Audi Q4 e-Tron

When reviewing a car, I love to primarily find out about its driving dynamics and overall experience. So I usually take a fun car on a good piece of road to find out. Testing a luxurious big electric SUV is something else for me, so I had to come up with a plan. What I decided on doing was rather simple as I did sort of everything a Q4 user would do. Go to work, get some stuff in the back and have a small trip somewhere just for fun.

I have to admit that I do quite like the looks of the new Q4 when specced right. When specced wrong, it does look very weird and a bit dull. The car I was provided with falls into the latter category mainly because it came as the Sportback variant. In my eyes, the most stupid design idea car manufacturers came up with in the last couple of years.

Thanks BMW…

The Q4 came in some shade of grey with massive 21-inch wheels and no real special design features. Highlights on the exterior definitely are the sublime Matrix LEDs front and back. Personally, I think that the Q4 “Edition One” is the car to go in terms of looks. Lovely proportions with sporty lines and beautiful golden rims contrasting with the typhoon grey. To underline my point here’s an image of the car I’d actually get.

Image by Audi

It‘s actually been quite a while since I drove an Audi and I completely forgot how good they are. Starting off with the infotainment systems and the controls, I am very happy about the fact that they still use physical buttons instead of going with touch controls for literally everything. The touchscreen is one of the responsive ones that make navigating through the clearly structured menus a charm. Apple CarPlay works pretty well wirelessly, which isn’t very common in my experience. Sound provided by the optional Sonos speakers is pretty good for tracks with intense bass.

The Q4 naturally comes with all sorts of driving assistants. Even though I hate most driving assistants, they are very refined in the Q4. In comparison to other cats I’ve driven, the Q4 gives you subtle hints instead of shouting at you with huge warning signs and bings and bongs everywhere. Very polite. When going over the speed limit, for example, it shows you the road’s speed restriction sign blinking in the heads up. After five blinks or so it stops but indicates with an exclamation mark beside the speed limit that you’re still going too fast. The heads-up display is capable of a lot more stuff making you feel like you’re sitting inside a spaceship. Once again Audi stays true to its slogan.

Talking about the driving experience on an electric car is quite difficult from my experience, as most electric cars feel very similar. Some more powerful than others, but overall very similar. Thanks to the batteries placed in the floor and the resulting low centre of gravity, the car handles incredibly well. Power comes from a 77kWh battery and four electric engines on each wheel producing 299HP, which is more than sufficient. Thanks to the instant power delivery you don‘t notice the 2 tonnes when taking off from standstill. However, you do notice it when going a bit faster on some bendy bits as you will feel the weight pulling the car outwards any corner. To counteract that, Audi has put some sporty suspension in the Q4, resulting in solid feedback and sharp steering. It does make the ride a tad harder than expected though.

The most memorable moment in the Q4 was when I drove it on some nicely flowing country roads by chance. I didn’t really expect much to be honest, but the driving sensation was very special. There is something soothing and hypnotic about driving through the forests completely silent, with such a low centre of gravity and such a smooth power delivery. It almost felt like I was navigating a spaceship over the road. An extraordinary experience which made me less sceptical of the future of sports cars. Because if a 2t SUV makes such a drive special, I can’t imagine what an e-Tron GT must feel like.

Now to the most important part of any electric car. How far does it get and how easy is it to charge? The Q4 comes with 77kWh net capacity battery, which should be good for 500km Audi claims. But getting those 500km done is nearly impossible if you mainly drive it on the motorway. In my experience, it should do around 400km of mixed driving and probably 500km when driving it mainly around town. Overall very good and manageable range. Never did I feel nervous about running out of juice, and planning bigger journeys is pretty easy thanks to modern apps and lots of charging stations along the way. The car is supposed to charge from 5-80% in roughly 35min on a 135kWh charger. Realistically it did take me longer as the 150kw Charger I plugged in only provided me with 50kW for whatever reason. Making the car go from 60-80% in 15 minutes and fully charged in an additional 40minutes. If you have a charger at home, that shouldn’t be a problem for you as the car is fully charged on a 22kW charger in roughly 8.5 hours. So charging it overnight is the best option.

In summary, I have to admit that I really enjoyed 98% of my time with the car. Those unenjoyable 2% being the few times I had to put it in my underground parking space, as manouvering it down the tight ramp was quite nerve-racking. Size overall is an issue for me personally, as I don’t like big cars at all. It was well manageable though, as you got rear view cameras, sensors, and overall pretty good visibility. In terms of interior room it also did brilliantly even though it came in the Sportback variant. So watching a Netflix episode in the back whilst the car was charging was very comfortable despite the “sporty” roofline. I would recommend checking the car out if you’re looking for an electric SUV that comes with the latest tech and German build quality. But please get the normal variant and not the silly Sportback. My eyes will thank you. 

Learn more about the Audi Q4 e-Tron Sportback.