Audi SQ8 E-tron 2024 long-term test
Did we like the big EV as much as its big mileage suggests? The final verdict is in
*Why we ran it: *To see whether a recent update had kept Audi’s flagship EV at the leading edge
-Month 1 - Month 2 - Month 3 - Month 4 - Month 5 - Month 6 - Specs-
-Life with an Audi SQ8 E-tron: Final report-
*Did we like the big EV as much as its big mileage suggests? The final verdict is in *
Most of all, I'll remember the Audi SO8 E-tron Sportback for its prowess as a mile-muncher. It came to us with fewer than 400 miles on the clock, and when it departed several months later its odometer showed 14,778, putting it on course for a 30,000-mile year.
Plenty of people still do these, admittedly, but it's not as common as it used to be, especially for a big EV. This mile-eating capability bears a lot on the kind of driving life I lead, because while amassing all those miles I discovered that the Audi has just as many characteristics that oppose its easy high-mileage use as promote it.
On the positive side the SQ8 E-tron looks very imposing, especially dressed in our car's flawless Ultra Blue paint (a surprisingly cheap £795 option). The car earns admiration wherever you take it.
It also reeks of quality (the solitary visual glitch is a curiously unfinished look to the centre console) and has some of the most comfortable and supportive seats ever put in an Audi, crosshatched in rich tan leather that makes them visually impressive too.
Chuck in the generous seating and space of the rear passenger compartment, which allows your family and friends to ride in something close to splendour.
Dynamically speaking, the sQ8 E-tron has very strong low-speed performance too (a 0-62mph sprint occupies 4.5sec), which gives it quick reflexes in traffic despite the bulk. A-roads passing ability is also impressive, though like most of the type it gets slower as the speeds rise.
Negatives? Start with the size and weight. The SQ8 E-tron is wider and longer than is comfortable in most supermarket car parks, a permanent hurdle. It weighs 2650kg unladen, according to Audi's own specs, so even more in practice.
You feel this constantly in the ride, and every time you have to use the friction brakes to stop quickly. And then there would be the tyre wear (our 15,000-mile car urgently needs new rubber all around).
Much of the Audi's weight is contributed by the mighty battery with a usable capacity of 106kWh which would be tolerable if it meant you had a reliable 350-mile range. But you only get 220 miles on an average day, against a hopelessly optimistic WLTP figure of 276 miles. This is all the more problematic because - and here Audi's own figures align with my own - the average battery consumption is a pretty miserable 2.3 miles per kWh.
The combination of weight, frontal area, ready performance and a not very efficient three-motor drivetrain (ordinary 8s have two motors means you're always thinking about the location of your next charging stop, and b) delayed there when it's longer than most people's.
Neither is a recipe for effortless open-roads motoring. However, the SQ8 E-tron is nearly always quiet and smooth (if you set aside a funny gear whine when you're cruising at a steady-state 58mph). And its size and weight don't affect the impressive steering or handling, which set a very high standard.
The fat 285/40 tyres on 21in alloys deliver excellent grip, and the car corners as neutrally as you would expect of an EV with the latest electronic aids to ensure its stability.
In fairness, at sane speeds, you never detect any system interference except from the lane-keeping assistance (which in our ownership reached new heights of uselessness because it tried constantly to stop me driving around those special obstacles of 2024, puddles and potholes).
As with most expensive EVs there are four driving modes. Sport can be amusing for demonstrating to passengers what's possible, even in a 2.6-tonne car, when it has 495bhp and 717lb ft of torque on tap. But you soon learn that demonstrations should be short and sweet if you are contemplating a serious journey. They will carve lumps out of your available range.
The Audi's ride quality has always confused me. The car itself has a pleasant tautness that comes from a very rigid chassis, and the air springs and dampers control the body well in most conditions.
There's a bit more road noise on coarse surfaces than some in the £100,000-plus bracket, but that's probably because of the big tyres, the performance intent and the fact that air suspensions sometimes lack the refinement of the best spring set-ups.
My problem with this car's gait, as with many heavy EVs, is its tendency to pitch uncomfortably end to end on a particular kind of lumpy A- and B-road common in the UK.
Many EVs do it; this one more than most, with less excuse because of cost. Weirdly, no one in OEM-ville even acknowledges this condition, let alone fixes it. But at times I found it excruciating.
Conclusion? There's no point in pretending this was one of my favourite cars, but I readily acknowledge some of its properties (size, range, ride quirks) won't bother many people as much as me. But any prospective punter needs to know what they are buying.
