Audi Q8 price Australia

Audi Q8 price Australia
Audi’s five-seater Q8 is based on the seven-seater Q7, but with a sleeker, sharper profile, a coupe roofline, few-dimensional adjustments, and a whopper 21-inch alloy wheels to give it a sportier stance.

The Q8 55TFSi Quattro, priced at $128,900, runs a 3.0-liter V6 turbo-petrol engine with 250kW of power and 500Nm of torque, matched with an eight-speed automatic and all-wheel drive. It’s a mild hybrid, with 48-volt electrics, a lithium-ion battery and a starter motor that can also give the engine a high voltage boost of up to 6kW of power and 60Nm of torque, for five seconds, when you plant the accelerator. The engine is also switched off and decoupled from the transmission in “coasting” mode, on a light throttle between 55-160km/h, yielding fuel efficiency gains on the highway. A 210kW/620Nm 3.0-liter V6 turbodiesel Q8, badged as the 50TDi Quattro, is also available at the same $128,900 price and specification.

Q8 gets Audi’s latest all-digital center stack dash, with a 10.1-inch touchscreen for infotainment, plus an 8.3-inch screen below it for vehicle settings, heating, and cooling. Both use a haptic interface, which gives you subtle feedback and a muted click when you touch an icon, mimicking a conventional switch. You have to give the icons a serious poke — sometimes two pokes — to get a result, but at least they’re big, clear and easy to hit.  Seating is luxurious, there’s ample, adjustable legroom and decent headroom in the back stalls, while boot volume is around 15 percent less than Q7 in five-seater mode but still expansive. Audi ups the safety tech ante in a big way on Q8, which has 39 driver assistance systems to look after you. A 3D virtual image of the car on the infotainment screen can be rotated through 360 degrees, so you can see any obstacle nearby before you begin to move, while autonomous emergency braking extends to stopping the car if it detects you’re about to be T-boned at an intersection. Audi claims a seriously rapid 5.9 seconds for the 0-100km/h sprint.

The seat of the pants says the Q8 isn’t that fast. The 3.0-liter V6 is certainly potent, and beautifully smooth, but peak torque doesn’t kick in until a high 2900 rpm, so it’s not particularly strong at low revs, and the eight-speed automatic is very slow to respond when you want a lower gear, even in Dynamic mode, the most aggressive of seven selectable drivetrain settings. Adaptive air suspension, available only in the $11,000 Premium plus package, allows you to tailor the ride/handling compromise to suit the road, the load, and your speed. I didn’t get to drive the standard steel-sprung variant, but colleagues who did report that the ride was much lumpier and harder than the air-sprung examples I drove, which ironed out a rough road with grace and authority.Q8 isn’t a sports SUV, though. It weighs 2265kg. Enough said. However, the Audi is stable at speed, takes corners in a flat, well-balanced manner with the adjustable suspension turned up too taut, and has powerful, progressive brakes. A notable dynamic demerit, common on Audis, is imprecise, inconsistently-weighted, uncommunicative steering. I can’t say I noticed any real benefit from optional rear-wheel steering, either.

Q8 offers high-end luxe, dazzling tech and bombproof safety in a slick stylish package, but as a drive, it’s competent rather than class-leading, and pricey too.

THINGS WE LIKE
Beautiful design inside and out
Spacious, comfortable interior Luxurious seats
Dazzling high tech infotainment
Security of Quattro all-wheel drive

THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT LIKE 
- Doesn’t drive as good as it looks
- Overpriced, especially compared with Porsche Cayenne
- Engine lacks low-down torque
- Transmission slow to respond
- Sharp ride on standard suspension

SPEX 
- Made in Slovakia
- 3.0-liter V6 turbopetrol/48-volt mild hybrid/eight-speed automatic/all-wheel drive
- 250kW of power at 5500rpm/500Nm of torque from 2900-5300rpm
- 0-100km/h in 5.9 seconds (claimed)  8.1L/100km highway; 11.1L/100km city; 95 premium; CO2 emissions are 210gkm; fuel tank 85 litres
- Warranty: Three years/unlimited km
-  Standard: Eight airbags, stability control, autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise, lane-keeping, rear-cross traffic alert, power tailgate, 21-inch alloys, LED headlights, three-zone air, a head-up display, leather, heated and ventilated front seats, navigation, digital radio, Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto
- Redbook future values: 3yr: 57%; 5yr: 44%
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