Audi RSQ8 Review: The E100,000 RS6 Killer?

Rory Reid reviews the new Audi RSQ8 in the UK. It’s a big, practical SUV that goes like stink. But is it fast and usable enough to dislodge the RS6 at the top of the fast, practical Audi food chain?

The audi rs6 is the benchmark when it comes to practical performance it’s fast it’s big it’s cool af but there’s a problem it’s 2020 and in 2020 people don’t like estates they like these that’s why how d have come up with a fast practical car that’s slightly more on trend this is the rs q8 it’s an suv so it’s trendy and it’s practical with enough room for the

Wife the kids the pram the toys and a dog but importantly it also happens to go like a nuclear missile alright let me show you something dynamic mode traction off launch control brake gas wait watch oh michael one-two-three in a bit yeah that’s 62 this car is meant to do nought to sixty two in three point eight seconds it’s just done it in three point six that’s

Quicker than an aston martin v12 vantage yep it’s quick enough to give the dog a heart attack and to scare your family into never wanting to bring the pram and the toys on a trip with you ever again perfect family car but there is one big problem the price the entry-level rsq weights cost a hundred and one thousand pounds that’s 12 grand more than an rs6 the top

Spec for sprung edition with all the bells and whistles goes for a massive 117 thousand this particular car with all the options cost a hundred and thirty three grand ouch now i’m not saying it’s not worth the money what i am saying is that it might not look like it’s worth the money just imagine pulling into a test girl’s car park and parking next to a basic bmw

X5 merc yearly or even the entry level out eq8 cars that cost around what fifty thousand pounds there’s literally nothing on list that screams i’m worth double the money i do like this car don’t get me wrong but there’s nothing on here that screams this is a hundred thousand pound rs q8 instead of a sixty thousand pound kuwait oh apart from this pad right there

But not even the whole bed just this little red bit but if stealth is what you’re after then it’s worth looking at it’s super menacing in this carbon black finish and has an understated yet imposing kind of vibe i love the black audi badge on the black grill these led matrix headlights which have the coolest animations in the game and they’ve cleverly hidden the

Gloss black sensors into this gloss black grille along the side there’s loads going on i love the general shape of the rs q8 wow highlights for me have got to be these wheels as standard this thing comes with 22 inch wheels the biggest wheels out he’s ever fitted to a production car but these aren’t the 22s now these are the optional 23 s for an extra 2,100 pounds

And get these massive massive wheels and speaking of massive look behind him these brakes are 17.3 inches in diameter absolutely enormous i’ve driven cars this week with smaller wheels than these have brakes apart from that i love these doors completely frameless nice premium touch and they’re soft closed so you don’t slam them you just place them gently against

The b-pillar and they shut just like a rolls royce also the way it swoops back just like a coupe a one thing i don’t like it’s got me this little fake vents here howdy come on why you don’t need it you don’t need it but at least you have made up for that with these amazing and they sound great as well what exhausts boot this is an suv so it’s got to be big but

It’s also a coupe a suv so drumroll please yeah that’s actually decent out any record that’s 650 liters so it’s 40 litres bigger than you get in the rs6 that’s really good imagine the size of the dog you could purify in the back of that don’t do that by the way that’s a joker in the back it’s pretty spacious and you can slide the seats back and forth the seats

Also recline slightly which can be useful you get window blinds for extra privacy or to block out the sun and although there’s no rear seat entertainment in this model no tablets no wireless headphones you can bring your own devices and store them in a variety of cubbies where it’s a lot better is up front howdy’s interior game is on point it looks fantastic not

That practical but it looks great let’s start with these seats they’re very very sporty they’re also comfortable as well as being incredibly supportive which again is important when you’ve got a car as fast as this on top of that you’ve got some alcantara touches alcantara on the steering wheel are cantera on the shifter on the armrest as well as alcantara on the

Door cards now you’re probably wondering why and wearing these gloves not coz i’m cold and it’s not because the coronavirus is because this car is a fingerprint black hole to control this car you’re going to have to touch it because everything is controlled via touchscreens this bottom one is for all your climate control and this top one is for everything else and

When you touch it it is guaranteed to collect smudges the same goes for the centre console it’s finished in this see black material which just looks grubby all the time if you’re driving this car and you’re a bit of a neat freak then you’re gonna want to wear gloves or carry some kind of microfiber cloth maybe that’s a little bit less weird now practicality you

