Audi SQ8

This is Audi Sport’s first performance version of the company’s range-topping SUV, the Audi Q8. Like the firm’s other recent S-brand additions, the SQ8 TDI is diesel only. In fact, it adopts the same 4.0-litre, 429bhp V8 diesel engine as served in the related Audi SQ7 which first appeared a couple of years ago, and which is soon to return to showrooms along with the rest of the facelifted Q7 range.

Such news might come as a disappointment if you were expecting combustive fireworks to rival a Range Rover Sport SVR or Porsche Cayenne Turbo. But then – as Audi insiders still won’t officially confirm, if only for fear of a disciplinary I suspect – there’s sure to be an even more angry and powerful RS Q8 along later to answer that need, as pressing as it undoubtedly is.

This car, Audi claims, is designed to compete with the fast diesel versions of the BMW X6 and Range Rover Sport, and Mercedes’ lower-order AMG-branded GLE Coupe. It’s a fast luxury 4x4 for those who like putting 400 miles between fuelling stops as much as putting big speeds on the head-up display, then. And, in cars where you generally get so much of absolutely everything, why wouldn’t you want to maximise your brim-to-brim touring range as well?

The mechanicals of the SQ8 TDI’s suspension and driveline don’t materially differ from those of the SQ7, either. Buy the car in top-of-the-line ‘Vorsprung’ trim (as we tested it) and you’ll be getting a car with Audi’s habitual centre-diff-based Torsen four-wheel-drive setup; four-wheel steering; sports-tuned adaptive air suspension with adaptive damping; active anti-roll bars; and an actively locking ‘sport’ rear differential. Which is plenty of ultra sophisticated chassis tech to be getting on with, it seems to me – although, as we’ll get on to, the complexity of so many active systems is woven into the SQ8’s driving experience with no small amount of care.

Most of what actually separates the driving experience of the SQ8 from that of its boxier brother, then, is the software tuning of those systems. “We’ve been able to put bigger wheels and tyres on this car than the SQ7 has, and increase lateral suspension stiffness a bit, because there’s less roof load capacity to worry about – and so we don’t have to mitigate against such a high risk of rollover,” explained an Audi chassis engineer. “Other than that, there are only a handful of components that differ.”

What makes the SQ8 stand out from the standard car?

The SQ8 TDI has the ability to switch between surprising handling agility and no little amount of driver engagement to luxurious, refined touring comfort that has become the hallmark of the modern fast Audi these past few years. That’s the short version.

The longer one starts by acknowledging a subtle but effective design makeover that might even make this car capable of operating under the radar at times. I appreciate how absurd that idea may seem, but bear with me. You get a wider, chromier grille surround for your money than on a regular Q8, as well as the silvered door mirror caps that traditionally mark out Audi ‘S’ cars; and there are unique alloy wheel designs and a quad pipe exhaust. Vorsprung-spec cars swap much of the regular SQ8’s shinier body trim for gloss black dressing. But that’s about it.

The SQ8 TDI’s cabin differs from that of an S Line-spec Q8 only in the details, but that means it remains a very agreeable, comfortable and technologically rich place in which to travel. Slightly punchier two-tone colour combinations of leather are offered; there’s a new glossy carbonfibre trim inlay; and Audi has designed a special ‘S-specific’ display mode for the Virtual Cockpit digital instrument screen, which makes a change at least but isn’t as easy to read as the familiar pairing of analogue rev-counter and speedo. Thankfully, you can switch back to the standard theme if you prefer.

Taller adults can sit in the second row in comfort. The boot capacity exceeds 600 litres, so you’re seldom likely to fill it. The only limiting factor to the car’s practicality, really, is a middle second-row seat that’s narrow and wouldn’t be nearly as comfy as any of the rest. But then if you need transport for more than four, you wouldn’t have very far to look to find the seven-seat SQ7 parked adjacent in the Audi showroom.

The SQ8’s driving position is first rate, its seat excellent and its control ergonomics likewise. Audi has moved away from fitting flat-bottomed steering wheels in cars like this – not so much because of the resistance to them recorded so often on this website, apparently, but because it asked ‘S’ and ‘RS’ customers and found they didn’t much like them either. Thanks for listening, guys. Visibility isn’t quite as clear or commanding as in some luxury SUVs, but is good enough to recommend the car to those who don’t particularly like sitting low to the ground and feel safer when lifted above the melee of modern traffic flow.