Two abiding thoughts about the SQ8 E-tron: that it demonstrates vividly that smaller EVs function better than big ones, and that, especially on efficiency and ride control grounds, this car will need to get much better in the next generation to keep up with its peers. It's not a first-gen creation, but it feels like it.
*Second Opinion*
For its digital pizzazz and space-age styling, the Audi SQ8 E-tron can’t help feeling like a bit of a relic in the context of its contemporary competition. The stonking reserves of the car’s tri-motor powertrain don’t compensate for its sub-par efficiency and lacklustre handling, and even the cabin is looking somewhat old hat.
*Felix Page*
*Back to the top*
*Love it:*
*Shimmering aura *Its beautiful blue paint is well worthy of some low-volume car makers that make bigger claims.
*Excellence inside *Audi quality is no illusion, as made clear by any inspection of this cabin. The seats are especially excellent.
*Loathe it:*
*Fool economy *Not much point to high power if short-range inefficiency stops you reaching your destination.
*Lumpy comfort *Rigid chassis and sophisticated air suspension can’t stop its pitching ride on common kinds of UK roads
*Weighty matters *Hefty kerb weight shows the drawbacks of making a big EV out of a car first engineered for an ICE.
*Final mileage: *14,778
*Back to the top*
-Life with a Audi SQ8 E-tron: Month 5-
*Performance is top-tier - 12 June*
The SQ8 is going out on a high. Early last Sunday, I took it out on favourite roads for a short-range sprint, and it was great fun. It definitely needs new tyres now, but the powerful thrust was addictive and, at least on roads devoid of lumps and camber changes, the damping and steering came into their own. More range and this would be a different car.
*Mileage: *13,308
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-Life with an Audi SQ8 E-tron: Month 4-
*The SQ8 E-tron's tyres are wearing down - 29 May*
Tyre wear is becoming an issue now. There’s more rear wear (about 1mm to go in the centre), as you’d expect, but the fronts aren’t far behind. I’m used to getting at least 20k miles out of lighter cars, but our road testers reckon this is about right. Like many cars on thin skins, the SQ8 tramlines more on longitudinal ripples than it did. Easy remedy but big outlay.
*Back to the top*
*Four-up, luggage-laden, long-haul drives reveal its true colours - 15 May*
As sit breaks through the 11,000-mile barrier, a mileage amassed in a matter of months, the SQ8 E-tron has spent recent weeks specialising in what it does best: longer-distance motorway journeys.
Twice recently it has taken a rapid, one-stop day return journey from my home in Gloucestershire to Rye in East Sussex, 340 miles in all.
I say longer trips rather than just plain long because despite promises of a 290-mile range, the big Audi is only reliable to 220-230 and that's when you're fairly careful to save power in elementary ways, by avoiding acceleration up long hills and never cruising (as everyone else seems to do) 10-20mph beyond the legal limit.
Still, these two seaside trips have added quite a bit to the store of my practical EV knowledge. On one of them, I travelled in a loose convoy with a petrol car, whose driver made no particular effort to save fuel, cruised with the traffic (ie a bit faster), and stopped once for comfort (whereas I stopped for 15 minutes' worth of 150kW of rapid charge) and beat me to the destination by six minutes.
On the other, a stiff westerly headwind was blowing, which meant that though I left Rye with a full charge on my 170-mile return journey, it looked for a while as if I might have to call into one of the M4 motorway service areas for a quick tickle just to get home. The way headwinds affect range is much more noticeable in an EV than in other cars, and on long trips you'd better not forget it.
On both Rye trips, we carried a comfortable full load: four adults and luggage for them all. There is theoretical seating for five, of course, but you wouldn't inflict that rear-centre perch on anyone for very long.
It's for your run to the station and no more. As it was, there were coos of approval from all three passengers (we have already long established that the driver's seat is one of the best): everyone liked the firmer-than-usual shaping and long-distance support of the Audis sports seats, along with the excellent rear knee and foot room.
Having complained a lot about what I often see as the SQ8 E-tron's excessive exterior bulk (and weight), I admit it absolutely came into its own this time. On the trip we made with the accompanying petrol car, there was a minor riot when one of the Audi's outward passengers thought he might have to go back in the rear of a smallish Ford.
The SQ8 boot isn't vast when it has to carry luggage for four, though there's a compartment for oddments under the fairly high floor. At least the boot isn't dogged by the usual jumble of EV cables (they fit neatly into a shallow 'frunk' under the bonnet) and the boot is quite long too.
Best of all, this car's fastback shape means it doesn't have (or need) a flexible, often flimsy luggage cover, and there's very little noise from the rear.
