2022 Audi Q4 e-tron review – best posh EV? | What Car?

this is the new audi q4 e-tron and just to illustrate how quickly the electric car revolution is moving the german manufacturer is expecting this car to be its second biggest seller next year in the uk behind only the audi a3 and this is just one of 12 electricalities we'll see by 2025 but those sales won't happen without a great product and in this review we're telling you everything you need to know about the q4 before we start hit the subscribe button and don't forget go to wattcard.com to get a great deal on your next car so in audi's lineup you've got the e-tron which is the large fully electric suv you've also got the e-tron gt which is the much sportier fully electric car but this q4 e-tron is really audi's first shot at mainstream ev success not that you describe it as cheap but clearly the pricing is going to appeal to a bigger audience than those much more expensive cars in its lineup and under the skin it is very very closely related to the skoda enyak and the vwid4 which is a pretty good starting point because we've already seen that those are two impressive electric cars so what's audi's spin on those ingredients well from a distance the proportions the kind of silhouette is fairly similar to those two electric cars but up close obviously it has a completely different look so at the end of this short bonnet you've got this massive closed off grille at the front which on the higher trim levels you can actually black this out you've also got two fake air vents either side of it and for the alloys there's a choice of 19-inch alloys or these 20-inch alloys plus they're 21 inch alloys as well at the back of the car you've got a full width light bar and actually the leds at the front you can program a few different light signatures for them plus you can buy the q4 e-tron as a sportback which basically gives it a more coupe look at the back here and it lowers the ride height by 18 millimeters it certainly isn't similar to the id4 and the eniac inside in terms of the layout though it's got a typical new audi look inside here but something that's new for audi as a brand is this steering wheel that the q4 e-tron gets with this kind of weird squared off look to it and it also has touch sensitive controls which we first saw with the id3 and the id4 and really just like in those cars in the key for each run they're really frustratingly easy to accidentally be turning things on with so that's annoying that that's there in a kind of similar way they've got a touch pad for the volume dial down here which we first saw in the a3 and it's just a bit kind of fiddly and awkward to use and surely took more work to design and implement this than it would just sticking a sticky-outy normal physical dial on it which would have been easier to use anyway the touchscreen infotainment system is good you get a 10.1 inch or 11.6 inch screen depending on what trim you go for and it's a typical new audi infotainment system it's got a reasonably responsive screen impressive graphics simple layout you get apple carplay and android auto as standard and it's definitely better than what you get in the enyak and light years ahead of the id4 but isn't quite so good as what you get in the bmw ix3 because that system has a rotary dial which means it's a little bit easier to use that while you're driving something new in the q4 e-tron is an augmented reality head-up display which acts like a normal head-up display so it will show the speed you're traveling as if it's projected onto the road in front of you but the augmented reality bit basically then adds satnav directions or safety warnings again as if they're directly projected onto the road in front of you now you get all that as part of the technology pack or as standard on vorsprung trim but you can see that in order to have such a big head up display unit they've got this massive hole in the dashboard here and then incorporating that into the layout and the design means that you are actually staring at quite a lot of dashboard from the driver's seat from here to the windscreen but really the driving position is good in the q4 e-tron loads of adjustment available in the seat and also in the steering wheel too the visibility is pretty good these pillars are quite thick but it's really helpful having this extra bit of glass there actually and the door mirrors are really big as well plus you get a 10.25 inch digital driver display as standard there's a good amount of storage up front in the q4 each on as well so because you've got this kind of floating center console thing with the gear selector on it underneath it you've got more storage here where the wireless phone charging is as well and you can also leave your smartphone docked down there plus there's a couple of cup holders along with a pretty deep central cubby here and this armrest you can actually slide forwards or back plus the door bins are just about thick enough to take a water bottle and actually on top of the doors really helpfully down here you've got another space to keep your water bottle in terms of the quality in the q4 each one well it's got a premium look and it does have a relatively premium feel as well so yes there are a lot of plastics around but they're good quality plastics and the build quality is quite impressive as well so it does feel quite robust in here but it should be said that the q4 e-tron like lots of other new audis that we've tried recently their interiors just aren't quite so good as audi interiors from a few years ago so that is a shame but the fact is that by the standards of the class today this is still a pretty decent interior as the q4 name suggests this car is sized between the q3 and the q5 so it isn't small and back here it does