Might think that because this is an suv that it’s going to be practical it’s not you get this enormous center console and underneath you might think that there’s a lot of storage space but it’s actually not all you get is room for a mobile phone or maybe i don’t know one glove a hundred thousand pounds for this suv and there’s literally not in our space for a family

Size bag of horrible it’s outrageous so practicality is a mixed bag the design is excellent and it’s very expensive but what’s it like to drive it’s very good actually very howdy the steering’s nice and light it’s easy to move this thing around town the gearbox is really smooth you haven’t really got to think we drive this car the driving position is a little bit

Strange for me you sit quite low down in this car it’s like it wants to be a coupe a more than an suv so i’ve definitely been in other suvs that give you a more commanding view of the road ahead but it’s easy to see what’s going on around you and it’s very easy to get yourself a nice comfortable driving position you look economy is surprisingly good for something

This big this might be a twin-turbo v-8 but it has a load of clever tech to improve economy including cylinder deactivation and mob hybridization being the main pair officially it’ll do 23 miles per gallon and if you try really really really hard then don’t be surprised to see it creep closer to 30 mpg but you can forget about those numbers because you’re not going

To achieve them in the real world the rs q8 just encourages you to drive like you’re late for everything it is so so fast i’ll talk about the acceleration again because it is this cars body trick you put your foot down and it just leave and that exhaust sounds really nice as well i wish it was louder i kind of understand why it isn’t but tone it’s just lovely as for

Handling i know what you’re thinking it’s 2.3 tonnes it’s gonna handle like a barn but it doesn’t this car uses 48 volts anton roll stabilization basically robust powered by electric motors to help keep it flat through the corners along with all-wheel steer and an audi sport differential to help it through the bends now staying flat for a corner is one thing under

Steering violently into a tree is a whole different thing altogether and i’ve got to say that yeah this this bass understeer a little bit but only when you’re really taking liberties if you push it into a corner at normal speeds it just holds its line exceptionally well there’s so much grip and traction in this car it’s unbelievable and it’s actually quite playful

If you find yourself on a road that might not have the moss grip in the world but then you plant you foot down on the exit the back end will want to step out it’s all-wheel drive but it is predominantly rear-wheel drive in a dynamic driving situation and if you do under or oversteer you can feel the various bits of technology working together the real-world steer

The sport diff the torque vectoring all coming together to try and keep this car in some kind of shape and it works and then the brakes are friendly as well forget just how heavy the rs q8 really is of course it would be better if it was lighter the rs q8 weighs two thousand three hundred kilograms it’s over two hundred kilograms heavier than the rs6 and there’s no

Doubt that that extra weight does work against it but that doesn’t stop it being a compelling proposition even if the basic philosophy from a performance car perspective the recipe is all wrong it’s the wrong size it’s the wrong shape it kind of doesn’t really matter because the end result is that it’s still a lot of fun i’ve been in a lot of sports cars that will

Be quicker through the bends they’re lighter and they’re more agile i asked myself the question though are they as much fun as this maybe not and that’s partly because you expect them to do those things with this it’s doing them and you don’t expect it it’s a bit like watching a really fat ballerina pull up a perfect pirouette or watching a 25 stone bodybuilder

Win the hundred meters at the olympics yeah sure there are much more likely a fleets that you would expect to do those things and maybe do them even better but the fact that this is doing it and getting away with it and looking impressive and feeling impressive at the same time that’s what makes it so fun which begs the question does it deserve a place in the rs

Lineup is it worth a hundred thousand pounds does it even make sense to me the answer to all of those questions is yes you know the reason we love the audi rs6 is because it combines practicality and performance in a body style that you might not expect to deliver all of those things and with the rs q8 it’s exactly the same it combines practicality and performance

In this giant shell that doesn’t look like it can do the things that it ultimately can do yeah sure it might be a little bit more because it’s an suv but you got to give the people what they want and at the end of the day is nothing wrong with wanting a car that is as practical is as fast and ultimately as cool as the rs qa just wish it was a bit cheaper

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Audi RSQ8 Review: The £100,000 RS6 Killer? By AutoTraderliveBroadcastDetails{isLiveNowfalsestartTimestamp2020-06-26T130010+0000endTimestamp2020-06-26T131327+0000}