Audi Q8 Review

The Audi Q8 sits at the top of Audi’s regular SUV range and is aimed at buyers who want something more style-focused than a conventional luxury SUV. It shares a lot with the Audi Q7 underneath, but swaps seven-seat flexibility for a sleeker roofline, a more dramatic stance and a stronger emphasis on design and image. That means the Audi Q8 is not really trying to be the most rational choice in the line-up. It's there for buyers who like the idea of a large luxury SUV but want something that feels lower, sharper and more fashion-led than a traditional family seven-seater.

That approach only works if the fundamentals are still strong, and in the Audi Q8 they are. Cabin quality remains one of its biggest selling points, the rear seats are genuinely roomy, and the boot is much more useful than the sloping roofline suggests. That's important, because the Audi Q8 has to do more than just look good. It has to justify giving up the Audi Q7’s extra seats and squarer shape, and it mostly manages that by feeling every bit as plush and expensive inside while still being practical enough for everyday family use.

The Audi Q8 also makes a strong case on the road. It's quieter and more relaxed than something with its styling might suggest, with the sort of effortless long-distance refinement that suits a big Audi SUV very well. At the same time, it feels tidier and more agile than a more upright luxury SUV, which helps it deliver on the promise of being the more style-led, driver-oriented option in this part of the range. It's not a sports SUV in the pure sense, but it's more satisfying to drive than many buyers will expect from something this large.

The other reason the Audi Q8 still works is that it doesn’t feel overly compromised. Some SUV coupés make you pay too high a price in rear headroom, luggage space or day-to-day usability, but the Audi Q8 avoids most of those traps. Yes, it's five-seat only, and yes, the roofline makes it less outright practical than a Q7, but it still feels spacious enough and useful enough to work as a genuine family car rather than just a design statement.

There's also more breadth to the range than the regular petrol and diesel line-up might suggest. The plug-in hybrid TFSI e gives the Audi Q8 a more electrified option for shorter-distance use, even if it comes with a notable boot-space penalty. There are also faster SQ8 and RS Q8 models elsewhere in the wider range, but the standard Audi Q8 is the version that makes the clearest case for most buyers. It's the one that best balances style, quality, comfort and everyday usability.

For most buyers, the best Audi Q8 is likely to be the diesel in mid-spec Black Edition trim. The 3.0-litre TDI engine still feels like the most natural fit for a big, heavy luxury SUV designed to cover distance quietly and effortlessly, and current UK review data suggests it's also the more economical regular engine. Black Edition adds the darker, more assertive styling touches that suit the Audi Q8’s design particularly well without tipping all the way into the full-cost Vorsprung version.

The plug-in hybrid is the alternative if most of your driving is shorter-distance and you can charge at home. With 394PS and up to 51 miles of electric range, it's much more than a token electrified version. The catch is that it loses a big chunk of boot space compared with the regular Audi Q8, so it's not the most versatile option in the range.

The Audi Q8 currently has a price range of £81,295 to £109,425 across the regular petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid line-up. The regular Q8 SUV starts from £81,295, while the Q8 TFSI e starts at £86,140. If you want one of the more performance-focused versions, the SQ8 costs from £104,310 and the RS Q8 starts at £127,240.

That puts the Audi Q8 firmly into expensive luxury-SUV territory. It's not trying to be a value buy, and it does not really need to be. The case for it's that the cabin quality is exceptional, the standard equipment is strong and the overall feel is rich enough to justify much of the premium. Even so, it's worth being blunt that the Audi Q8 is not a cheap car to buy, and once you move beyond S line and into the higher trims or the plug-in hybrid, the numbers climb quickly.

The clearest rivals are the BMW X6, the Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe, the Porsche Cayenne Coupe and the Range Rover Sport. The BMW is the one to consider if you want a slightly more driver-focused feel, while the Mercedes leans harder into comfort and plushness. The Porsche is the more sporting and more expensive direction to go in, and the Range Rover Sport is the better fit if you want more off-road credibility or a more traditional luxury-SUV image.

The Audi Q8 makes most sense as the polished middle ground. It's not as overtly sporty as a Cayenne Coupe and not as soft-edged as a Range Rover Sport, but it blends quality, refinement, usability and road presence very neatly. If what you want is a stylish premium SUV that still works in everyday life, the Audi Q8 fits the brief extremely well.

The Audi Q8 is more practical than its roofline suggests. The regular car has a 605-litre boot, which is one of the better figures in this class. That's 25 litres more than you get in a BMW X6, although the Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe still offers around 50 litres more. Fold the rear seats and the Audi Q8 offers up to 1755 litres, depending on the exact version.

That makes the Audi Q8 a genuinely useful family car despite being a style-led SUV rather than a conventional boxier one. It does not have the seven-seat versatility of an Audi Q7, but if you only need five seats, the regular Audi Q8 combines a roomy rear cabin with a strong boot better than many coupé-style alternatives. The main drawback is that the sleeker shape does make the load area shallower than a Q7’s, even if outright capacity remains strong.

The plug-in hybrid is the important exception. The Audi Q8 TFSI e has a much smaller 439-litre boot and a maximum load capacity of 1589 litres with the seats folded. That's the price you pay for the hybrid hardware, and it's enough of a difference that the regular diesel or petrol Audi Q8 will make more sense for some family buyers.

Passenger space is strong. The Audi Q8 is five-seat only, but all five seats are roomy enough to make it feel like a proper luxury SUV rather than a compromised fashion statement. Rear legroom is generous for two adults, and although the roofline is more dramatic than in a Q7, the cabin doesn’t feel obviously cramped in the way some SUV coupés can.