feel pretty spacious you've got loads of legroom headroom is good too and for the record this driver's seat is in my driving position i'm just under six foot and it does feel really spacious you've got big windows too plus just like the id4 and the enyak you've got a flat floor here so if you're sitting three adults side by side back here this is good for that and unsurprisingly the space is very similar to what you get in the enyak and the id4 as well but 40 20 40 split folding rear seats don't come as standard and we haven't got them on this model plus we haven't even got an armrest or a cup holder to fold down from there either but what every q4 each one does get is the helpful bottle holder that it also has in the front the q4 e-tron matches the q5 for boot space with 520 liters and you can see that it's a really big practical amount of space that you're given back here there's also really good underfloor storage where you can put the charging cables you can even fit the parcel shelf at the bottom there which is particularly handy there's also these two storage compartments either side of the main boot floor so all in all it might not be quite so big as a skoda anyaks boot but it is really practical certainly it's a shame though that there isn't a front boot now there are three models to choose from called 35 40 and 50. 35 gets a 52 kilowatt hour battery 208 mile range and a 168 brake horsepower electric motor 40 bumps that up to a 77 kilowatt hour battery 316 mile range and 201 brake horsepower electric motor then at the top of the lineup the 50 has the same battery as the 40 but with an extra electric motor on the front axle so it's four wheel drive and boost power to 295 brake horsepower but that does also reduce the range to 298 miles we're driving the 40 model which is that one in the middle that gets a single electric motor driving the rear wheels and it does not at 62 miles per hour in 8.5 seconds which is quick but it's not rapid by electric car standards it's certainly quick enough for what you're going to be doing in this car though motorways around town there's definitely plenty of pace on offer and it also looks like this 40 model is probably going to be the pick of the lineup at least on paper we haven't driven the 30 or the 50 but with the 30 you probably want more range from your electric car than what's offered in that model and with the 50 you really want to be spending more money to get all-wheel drive and extra motor and a bit less range the 40 definitely looks like it will be the pick of the range there now the pace might not stand out particularly in the electric car class with the q4 each one but the ride actually does admittedly we're driving a model which has got the optional adaptive suspension which is a 950 pound extra but with it fitted this is a pretty comfortable car especially by electric car standards it's nicely cushioned it's well controlled it's definitely right up there with the best riding electric cars dynamically the q4 e-tron is okay it doesn't feel like a particularly agile thing but then it's a relatively tall suv so yes it does lean a bit in the corners but the steering is pretty accurate it's fairly nicely weighted so compared to the enyak the id4 it's certainly as good to drive as them if not actually a little bit better we have conducted a real-world range test of the q4 e-tron and nine other electric cars you can watch our full results by clicking on the link at the top of your screen there and the 40 version of the q4 which we used in that test covered 266 miles on a full charge that's in genuine real-world driving conditions which is not quite the claim 316 miles but it's still very good indeed when it comes to charging up the smaller battery that you get in the 30 models can charge a maximum speed of up to 100 kilowatts but the bigger battery that you get in 40 and 50 models can charge 125 kilowatts so maximum charging speed in those big battery models gets you from five to eighty percent of a full charge in around 40 minutes there are four trim levels to choose from and even entry level sport is decently equipped you get 19-inch alloys three-zone climate control heated front seats and a type 2 charging cable really this trim level seems the best value in the lineup because none of the kit available in s line edition one or vor sprung trims are especially crucial but should you buy one well it's difficult to position the q4 e-tron as a value option because it starts at 40 000 pounds but this is the cheapest electric suv that you can buy with a premium badge right now and for your money you get something that's comfortable pretty nice inside reasonably practical and it does genuinely feel like a premium product but just bear in mind that you can get a similar package for quite a few thousand pounds less if you go for the skoda enyak for even more information on the q4 e-tron go to whatcore.com where you can also see our list of amazing deals on every new car if you've enjoyed this video it'd be great if you gave it a like please tell us what you think of the q4 e-tron in the comments below and make sure you're subscribed as well because we've got loads of video reviews coming out every week thanks for watching [Music] [Music] you

Channel: What Car?

Views: 117,657

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Id: A9HovhxtKXQ

Length: 11min 8sec (668 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 14 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Jewlius_Ceizure]

Hurry upppppppp and get it here Audi, I'm waiting.

[u/Its_Buzz_Lightyear]

Loving the hexagonal wheel and interior overall, night and day upgrade from the Skoda and VW.

[u/Slapdashengineering]

Where are the reviews of the loaded models with the leather power seats and such?