2024 Audi SQ8 Sportback e-tron review

Audi’s biggest electric car has been given an overhaul.

With a bigger battery, fresh looks, and a new name in line with the petrol Q8, the changes are more significant than the average mid-life upgrade.

Then again, the electric car world is moving so quickly Audi hasn’t necessarily made those changes because it wants to – it’s been forced into making its EV pioneer competitive again by a raft of strong rivals.

Sitting atop the range is the SQ8 Sportback e-tron. With a crisp, handsome exterior and the promise of punch from not one, not two, but three electric motors under the skin, it certainly has a lot of promise on paper.

In the real world though, it’s not the knockout you might expect.

How much does the Audi SQ8 e-tron cost?

No member of the Q8 e-tron family is cheap, but the SQ8 Sportback e-tron on test here is the most expensive member of the range.

To see how the Audi SQ8 Sportback e-tron stacks up agains the competition, check out our comparison tool.

What is the Audi SQ8 e-tron like on the inside?

In typical Audi fashion, the SQ8 is built to a seriously high standard inside.

The quilted crimson leather immediately looks high end, and most of what you touch is solid. From the action on the funky, wing-shaped drive selector to the way the buttons on the steering wheel click-clack when you prod them, real effort has gone into the small details here.

But… strip away the drive selector, and this could be any other Audi cabin. The displays are all shared with its siblings, and the design is pretty pedestrian. In a $180k flagship electric car, it’s not necessarily special enough.

The driver and passenger sit in heated, leather-trimmed Sport seats with sporty-looking integrated headrests. They’re endlessly adjustable, and are all-day comfortable thanks to the blend of support and bolstering.

Audi’s in-car technology is some of the best in the business. The 10.1-inch touchscreen infotainment system has crisp graphics and snappy responses, and boasts wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to back the DAB, AM, FM, and Bluetooth inputs.

The wireless CarPlay system is reliable, although it can still be frazzled by tram lines at times, and the fact it’s paired with a fast wireless phone charger means you can live without cables most of the time.

Sitting below it is an 8.6-inch display for your climate controls. It’s still not as good as a proper bank of buttons and dials, but it’s among the best touch-based climate systems we’ve experienced.

All the controls stay mostly where you left them, and the faux buttons use a haptic click to provide some feedback about what you’re doing. Good luck keeping the screen clean, though.

The Virtual Cockpit remains the best in the business; graphically more sophisticated than Mercedes-Benz can manage, easier to read than what BMW offers, and more polished than the screens in lesser Volkswagen Group products.

There’s plenty of storage up front; most of it housed in the open space where the transmission usually sits.

Yes, you get the usual array of cupholders and a wireless phone charger, but there’s also a lot of dead space which could have been used more effectively. In essence, Audi has freed up more space in the middle of the e-tron… but you can’t actually use it to store anything.

The door pockets are big enough to house an oversized drink bottle, and the under-arm storage bin has space for your garage keys and chewing gum. There are four USB-A ports split across the front and rear seats.

Speaking of the rear seats, the Sportback’s unique shape and dimensions make it a more practical family car than its sporty appearance might suggest.

At 4915mm long and 1976mm wide, the SQ8 e-tron slots between the mid-sized Q5 (4689mm by 1893mm) and large Q7 (5063mm by 1970mm) crossovers based on its size.

In practice, that plays out in a deceptive amount of rear seat and boot space.

Even with a panoramic sunroof and the Sportback’s sloping roofline, there’s enough headroom for six-footers in the rear, and the amount of legroom on offer means you’ll comfortably fit fully-grown adults behind fully-grown adults.

Rear seat passengers are treated to air vents in the centre and on the B-pillars, and have their own temperature and fan controls.

Boot space is a claimed 528 litres with the rear seats in place, expanding to 1567L with them folded flat.

It’s a long, flat space that will comfortably swallow a pram and your weekly shop, although the sloping tailgate on the Sportback makes it less practical than the wagon if you’re carrying bulky items.

The powered tailgate needs quite a lot of space to fully open, something worth bearing in mind if you have a small garage.

It’s a shame the SQ8 e-tron will only really hold charge cables in its front boot.

What’s under the bonnet?

