Audi Q4 E-tron Sportback 2022 long-term test

It’s one of those cars that you tend to forget is electric after a while, such is how normal it all feels. Electric powertrains always feel well suited to premium models, given their focus on quietness and refinement, and they offer the on-demand power and torque that’s expected of a premium badge. The Q4 E-tron is no exception.

If I had one criticism, it would be that it didn’t really feel like an Audi, or rather, it was harder to distinguish what had gone into making this car a premium proposition over the closely related Volkswagen ID 4 and Skoda Enyaq. There was plenty of black plastic in the cabin, for example, and that perceived interior quality, along with power, the delivery of that power and overall refinement is how you’d normally be able to spot an Audi in a blindfold test among its Volkswagen Group siblings. You’d struggle to do so in the Q4.

As for those key EV stats, the Q4 E-tron’s range depends on which version you have and how you use it. We started life with a standard bodystyle in 40 guise (£44,990), so it had a single, rear-mounted motor with 201bhp and a 77kWh battery pack that was good for a claimed 316 miles.

In warmer weather we’d get close to 300 miles, while in the coldest weather it was more like 220 miles. Remember, when choosing an EV don’t look at the best figure: look at the worst. Despite our current weather it does get quite cold in Britain, and that impacts the efficiency and battery range.

Still, 220 miles was plenty for all my journeys in the time that car was with us, before an identically specced 40, again in Sport trim, arrived at the turn of the year, this time in the sleeker Sportback body (£46,490).

The range was similar and therefore its usability just as good. I’m able to charge at home and at work, and dipped into a fast-improving but still not-quite-there- yet public charging network on longer journeys. The highlight there was the excellent Gridserve Electric Forecourt at Norwich, where one of the many 350kW chargers quickly replenished (think 50% charge in 30 minutes for about £20) the E-tron, which can charge at up to 135kW.

I never once suffered range anxiety, nor that new phenomenon, charging anxiety – worrying whether public chargers will either already be in use or not working at all.

Our E-tron story ended with a brief go in a range-topping 50 model, which gained a second motor, sited on the front axle, for a combined 295bhp but with the same 77kWh battery pack and Sportback body. In plush S Line trim, the £54,970 price seemed an eye-watering amount over the 40 Sport models we’d run before when it was quite hard to see where the money had gone.

It felt marginally faster and a touch plusher (and it had a less round steering wheel) and was a lovely companion on a trip to the Belgium- Netherlands border, but either of the two Q4s before it would have been as competent and enjoyable. The Sportback 40 Sport felt like the sweet spot of the range, given that its sleeker looks gave little to nothing away for usable space.

Now for the elephant in the room: the software. Each of the three cars suffered with software problems, some big, some small. The infotainment of the first Q4 kept crashing without warning. Upon reboot it would then disable the active safety features, lighting up the dash like a Christmas tree.

It went back to Audi and they couldn’t find the issue, so we got into the 40 Sportback a bit earlier than planned. This was going better, until the speedo stopped working on one journey. Then the infotainment crash error started cropping up here. Back to Audi again; no fault found again.

The 50 largely behaved during its short time with us, although the infotainment froze (but didn’t crash) once and, more annoyingly, the fan blower for the heating/cooling kept getting stuck on the lowest setting – not great in a 40deg C heatwave. I must admit to not giving Audi the chance to look into this particular fault, so perhaps it was a user error – but past experience suggests not.

All of which took the shine off our otherwise enjoyable time in an interesting, hugely significant and soon-to-be hugely popular car. And it wasn’t just me: each time I wrote about a software issue, readers would get in touch to report similar experiences. The most extreme case was one reader whose Q4 completely bricked on a motorway. Yikes.

Audi concedes there is work to do and improvements need to be made, and that Autocar readers being told by Audi dealers that there are ‘known issues’ (the phrase that repeatedly came up) with the Q4’s software was an accurate statement.

However, while the issues are known about, the causes of them are not. Perhaps it’s for the best that the chip shortage has stymied production while Audi tries to make the Q4’s software as good as it needs to be. 

Second Opinion

I came away from the Q4 reassured that modularity needn’t mean ubiquity. It’s not a world away, dynamically, from the Volkswagen ID 4 but feels sufficiently superior in terms of panache and refinement to merit the four rings on its snout. 

Felix Page

Love it:

Size A real sweet spot between nimble maneuverability and still being spacious inside. 

Range Close to 300 miles of real-world range, which even opened up a holiday in Belgium. 

Ease of use It’s the kind of electric car that you forget is electric after a while. In a good way. 

Loathe it:

Cabin materials Too much hard black plastic, plus some shiny black gloss covering that just shows up finger marks 

Software problems Sadly, they came to define the car a bit. Audi must get to the bottom of them – and fast. 

Final mileage: 6855 

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Final mileage: 6855 

Life with an Audi Q4 E-tron Sportback: Month 8

Less is more for Audi's EV range - 8 August

I was a bit stunned to see the near- £65k price of our Q4 Sportback 50 Quattro S Line after some options. That’s a £13k hike over the regular Q4 40 Sport with which we started this test last autumn. Perhaps it’s familiarity, but it’s a struggle to see really where the extra money has gone, some plusher seats and a grippier steering wheel besides. Less is more here, for sure.

