Yahoo Autos Refreshed Audi RS Q8 levels up with Performance trim
As happened with the 2025 Audi E-Tron GT, the quattro-loving automaker has sharpened the RS Q8 with a new Performance trim that makes the SUV the most powerful internal-combustion-engined SUV to come from Ingolstadt. In European spec, the RS Q8 Performance makes 631 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque from its twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8. That's 40 ponies and 36 twists more than is available on today's RS Q8, 10 horses over the RS 6 Avant Performance, as well as being just 26 horses below the non-hybrid 2024 Lamborghini Urus S that the RS Q8 shares its engine with. The muscle-up comes from a freer exhaust with less back pressure, a secondary benefit being a better sound than the standard RS Q8. Buyers who want a bigger boom out the back can upgrade to an RS Sport exhaust.
Audi says the new SUV gets to 62 miles per hour 0.2 seconds quicker than the RS Q8, in 3.6 seconds. Bigger gains happen on the go, development driver Frank Stippler ripping off a 7:36.698 lap of the Nurburgring, giving the RS Q8 Performance the title of fastest SUV around The Green Hell. That means the same driver beat the time he set in a 2020 RS Q8 by just under 16 seconds, which was the previous record. The Urus hasn't run a publicized timed lap.
Exclusive add-ons for the RS Q8 Performance include new 23-inch forged and milled wheels in three finishes, the quartet cutting about 44 total pounds compared to the standard 22-inch wheels. Matte gray accents around the exterior in places like the front lip spoiler and mirror caps separate it from the RS Q8, which wears black accents, and the Performance can go even more upscale with matte carbon accents. The RS ceramic braking system with 10-piston front calipers comes standard, a useful pairing with an optional performance package that raises top speed to about 190 miles per hour. Inside, this one applies Dinamica microfiber to the steering wheels, shifter, and sides of the center console, and the Virtual Cockpit here gets a shift indicator light when driven in manual mode.