Where the regular Q8 e-tron quattro uses two electric motors, the SQ8 adds a third – two on the rear axle, one on the front – for even more performance.

To see how the Audi SQ8 Sportback e-tron stacks up agains the competition, check out our comparison tool.

How does the Audi SQ8 e-tron drive?

The SQ8 e-tron won’t blow you away with its punch, but it will impress you with its polish.

It’s whisper quiet in day-to-day driving, with a long-travel accelerator that makes it easy to draw just the right amount of torque from the motors. There’s no real learning curve here, it’s just an easy car to hop into and enjoy immediately.

Ride comfort on the air suspension is excellent at low speeds. The SQ8 e-tron steamrolls bumps as if they’re not there, save for the occasional really sharp hit that exposes the limitations of a 2900kg car riding on 22-inch wheels wrapped in liquorice-thin sports tyres.

The default Auto drive mode neatly balances comfort with body control, but it’s possible to manually slacken things off further in Comfort – or to drop the ride down in Eco, for better aerodynamics but worse overall comfort.

At close to five metres long, the SQ8 e-tron is a big bus. But it’s easy enough to squeeze through tight spaces thanks to the excellent surround-view camera and parking sensors, not to mention the fact our tester was fitted with proper mirrors in place of the silly cameras that are optional.

Really put your foot down and the SQ8 e-tron gets a move on, throwing passengers back in their seats and keeping them there all the way to the Australian legal limit.

But it’s not a neck-snapping beast like the tri-motor powertrain and its near 1000Nm of torque might suggest. It’s in keeping with the S badge, which has always stood for pleasingly punchy engines rather than outright weapons, but it’s worth considering how fast rivals like the BMW iX M60 are.

On the plus side, the SQ8 e-tron is a lovely highway cruiser.

It’s whisper quiet on coarse Australian country highways, and the air suspension gives it a lovely long-legged feeling at speed. Just like in the Q7, you could happily set the cruise control and drive from Melbourne to Sydney in one sitting… if the range was long enough, which we know it isn’t.

Audi’s driver assists are excellent. The adaptive cruise is super smooth when it brakes and accelerates to maintain a gap to the car in front, and the lane-centring system confidently positions you in the lane without trying to wrestle the wheel out of your hands.

They take a load off the driver, rather than giving them even more headaches as is the case in some rivals.

As for when the road gets twisty? Flicked into Sport, you get lots of weight from the steering and tighter body control, but it doesn’t ever really shrink around you.

Fast sweepers – which are terrible for your range – are where it’s happiest, and even then patience is a virtue. With respect for its heft this can be a quick car across the ground, but realistically there’s more driving fun to be had elsewhere in the Audi range.

What do you get?

The SQ8 e-tron sits at the top of a three-grade lineup.

Q8 50 e-tron highlights:

Wheels, suspension, brakes, dynamics

• 20-inch alloy wheels in 5-arm aero style
  • Graphite grey
  • Diamond-turned finish
  • 255/50 R20 tyres
• Adaptive air suspension
• Anti-theft wheel bolts, loose wheel detection
• Collapsible temporary spare wheel
• Audi drive select
• e-quattro fully variable all-wheel drive

Exterior

• LED headlights
• LED daytime running lights
• High beam assist
• Rear dynamic indicators
• Exterior mirrors
  • Heated, folding, auto-dimming
  • Memory function
  • Kerbside function, passenger side
• High gloss styling package
  • Window slot trims in anodised aluminium
• Roof rails in aluminium
• Convenience key
  • Full keyless entry, start
• Electric tailgate
  • Programmable height
  • Gesture control

Seating and upholstery

• Standard front seats
• Leatherette upholstery
• Electric front seats incl. driver memory
• Heated front seats
• Dashboard upper, lower interior elements in leatherette
• Inlays in brushed aluminium, dark

Interior

• Auxiliary air-conditioning
  • Pre-conditioning via MMI or MyAudi app
• Dual-zone climate control
• Auto-dimming interior mirror
• Door sill trims in aluminium
• Interior lighting package
• Leather steering wheel incl. shift paddles
• Headlining in lunar silver fabric
• Load sill protector in stainless steel
• Comfort front centre armrest
  • Adjustable fore-aft position, angle
• Floor mats front, rear
• Storage and luggage compartment package
  • 2 x cupholders in rear centre armrest
  • Nets in luggage compartment