As I touched on last time, there is one noise that does sometimes intrude, though: a fairly controlled but insistent gear whine that occurs at precisely 58mph when you're cruising along.
It disappears at other speeds, which implies that it's a product of imperfect transmission refinement - not what you expect of a £100k Audi. It's enough to make me think, since I rarely use the three-motor SQ8's performance for fear of scuppering its battery range, that I'd probably have been better off with a more basic, cheaper, two-motor Q8. I'm going to drive one to see if I'm right.
*Love it*
I put it to the ultimate four-adult, 340-mile test and everyone was full of praise for the firm, wellshaped support of the buckets.
*Loathe it*
A bit surprised to discover the rear tyres are reaching the end of their life and the fronts are little better. It’s the weight, not the hard driving.
*Mileage: *11,556
*Back to the top*
*Our big EV has already clocked 10,000 miles. Here’s what we’ve learned so far - 1 May *
For all the intermittent whinging we do about topping up electric cars, there's no point in pretending our big fastback E-tron isn't a serious mile-muncher.
I'm just a few days short of having spent five months driving this car and the mileage has climbed in the past week beyond 10,000. In that time and distance, I have encountered only four properly faulty public chargers and have never been irrevocably marooned.
So I have to say travelling by big Audi EV in the UK (because I haven't yet left the country in it) is entirely practical.
It's fascinating how you keep learning about cars like this, though. Having bleated copiously about the need to disable functions I consider unnecessary, I've grown so used to the procedure that it's as automatic as fitting a seatbelt. We once thought that a faff, remember?
It helps that I've learned how to disable the haptic response to the central dash switchgear (it works better without it) and to kill the lane departure warning with a press of the end of the left-hand stalk. Why you need to press and hold, I don't get: it would be safer just to touch it.
One big issue is the ride. Road test editor Matt Saunders has taught me that it's best to drive this car in Dynamic (of the half-dozen driving regimes), because it quells the unacceptable bounce if you can cope with a slightly poorer secondary ride.
The steering and excellent cornering continue to be dependable too, although a recent inspection of the tyres shows pretty noticeable wear all around, courtesy of the weight.
I'd be surprised if this set gets to 20,000 miles, which isn't an especially good performance, given my driving style (one of preserving range). The enjoyment of driving this car comes from its effortless acceleration and its ability to glide about, like many EVs, at low speeds.
Passengers are always impressed, as they are by the elegant tan sports seats (very comfortable on long trips), which are such a key feature.
For reasons above, I use the performance only occasionally, although there's plenty of it. But the three-motor set-up (with conversant extra weight) is largely wasted in my kind of usage, so I feel critical of an occasionally annoying heterodyning effect (two near frequencies combining) and an unnecessary transmission whine, faint but noticeable when the car is cruising at 58-60mph. It isn't a deal-breaker, but others are definitely more refined.
The brakes are powerful and excellent all around, apart from the fact that there's a minor shake reminiscent of a warped disc until you've stopped a couple of times.
After that, they're perfect. I'm coming to the end of my tenure with this car. As I write, there are four or five weeks to go, and although it has served me very well, I've never learned to love it.
One issue is its efficiency. Over 10,000 miles, it has scored 2.3-2.4 miles per kWh, which is pretty poor for a sedately driven car. I suspect EVs even of this size with less complex powertrains and more sophisticated batteries can do much better. As a result of my mileage and the SQ8 E-tron's hefty consumption, it always seems to be either moving or plugged in, which is irksome.
Most problematic is the size and weight. Apart from show-off executives, I don't think I know anyone who is right for this car. Smaller editions can be more spacious these days: why buy a car so big and heavy and so lacking in agility on the UKs country roads? Make no mistake, the SQ8 E-tron is a good car, but who needs one?
*Love it*
*Steering and handling*
Show the SQ8 E-tron a corner and it really performs, despite the weight. Neutrality in hard corners is a special feature.
*Loathe it*
*Stagnating economy *
On short runs, you get a crummy 2.0-2.1mpkWh. Try hard and you see 2.5-2.6mpkWh. Not good.
*Mileage: *10,288
*Back to the top*
-Life with an Audi SQ8 E-tron: Month 3-
*Audi's big battery isn't that impressive, but economy is growing - 10 April*
I’ve been doing better with the SQ8’s battery performance as the ambient temperature rises and the mileage climbs towards 10,000. On long trips I’ve seen 2.5mpkWh, which means the promised 240-250 miles can be delivered. Still not great, and when not actually moving, the blue behemoth spends most of its life attached to my 7kW home charger, but it’s better than first thought.