The Audi Q8 is a large SUV by any normal standard, measuring 4,992mm long, 21,90mm wide and 1,697mm high. In practical terms, that gives the Audi Q8 plenty of cabin presence and road presence, but it also means you’ll need to be conscious of its width in tighter town driving.

The Audi Q8 uses Audi’s three-screen infotainment layout. There's a 12.3-inch Virtual Cockpit digital driver display ahead of the driver, a 10.1-inch main MMI touchscreen for navigation and media, and an 8.6-inch lower touchscreen for climate and shortcut functions. MMI Navigation Plus, app store access, smartphone interface and Audi Connect services are all part of the current setup.

On paper, that's a strong system. The Virtual Cockpit remains clear and genuinely useful, while the main display includes built-in sat-nav, smartphone integration and voice control. Higher-spec cars or option packs can add a head-up display and Bang and Olufsen audio, which is the sort of upgrade that makes sense in a luxury SUV designed for long family trips. Vorsprung also adds more high-end lighting and comfort kit as part of the broader package.

The problem is usability. The system looks slick, but the lower screen is less intuitive to use on the move than physical climate controls would be, and that makes the Audi Q8 feel more distracting than it needs to in day-to-day driving. The graphics are clear enough, and you do get used to it, but this is still one of the Audi Q8’s weaker areas rather than one of its strengths.

Material quality is one of the Audi Q8’s biggest selling points. Leather upholstery, soft-touch surfaces throughout the cabin and the sort of switchgear finish that still feels solid and expensive all help it feel properly premium. Higher up the range, Valcona leather and more heavily bolstered seating lift the sense of luxury further, while Vorsprung adds the richest comfort-focused trim mix.

That all helps the Audi Q8 feel properly premium. Even if the dashboard design is no longer the newest in the class, the sense of quality is still strong enough to keep the Audi Q8 competitive.

The standard Audi Q8 range currently centres on a 3.0-litre V6 petrol with 340PS and 500Nm, which reaches 62mph in 5.6 seconds. Current UK review coverage also points to a 3.0-litre diesel with 286PS, while the plug-in hybrid Q8 TFSI e produces 394PS, 600Nm and reaches 62mph in 5.7 seconds.

The point of that line-up is breadth rather than drama. The petrol feels strong and smooth, the diesel still makes sense for heavier long-distance use, and the plug-in hybrid is the best fit if you do lots of shorter trips and can charge regularly.

Of course, if you do want drama then the SQ8 and RSQ8 models provide high power and intense acceleration. But they will glug through fuel at a huge rate, and are very expensive.

Every current Audi Q8 comes with adaptive air sport suspension as standard, and that shapes the way the car drives. Even in Comfort mode the ride has a slightly firmer edge than something like a Range Rover Sport or Audi Q7, partly because the smallest wheel size is already 21 inches. Even so, the Audi Q8 is still comfortable enough most of the time and much more composed than its size suggests.

That firmer setup pays off when the road starts to bend. Body control is strong, quattro traction gives the Audi Q8 plenty of grip, and the steering responses are consistent enough to make it feel surprisingly nimble for a car weighing well over two tonnes. Vorsprung versions also add all-wheel steering, which helps low-speed manoeuvrability and makes the Audi Q8 feel that bit more manageable in tight spaces.

This is still not a serious off-roader. The Audi Q8 will cope with the odd muddy field or rough track, but it's much more at home on the motorway or a sweeping A-road than it's trying to imitate a Range Rover in deep mud.

The Audi Q8 has a maximum five-star rating from independent safety organisation Euro NCAP. That rating was from 2019 and is now marked as expired, which is normal for an older test, but it still reflects a strong original safety showing.

The standard safety picture is also strong. Automatic emergency braking, lane-keeping assist, adaptive cruise control, parking sensors and a reversing camera are all part of the regular Audi Q8 package.

The Q8 is a big, heavy and powerful car, and it uses a lot of fuel whatever version you go for. Official figures suggest you’ll get up to around 34mpg from the diesel model and around 27mpg from the standard petrol model, which is broadly competitive for this sort of large luxury SUV. The plug-in hybrid is the more complicated case. It can look very efficient on paper and offers up to 49 miles of electric running, but the financial benefit depends heavily on how often you charge and how far you travel beyond its battery range.

That means the diesel still makes the strongest running-cost case if you cover big motorway miles, while the plug-in hybrid is the better bet if most of your driving is local and you have easy home charging.

The performance versions promise around 21 to 22mpg, but if you drive them even close to the spirit in which they’re designed, then you’re unlikely to get anywhere near that.

Audi’s standard UK new-car warranty is three years or 60,000 miles. Current UK spec coverage also notes a 12-year corrosion perforation warranty and a three-year paintwork warranty. Servicing is due every year or 10,000 miles.

It’s expensive and it has big, powerful engines, so it's no surprise that the Audi Q8 is very expensive to insure. Sure enough, most versions sit in group 50, which is the highest insurance group there's. The slightly surprising part is that some versions dip as low as group 47, but this is still firmly premium high-cost territory.

For the Audi Q8, the key thing to understand is the Expensive Car Supplement rather than just the standard Vehicle Excise Duty rate. Every current version sits comfortably above the price threshold of £40,000, so buyers should expect the additional yearly supplement in years two to six on top of the normal annual tax. Right now, that’s a total of £640 a year.