the familiar Audi MMI screen, so no complaints there. A brilliantly clear, logical set-up with screen view options to please almost everyone.

There is plenty of room to move in this typically Audi hewn-from-rock quality interior. Front seat and outer rear-seat occupants will find themselves in a supportive, comfortable seat, although headroom is a bit tight for taller adults across the three-pew seat bench.

Like many five-seat vehicles, the centre rear seat of the Audi Q8 is not really meant to be taken seriously. It’s hard and unsupportive.

Despite the lack of switches, there isn’t much room left for open storage on the centre console: There are two cup-holders under a flip-over lid next to the gear lever, but it’d be good to have a bit more room close to the driver for knick-knacks.

The glove box and centre console bin are both on the small side, although the door pockets are ample, with a drink holder cut-out in each of them.

People in the back get a slightly better storage deal, with deep door pockets, storage nets on the seat backs and a centre armrest with two drink holders.

There should be no complaints about rear passengers getting enough air: there are vents in both the rear of the centre console and on the B-pillars.

It’s all good and well having all that tech in the car but frustrating if everyone can’t also charge their gear. Thankfully the Audi Q8 not only has wireless charging up front but also two USB ports front and rear as well as a 12V port at the rear.

The centre console compartment also houses ports for an SD card and a SIM card for the on-board WiFi.

The cargo area loading lip is high, the area nicely squared off with no intrusions and four solid metal tie-down points suppled to lash down your gear.

The inflatable space-saver spare tyre is housed under the cargo floor and if you’re hauling big stuff around the rear seats backs drop almost flat onto the seat bases.

There’s a child seat anchor point mounted low on each of the three seat backs and ISOFIX securing positions for a child seat on each of the outer rear seats.

The Audi Q8 is a smooth and quiet operator from around-town driving right up to 100km/h highway cruising. Even when the engine is revved hard the noise is distant.

With 250kW of power and 500Nm of torque and a claimed 5.9sec sprint to 100km/h, the Audi Q8 is no slouch.

In full-bore give-it-everything driving the V6 is a rewarding bit of machinery, and the eight-speed auto a willing and decisive team player.

It’s when you want to go from easy cruising to a sudden burst of acceleration that the V6 is hard to wake up. There’s a delay as the powertrain faffs around, trying to decide what it’ll do before a kick down and a burst of speed occurs.

You can get around this by using the paddle shifters, but you shouldn’t have to.

While a tank-to-tank measured run is the only sure way to get a truly representative fuel economy figure, the Audi Q8 trip computer was showing a relatively high 12.8L/100km after more than 300km of driving.

Even though that did include some bursts of hard acceleration, there was lots of 100km/h cruising too. Only a full test will see whether the Q8 can achieve closer to its quoted 9.2L/100km combined figure, which is nonetheless not that great.

With seven suspension/powertrain modes to choose from (the launch vehicles all had the Premium plus package, which includes adaptive air suspension), you’d think there was a setting for every type of driving.

It didn’t quite work that way on the launch drive at least, with either Auto or Comfort the best compromise.

Even when encountering a few sharp undulations while cornering at speed, the big Q8 recovered quickly in Comfort mode. In Dynamic mode, everything sharpened up, but then it just highlighted how tall and heavy the Q8 is, despite strong mechanical grip from its 22-inch Hankook Ventus S1 evo tyres.

Put it this way, you can throw the Q8 around if you’re in a hurry and it will respond predictably, but it’s not a nuanced thing in corners.

While the Audi Q8 is almost lush-riding over most undulations, throw in sharper, more sudden bumps like corrugations and potholes and it’s not as happy, banging and crashing through the worst of them. It needs better insulation from road shocks.

The Audi Q8 arrives in January with a satisfying degree of comfort, overall refinement and accessible, well-sorted technology. Even better, it’s a big, luxurious coupe crossover that actually looks good.

How much does the 2019 Audi Q8 55 TFSI quattro tiptronic cost?
Price: $128,900 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 3.0-litre V6 turbo-petrol
Output: 250kW/500Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 9.2L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 210g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: N/A