*Mileage:* 9150
*Back to the top*
-Life with an Audi SQ8 E-tron: Month 2-
*Big Audi finally makes some economical gains - 20 March*
After 6000 miles of complaining about the SQ8’s economy, I’ve had a good experience. On a 500-mile journey, it returned 2.6mpkWh – average for a mid-sized EV, decent for the SQ8. I knew my passenger wouldn’t want to dawdle and would also expect me to drive reasonably well. So I tried hard for 12 hours, and this was the result. Not exactly exhilarating, but pleasing.
*Mileage: 7*029
*Back to the top*
*Charging flaps on both sides of the car? A gamechanger... - 13 March *
I must say I’m loving the fact that the big Audi has plug-in points on both sides of the car, and on the front flanks, at that. This is the best layout on any EV I’ve had and it gets completely around the problem of having to manoeuvre a big car in the small public recharging spaces invariably provided. Its flap-opening buttons can be a bit unresponsive, but it’s a small point.
*Mileage: *5928
*Back to the top*
*Familiarity results in greater ease of use and improved energy efficiency - 6 March*
At last I have reached that thoroughly enjoyable state of familiarity that divides long-term testing and a standard intensive week-long road test with the SQ8 E-tron.
I've developed the muscle memory to switch things on with reasonable deftness and I've learned to park my outrage at having to deactivate overzealous bits of autonomous interference, such as the speed limit warning, which unfailingly admonishes me for exceeding 30mph when I know from the GPS I'm doing 28mph, and the lane departure warning, whose only duty seems to be to steer the car where I don't want it to go.
After 4000 miles, I can now take this stuff on the chin because the SQ8 has shown itself to be a consistently quiet and comfortable distance gatherer on most roads, and I seem to have learned to drive it more efficiently - to the extent that on longer runs, I can now see consumption of 2.3mpkWh, rather than struggling to crack 2.1mpkWh as before. That's still nothing special against the best rivals, but it's nevertheless important for a car whose natural duty is longer distances out of town.
The recent arrival of warmer temperatures has also worked in the SQ8's favour. The other morning with the ambient temperature above 10 degrees C, I was able to charge the battery to 284 miles of potential range - at least 50 miles better than I've been offered on some recent mornings.
It was still a bit disappointing that it shed 20 miles of that potential range in the first few minutes, but that's a bit more like it. It's now possible to contemplate out-and-back trips to destinations well over 100 miles from my semi-rural home, which is a minimum standard for me.
I've also reached an accommodation with the ride quality. It's better than that of many big EVs in that it resists pitching most of the time, although there are surfaces on every trip that set it off. I deal with it by telling myself it will be over soon, and it usually is. But there's no hiding from the fact that a V8-engined SQ8 that I drove in my early 'ownership' of this EV was a bit better in most key dynamic aspects: steering, brake feel, ride quality.
If you're an SQ8 B-tron owner or aspirant, my advice would be not to try the petrol version. It will spoil your good intentions.
*Love it *
*The seats*
They look special and they are. Firm bolsters hold your body well when you’re going quickly and they’re very comfy over long distances.
*Loathe it*
*Ride comfort*
It isn’t the worst by any means, but it isn’t as good as in similar petrol models. I find it hard to believe that Audi can’t do better
*Mileage: *4204
*Back to the top*
-Life with an Audi SQ8 E-tron: Month 1-
*Welcoming the SQ8 E-tron to the fleet - 21 February 2024*
Audi makes no bones about calling the S08 E-tron its EV flagship, and when you approach it for the first time, everything about its appearance backs that up.
It is big, imposing and very well made, has a magnificent paint job and greets the world with the sort of large and aggressive fizzog (high-tech lights, blacker expanses of grille), that upmarket German cars generally use to advertise their pre-eminence.
Subtle it isn't, which is what 1 remember thinking as I stood and contemplated it as the vehicle for my next few months' motoring. But I had to admit that the raked rear roofline of the Sportback version definitely improves and lightens its lines and reduces its bulk without damaging the rear cabin room.
The accommodation is decent but not outstanding for a 4.9-metre-long, 1.9-metre-wide car. Unlike its younger rivals, the SQ8 E-tron shares its platform with various ICE models, so it has a centre tunnel and provides room for a fuel tank that isn't actually there.
At 2650kg, it's heavy, but that was pretty much inevitable given that it has one of the world's biggest EV batteries (106kWh) strapped to its underside. In that context, a claimed range of 276 miles (which isn't borne out in practice. More on that later) sounds unimpressive.
If the SQ8 E-tron isn't especially roomy or good at cruising long distances, what is it for? This in essence is what I started wondering on the first day of my acquaintance with the big beast.
