I took it over the countryside, around hilly passes and through four of the five boroughs. My kids spilled Cheetos in the back. I lived in this car for thousands of miles. This experience is different from most vehicle reviews. Most car reviews are penned after a few hundred miles in the car, which can often lead to milquetoast conclusions. I don’t like the Q8. The bad outweighs the good. The stunted driving characteristics ruin the otherwise gorgeous vehicle. The sedan is bleeding out, and the crossover is holding the knife. Consumers are overwhelmingly picking these quasi-SUVs over sedans or sport utility vehicles. There’s a good reason, too. Crossovers often provide the supple ride quality of a sedan with the utility of an SUV. I’m sorry to report the Q8 does the opposite. It has the rough ride of an SUV and the limited utility of a sedan. The Q8 has a puzzling powertrain.
It doesn’t like to go forward. Several times throughout my time with the Q8 I nearly got into an accident because of the timing of the transmission. It often left me hanging in the middle of the road while it took its time to translate the engine’s instructions to the tires. I was honked at constantly while in NYC. A turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 rests under the hood, and Audi says it’s good for 335 HP and 369 pound-foot of torque. The Q8 is not underpowered, and it sports a version of ZF’s ubiquitous 8-speed transmission. The Audi Q8 is one of the first internal combustion vehicles to be paired with a 48-volt mild-hybrid system. This is said to help improve fuel economy by relegating acceleration to a mild-hybrid setup, and this could prove to be the cause of my frustration. Whoever’s to blame, in real life, the transmission feels like it doesn’t use the first and second gear.
There’s a second or two hesitation between the time the pedal is engaged until the car decides to move forward. Once underway, the Q8 is a lovely expressway cruiser with plenty of power to overtake meandering sedans. At speed, it’s comfortable and confident. At a standstill, it’s hesitant and frustrating. I’m not alone in this frustration. Audi built the Q8 as a multipurpose utility vehicle and equipped it with several driving modes, including Dynamic, which lowers the vehicle and supposedly changes the transmission response. Select Off Road or All Road, and the Q8 raises a few inches, providing better ground clearance. This is handy on Michigan roads, where post-winter potholes are the size of bathtubs. These driving modes give the Q8 added utility and foreshadow a future where cars better adapt to their driver’s needs. Audi has offered similar features for years, but not to this extreme. The Sport mode drops the Q8 to the ground while the Off Road mode raises the Q8 to a level where it could tackle serious terrain.