Infotainment

• 12.3-inch Audi virtual cockpit
• Audi smartphone interface
  • Wireless Apple CarPlay, Android Auto
  • Wired Apple CarPlay, Android Auto
• Audi music interface
  • 2 x USB ports front (charge, data transfer)
  • 2 x USB ports rear (charge)
• Audi phone box light
  • Qi wireless smartphone charger, 180W
• Audi sound system
  • 10 speakers
  • 6-channel amplifier
  • 180 watt system output
• DAB+ digital radio
• Head-up display
• Audi connect plus

Q8 Sportback 55 e-tron adds:

Wheels, suspension, brakes, dynamics

• 21-inch Audi Sport alloy wheels
  • 10-spoke rotor design
  • Anthracite black
  • Gloss turned
  • 265/45 R21 tyres

Seating and upholstery

• Sport front seats in Valcona leather

Interior

• 4-zone climate control
• Electric steering wheel adjust incl. memory

SQ8 e-tron adds:

Exterior

• 22-inch Audi Sport alloy wheels
  • 5-arm interference design
  • Titanium grey
  • Gloss turned finish
• Red brake calipers
• Matrix LED headlights
• Electric, heated side mirrors
  • Auto-dimming
  • Memory function
  • Aluminium-look finish
• Metallic paint
• Rear privacy glass
• S body styling
• Panoramic sunroof
• Metallic paint

Interior

• S Sport seats incl. S logo embossed
• 12.3-inch Audi virtual cockpit plus
• 16-speaker Bang & Olufsen audio
• S floor mats
• Aluminium-look interior trim
• Sports steering wheel – heated

Options

The following options are available on the SQ8 Sportback e-tron.

Sensory Package: $9600

• Digital Matrix LED headlights
• Door entrance LED lights – front, rear
• Soft close power latching doors
• Outer rear heated seats
• Extended fine Nappa leather trim
• Air quality
• Rear sunshades – manually operated

22kW AC Charging Package: $6900

• Additional onboard charger – up to 22kW AC
• Audi connect charger – up to 22kW AC

Virtual Mirrors: $3500

Is the Audi SQ8 e-tron safe?

The SQ8 e-tron retains the pre-facelift model’s five-star ANCAP safety rating, based on 2019 Euro NCAP tests.

It scored 91 per cent for adult occupant protection, 88 per cent for child occupant protection, 71 per cent for vulnerable road users, and 78 per cent for safety assist.

Standard safety features include:

• 8 airbags
  • Dual front
  • Dual front-side
  • Dual rear-side
  • Dual side curtain
• Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB)
  • Vehicle to Vehicle (5-250km/h)
  • Pedestrian, cyclist detection (5-85km/h)
  • Turn assist
• Adaptive drive assist
  • Adaptive cruise control with stop/go
  • Distance indicator
  • Traffic jam assist
  • Lane guidance assist
• Blind-spot monitoring
• Exit warning system
• Front, rear parking sensors
• 360-degree cameras
• Collision avoidance assist (evasive steering)
• Rear cross-traffic assist

How much does the Audi SQ8 e-tron cost to run?

The Audi SQ8 Sportback e-tron is backed by the same five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty as the broader range.

CarExpert’s Take on the Audi SQ8 e-tron

The SQ8 Sportback e-tron is a beautiful car. It’s also behind the electric curve, despite a recent update.

The good? The interior is immaculate, it rides well on its air suspension, and in typical Audi fashion the crisp exterior turns heads without resorting to cheap tricks. It’s also pretty quick when you consider it weighs almost three tonnes.

But… that elephantine kerb weight means it doesn’t inspire you to drive quickly, and its acceleration is middling by EV standards – the BMW iX xDrive50 isn’t a performance car, but it’s half a second quicker to 100km/h.

You also don’t get nearly enough range from the massive battery pack, so the softer driving dynamics don’t translate into a capable long-haul cruiser.

It’s an example of the compromise inherent in cramming a new-school powertrain into an old-school formula. Audi can (and should) do better.

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