Sure, it's quite fast (0-62mph in 4.5sec; governed top speed 130mph), but in the EV world, performance has been democratised. Practically any old Tesla is even faster than this. But then you slip behind the wheel and you start to get the picture...
The SQ8 E-tron is about dynamics, and it starts to alert you to the fact from the first opportunity you have to give it its head. Unlike regular 8 E-trons and the other Audi Quattro EVs, it has a third motor positioned on its rear axle, which provides a level of torque vectoring that they can't provide.
So from the first, at virtually any speed, you notice an alertness and an energy in the way it turns that entirely belies its weight, if not its size. Clever configuration feeds torque instantly to the outside rear wheel in tight or fast corners to enhance the positivity of any energetic manoeuvre.
There's no question of dragging this big car through bends; it's right there with you, doing what you want. The first time I felt this happen, within a half-mile of my collection point, I knew the SQ8 E-tron and I were going to get on, despite my usual preference for lighter and smaller cars.
Much of the time, this car feels lighter and smaller than it is. The beneficial effects on handling of the torque vectoring, I soon discovered, are supported by wider tracks and fatter tyres fitted only to SQ8s. It all leaves you with an interesting feeling: they want me to give this car the beans...
This positive, accurate quality in the steering advertises many hours of engineering development, and the same goes for the powerful brakes, which integrate their friction and regeneration phases seamlessly.
It all leads you to press on - and pressing on has no penalty in noise: the SQ8 E-tron is very quiet mechanically (although a faint gear whine is sometimes evident around 40-50mph) and the road noise that can sometimes annoy in fat-tyred big Germans really isn't a problem.
There are drawbacks. The ride quality (which I've seen praised to the skies in some quarters) is only about average. Makers of big EVs are still getting to terms with an endemic pitching motion that often occurs in cars that carry very large masses low down between their wheels. The SQ8 E-tron copes better than most, but it's there.
And you will rapidly spot the difference if (as I did) you spend a few days in a V8 petrol SQ8, with all its stabilising nose weight. The EV's primary ride is the issue; the secondary ride is fine. It dismisses ruts and rumbles with an ease that advertises its body rigidity and fine build quality.
Efficiency is definitely an issue in the SQ8 E-tron, but let's start with the good stuff. Find the right rapid charger and the battery can certainly charge quickly. If you've just stopped for a tickle of power and leave most of your charging for home or office outlets, where it's cheaper, you'll have acquired what you need almost before your regulation coffee is consumed.
The trouble is, on long trips, you will need to charge quite often. So far this winter, I've never seen more than 240 miles on the (accurate) ange predictor, and mostly its 220. That's just not enough for comfort in a luxurious open-road cruiser.
The consumption readout struggles to reach 2mpkWh - my best in 1000 miles so far (yes, more than usual for an opening long-term report) is a gently driven 2.2mpkWh. Rivals do a lot better. You can put it down to exuberant use of a driver's car if you want, but that's not the real reason.
The virtue of high-mileage testing is that you get a chance to experience a car in all modes, and I'm hoping advancing temperatures will take the SQ8 E-tron closer to its official range. It will be with me until the spring, so I'll let you know.
*Second Opinion*
A few hundred miles at the helm was enough to confirm that this is a car that has been usefully improved in most of the right areas. But come on: an average of 2.1mpkWh is simply not good enough in 2024. My VW ID Buzz is managing 2.7! I’d trade the Goliath drive battery for cleverer efficiency gains in a heartbeat.
*Felix Page*
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-Audi SQ8 E-tron Sportback Black Edition specification-
*Prices: List price new* £101,380 *List price now* £102,095 *Price as tested* £103,475 *Options: *Ultra Blue metallic paint £795, extended leather £750, acoustic side windows £550
*Fuel consumption and range: Claimed range *276 miles *Battery* 114/106kWh (total/usable), lithium ion* Test average* 2.3mpkWh *Test best *2.9mpkWh *Test worst* 1.7mpkWh *Real-world range* 220 miles
*Tech highlights: 0-62mph* 4.5sec *Top speed* 130mph *Engine* Three permanent magnet synchronous motors *Max power* 495bhp *Max torque* 717lb ft *Transmission* 1-spd reduction gear, 4WD *Boot capacity* 528-1568 litres *Wheels* 10.5Jx21in *Tyres* 285/40 R21 *Kerb weight* 2650kg
*Service and running costs: Contract hire rate* N/A *CO2* 0g/km *Service costs* None *Other** costs* None *Fuel costs* £2656 *Running costs inc fuel* £2656 *Cost per mile* 18 pence *Faults *None
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