MALIBU, Calif. – Again in Could, I took a calming scenic drive within the up to date and renamed Audi Q8 E-Tron, reveling in its plush experience and stupendous Bang & Olufsen stereo filling its cocoon-of-silence cabin. This primary drive of the 2024 Audi SQ8 E-Tron can be decidedly completely different. Because the added letter S would attest, the SQ8 E-Tron builds upon the bottom automobile with a better efficiency envelope and racier appears accented by matte alloy mirror caps. Until you don’t need these, through which case Audi will fortunately take a number of your cash to make them black … ‘trigger each little bit of trim must be black now. Vogue!
Fortunately, the true story right here is “Motor!” Whereas the Q8 E-Tron has the standard all-wheel-drive EV setup of two motors – one powering the entrance axle and one other the rear – the SQ8 provides a 3rd motor to combine, upping mixed output by 94 horsepower and 228 pound-feet of torque within the course of. The 0-60 dash takes solely 4.2 seconds when the complete drive of Enhance mode’s 496 hp and 718 lb-ft of torque are utilized. Ludicrous it isn’t, however you do get that EV “snap” off the road that’s lacking within the extra sedate Q8.
That’s not the place the motor story ends, although. That third motor can be utilized to the rear axle, that means every wheel will get its very personal motor – every good for 185 hp, whereas the entrance one has 210 hp – and subsequently giving the SQ8 E-Tron a torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive system. Similar to mechanical variations, the quantity of energy despatched by way of every wheel can differ; particularly, the skin rear wheel can spin sooner than the within to push the rear finish round a nook, not in contrast to how caterpillar tracks flip a tank.
On the tightest, twistiest roads of the Santa Monica Mountains, this torque-vectoring expertise might be absolutely felt and appreciated. The rear finish rotates extra fortunately as an alternative of plowing and protesting, and you may positively preserve a faster tempo than you’d anticipate in a midsize SUV weighing, gulp, 6,118 kilos. The SQ8 doesn’t really feel as hopelessly overweight as its mannequin line did when launched as merely the “E-Tron.” Enhancements have definitely been made to the general Q8 E-Tron household, with the SQ8 going past with the torque-vectoring rear finish, faster steering (14.6:1 versus 15.8), stiffer sway bars and entrance management arm bushings, revised damper tuning and 1.4-inch wider monitor. It unquestionably seems like a tauter, extra responsive selection than the Q8 E-Tron, however you continue to discover its hefty weight. The Mercedes-AMG EQE SUV was way more agile by way of the identical stretches of mountain street.
In fact, the general public who’ll purchase an SQ8 received’t reside close to mountains or, at the very least, received’t select to drive by way of them with any regularity. They usually in all probability received’t benefit from the truth that its torque-vectoring rear finish permits for some good, new-fashioned drifting. However that’s a part of the enchantment, proper? Luxurious vehicles are sometimes about paying extra for functionality, even in the event you’ll solely be scratching the floor of that functionality. At the least you’ll be capable to persistently recognize the additional oomph when charging onto a freeway, or the torque-vectoring’s additional benefit in slippery circumstances.
Visually, the SQ8 is differentiated by larger entrance grille openings and enlarged fender flares wanted for that additional monitor width. “Selenite Silver/Alu-optic” trim is then utilized in abundance inside and surrounding the grille (the Q8 face has gentle grey trim contained in the grille and darker grey surrounding it) together with the decrease bumper, rocker panels, window encompass, decrease rear bumper valance and, per Audi S custom, the mirror caps. It’s so much — arguably an excessive amount of — nevertheless it additionally makes it so much simpler to identify an SQ8 versus its non-S sibling. Regardless of my earlier snarkiness, I may subsequently see how one would like the Black Optic bundle that turns all that silver stuff gloss black … besides that it prices $3,500. For black plastic. Even Audi’s personal designers and product planners aren’t too eager on this pattern, but when persons are keen to pay for it, why not, proper? At the least the revised Audi brand with flat white rings not makes the all-black grille seem like any individual made off along with your badge.
The inside will get S-specific sport seats with mounted headrests and diamond-quilted leather-based, in addition to a three-spoke sport steering wheel, prolonged leather-based on the sprint and doorways, “SQ8” embossed within the shifter/wrist relaxation, and a few lovely “Carbon sq. construction” inside trim that’s a delight to run your fingers throughout. The Bang & Olufsen 3D sound system that so impressed within the Q8 E-Tron comes commonplace even when I used to be too busy driving the SQ8 E-Tron with exuberance to note this time round.
Just like the Q8 E-Tron, the SQ8 will get a 23% bigger battery than its predecessor (generally known as the E-Tron S), with a usable capability of 106 kilowatt-hours. With larger energy comes larger power consumption, although, so EPA-estimated vary is much less with the SQ8: 253 miles with the usual 20-inch wheels and 218 miles with the no-cost-option 22-inch wheels. In our expertise, the previous quantity is completely adequate for an EV. The latter … um, you must in all probability follow the 20s.
With each, you’re a charging max of 170 kW, an quantity that’s lower than another EVs, however Audi says the SQ8 is able to holding that most for longer. With a completely practical quick charger, it ought to take 31 minutes to go from 10-80%. For dwelling charging, there’s a 9.6-kW onboard charger commonplace, together with a twin cost cable, that means you don’t want a devoted dwelling charger – a 240-volt electrical outlet will suffice. That stated, you may go for a 19.6-kW second charger ought to your house be outfitted for such a firehose of electrons. You get a second cost port with that, too, which makes for fewer awkward parking jobs to line up with a charger.
Pricing begins at $90,995, together with the surprisingly affordable $1,195 vacation spot cost, for the SQ8 E-Tron’s SUV physique model. The SQ8 E-Tron Coupe begins at $93,795. That’s nicely in need of the $111,950 AMG EQE SUV, however then the Mercedes is so much faster and extra highly effective, and, as I found, the sharper electrical SUV to drive. Audi’s S fashions have additionally by no means been supposed to align with such full-bore AMG metallic – RS fashions are for that, and there’s no such factor as an RSQ8 E-Tron. As a substitute, the SQ8 aligns extra intently on value and output with the EQE 500 SUV, and though I haven’t sampled that, it doesn’t have a torque-vectoring rear finish nor the spicier styling components. It does, nonetheless, seem like a big blob of a hatchback. Benefit Audi.
Benefit SQ8 over the Q8, as nicely. It begins at mainly the identical value because the loaded Q8 I drove in Could, and in the event you can reside with out the flowery $2,000 massaging seats and $3,500 Black Optic bundle (critically folks, that a lot for black plastic?), it’ll keep that manner. The third motor is definitely worth the trade-off.
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