Audi Q8 e-tron Sportback – a true luxury electric vehicle
Welcome to the driver seat you are looking at this beautiful 2024 Audi Q8 rron sportback so I’ll tell you what I like about it is it’s fun to drive it’s very attractive uh and it’s very comfortable has massaging seats head-up display uh this is a true luxury vehicle this is
Volkswagen’s luxury brand and uh in many ways you could say they nailed it for the Q8 rron you have premium premium plus and Prestige we’re driving the premium plus about $80,000 when you look at this Q8 sportback rron strictly from what it is which is a uh fiveo hatchback
Essentially know four doors five passengers hatchback uh there’s just so many other vehicles in this segment not so much luxury side a few like the Cadillac lyric uh but but on the non-luxury side you’ve got you know Nissan Arya you got the Mustang Mach e the Kia ev6 Hyundai ionic 5 and of
Course the VW id4 which is the kind of younger sibling of this vehicle because this is all part of the Volkswagen group the starting price is in the 70s uh but it can it can easily go into the six figures if you get into the sq8 uh rron
But um I like the way it drives I like the way it looks it’s very sexy it’s very sporty uh and it’s comfortable it’s got massaging seats head- up display a lot of the features that you would expect for a vehicle in this price range I feel like the interior is getting a
Little bit dated we’ve been seeing the same instrument panel virtual cockpit Etc that uh Audi has shown us for the last four or five years might be time for kind of a refresh uh or maybe the next Generation but it’s very functional not complaining about it it’s um it’s
Very intuitive and and sometimes less is more so they’ve really simplified the IP as far as how it drives love it it uh it’s sporty it’s quick what I don’t love is the charging but I don’t like the charging about any electric vehicle to be honest with you
Uh unless I have a level two charger at home so bottom line is you have a very sporty vehicle um Audi like other German brands are all in on electric and it’s not just because they love the environment it’s because their government’s mandating it so they’re
They’re really ahead of the curve uh for what American uh government wants to do what the EPA wants to mandate here by 2032 which is that 2third of all new light vehicle light trucks and Passenger cars will will have a plug essentially and um I think that’s going to be a big
Challenge like most German car companies Audi is Allin on electric vehicles Audi is part of the Volkswagen Group which also owns electrified America but back to this Audi Q8 rron sportback uh it’s a very sporty vehicle let’s call it a poor man’s tyon in the sense that it’s um
Know has room for five it’s a hatchback it’s all electric it’s sporty it’s fun so one thing about the rron is that uh it’s become its own brand but also all of this should start looking very familiar to you and that’s because depending on the trim level you still
Get the same you know virtual cockpit you get the same kind of you know three screens I call them and um and they do they really do a great job with it uh this particular vehicle has the uh massaging seats one of my favorites there you
Go but overall uh it’s it’s been a lot of fun to drive this vehicle it makes a lot of sense for luxury EV buyers but not for everyone it’s plenty fast as you can see smooth it’s quiet it’s comfortable it’s it’s great but it’s also an electric vehicle which means
You’re going to deal deal with some charging issues like we’ve dealt with all week not going to get too too deep into that but do just want to talk about the vehicle itself um you know I think Audi’s positioning itself nicely with several of these little sub segments and this is just one
Of them and for people who have about $90,000 to spend and want want something comfortable we want something that looks good has the Audi cache it’s quick this works it works a lot better when you have a home charger you have a level two charger at home uh if you
Don’t and you’re dependent on level three Chargers then like we were this week it’s becoming more and more of a challenge um either they’re not working or they’re crowded I waited 45 minutes and finally got a charge and that took another 20 minutes and that was to add about 150 Mi of
Range so there you have it they did a nice job with the color combination with his gray and this kind of uh light gray interior with orange piping uh very uh but but Audi’s always done a great job with their designs exterior interior you name it you know Quattro is
Audi’s kind of um patented all-wheel drive system and with with um electric vehicles it it becomes a matter of Motors not so much the um the drive system but this vehicle is a is technically a Quattro as you can see it handles quite nicely beautiful steering wheel just all
All of the materials the surfaces premium exactly what you would expect from Audi you know VW is kind of their mainstream brand Audi is their premium brand Porsche their Performance Brand you know electric cars if you can afford them and if you have a charger at
Home they’re a lot of fun bottom line on this Q8 rron sportb is that I love the way it looks love the way it drives I think it’s priced a little high but overall um they’ve done a great job with it and uh I wish I had a little more range I wish
It would charge a little faster uh this this this one cannot take the 350 KW charger this one can take up to 170 so when you look at Electrify America which is a VW uh brand believe it or not um they have the 150 and the 350 so even if
You could find the 350 which are pretty rare these days uh it won’t take it it can only take up to up to 170 so you might as well just go for the 15 and um it took us a while to charge I got to
Tell you I waited 45 minutes and then it took another 20 minutes to add about 150 miles of range but overall love the way it looks I think it’s positioned nicely but I also think that this is kind of a a placeholder until the next generation of electric vehicles come out
Of the Volkswagen group I’m Ron Doran thanks for watching see you next time on the driver’s seat
Audi continues to expand their Electric Vehicle offerings which have been branded as e-tron. Expect to see more e-tron models in the near future as the electrification of this luxury brand continues to evolve. The vehicle itself is wonderful, but public fast charging continues to be a challenge for all EV owners unless it’s Tesla. #audi #audietron #audisportback #etron #electric #electrifyamerica #charging #quattro
