2016 Audi Q2 1.4 TFSI 150 S tronic first drive

What is it?

It isn’t rare for a manufacturer to let us drive a new model before final sign-off. There are benefits for both parties: we get an early taste of what the car is all about and its maker gets some independent feedback while there’s still time to make minor tweaks.

The deal usually involves an informal spin in a decidedly unglamorous location where the car is in its final stages of development. A proving ground, usually. A remote public road, perhaps. And that’s fine by us.

So, given that the new Audi Q2 was developed in Ingolstadt and will soon be rolling off a production line very nearby, you’d imagine that’s where we’d be headed on this occasion. Er, nope. We’ve had to jet halfway across the world to Havana. Yep, the one in Cuba.

But here were are, about to drive a car that has been in the pipeline ever since Audi’s Cross Lane Coupe was shown at Paris four years ago. The “99% finished” article has five, rather than three, doors, is a fraction under 4.2 metres long and sits on the now well-utilised MQB platform. That means the Q2 shares most of its underpinnings with the slightly longer, but lower and narrower, Audi A3 hatch.

Audi says the Q2 “can’t be pigeonholed” but we’ll have a go because, from where we’re standing, this very much a small SUV in the mould of a Nissan Juke or a Mini Countryman. It just happens to wear a more premium badge and look a bit more interesting than most other modern Audis, thanks largely to its unusually chamfered shoulder line and contrasting C-pillar.

Prices will start from around £20k and the line-up of engines kicks off with a 114bhp 1.0-litre petrol turbo triple, although Audi reckons the bulk of buyers will choose either the familiar 148bhp 1.4 TFSI or the equally powerful 2.0 TDI. Both of those engines are available with front or four-wheel drive, while the range-topping 188bhp petrol and diesel motors are exclusively offered in quattro form.

What's it like?

Thorough test drive this is not. Our route around sprawling Havana was in strict convoy led by a police escort and we rarely nudged above 40mph.

Mind you, we often find ourselves grumbling about how smooth the roads are on foreign launches – and that certainly isn’t the case here. Few British roads are in such a sorry state as Cuba’s, so it would actually be unfair to draw too many conclusions about how well or otherwise the Q2 might ride on home soil.

Nevertheless, it’s certainly firmer than the A3 with which it shares a platform. The standard passive dampers allow surprisingly little wheel travel by SUV standards, so there’s bouncing aplenty along lumpy roads. The optional adaptive set-up brings some welcome longer wave compliance when called upon (by choosing Comfort mode), although it actually struggles more to keep the wheels and road in contact over the really rough, broken-up stuff.

The upside of this is fairly tidy body control by class standards – at least through tight, low-speed corners. All versions come with Audi’s variable Progressive steering, which gives excellent manoeuvrability in town and only adds to that feeling of agility that isn’t present in any rival – even the Mini Countryman. Wider experience tells us a conventional rack may be preferable for faster driving, but confirmation of that will have to wait until we’ve driven the Q2, well, faster.