Mileage: 7822 

How would our electric Sportback cope with a family holiday on the continent? - 20 July

The mere idea of mixing the words ‘abroad’ and ‘electric car’ was enough to undo years of progress in terms of range and then charging anxiety.

But after a few successful days in France, Belgium and the Netherlands, I wondered what I was ever worried about in the first place.

Our Q4 E-tron Sportback (the one you’ve read about on these pages won’t be returning to us as a result of its software faults, so meet this shiny dual-motor, four-wheel-drive 50 version) was to be pointed towards Bruges, Belgium, for the Tisshaw early summer holiday, only about 210 miles away and therefore well within its range capability.

But what would charging be like at the other end, without the luxury of plugging in at home or the office, as I am used to?

We arrived at the Channel Tunnel with 60% battery and about 45 minutes to kill before boarding. The Tesla Superchargers at the terminal are in the first tranche opened up for non-Tesla users, and £10.37 and 26% extra battery later, we were happily on the continent, not really needing a stop but keen for one anyway for a  longer break and a bit more juice.

Which led us to the Ionity chargers at Veurne, just over the French border into Belgium, where Ionity charged me £10.57 twice – once as a pre-authorisation payment (my bank says otherwise). I was informed that it was my fault/my bank’s fault/ definitely not their fault for this error, and seemingly told by customer service not to bother them again. Which I won’t, by not returning to their chargers if I can help it.

Chargers I will be returning to are the Smoov network in Belgium, where we hooked up in Bruges on our last night and spent a fiver on electric power getting us back to 100% for the way home, and also an Ecotap charger at Cadzand just into the Netherlands, where another fiver topped us up on a day trip.

We got home to Berkshire from Bruges still with about 25% battery remaining and in truth probably only ever needed that last overnight charger in Bruges to get the job done. All in, the total cost of electricity was in the region of £50.

All of which has inspired us to do a bigger trip in September, in another electric car and this time going much deeper in France to take a closer look at an EV’s credentials for a continental driving holiday. Based on the largely positive experiences this time, I’m expecting more of the same. 

Love it 

Ease of charging

There are many EV charging horror stories around – but not here.

Loathe it

Paying for charging

This remains hugely inconsistent. Ionity’s customer service department is busy due to its flawed system, I bet. 

Mileage: 7655 

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Mysterious software issues can't be diagnosed - 13 July

Last time, I told you our Q4 was back with Audi, being looked at to see if its electrical issues (infotainment shutting down, speedo not working and safety systems showing faults) could be resolved. They couldn’t be replicated, nor could causes be found, and reader correspondence suggests this isn’t an isolated issue. In the meantime, I’ve tried a Q4 in 50 spec – more on which next time.

Mileage: 6512 

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Life with an Audi Q4 E-tron Sportback: Month 7

A visit back to Audi hopes to cure some electrical gremlins - 15 June

Our Q4 E-tron Sportback has gone back to Audi for it to investigate some electrical issues. As was the case with the regular Q4 that we ran before it, the infotainment system had begun to crash, setting off several warning lights for the safety system at the same time and taking out the head-up display. It has all restored itself after every outage, but something seems amiss. 

Mileage: 6512

Life with an Audi Q4 E-tron Sportback: Month 6

The Audi's range is turning into summer loving - 25 May

The recent ‘heatwave’ shone a light on the difference between warm and cold weather EV range, which is important to emphasise to would-be owners. The Q4 gives about 220 miles in winter, but now it’s in excess of 300 miles in general duties and with maximum brake regen. Both are fine for most of my journeys, but you need to be led by the lowest figure when considering your purchase.

Mileage: 5811

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A fresh perspective on our Sportback might give Audi pause for thought - 11 May

I recently borrowed editor Tisshaw’s Q4 E-tron Sportback for a week. It was the last of the medium electric SUV class I hadn’t already tried, so I was keen to complete the set and compare with my impressions of its siblings.

It used to be that the hierarchy between Skoda, Volkswagen and Audi was very clear. VW was the happy medium, classless and suitable for almost everyone. Skoda was the value option, while Audi felt (and was) more expensive and would be the first to introduce new technology.

With the MEB-platform cars, that distinction is far less clear. In many ways, the Q4 E-tron feels like the car the VW ID 4 should have been. The interior doesn’t exactly feel plush, but it’s solid, spacious and, most notably, ergonomically sound. The seats are comfortable, there are buttons for the climate control and the screen is logical and responds well.

The trouble is that the Audi is considerably dearer than an ID 4 or Skoda Enyaq. What’s even more problematic is that an Enyaq feels like the more expensive car inside.

And with exactly the same amount of instantly available electric power, wide tyres and a low centre of gravity, they are very similar to drive. The Audi seems to ride a bit more smoothly than the others, but I wouldn’t be surprised if an Enyaq with adaptive suspension would wipe that difference out again.

I often read and hear that all modern cars look the same and all electric cars are identical to drive. That sort of generalisation strikes me as quite facile and plain wrong, because the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6 prove it doesn’t have to be that way. Like the VW Group cars, they use essentially the same underpinnings.

However, while there are some clear similarities in some of the interfaces (the screens, the different levels of regen, the switchable button panel), they couldn’t look more different inside or outside. The Hyundai goes for a lounge-on-wheels vibe, whereas the Kia is much more like a traditional executive car.

That’s reflected in how they drive, too. The Hyundai rolls more and has heavier steering, making it feel slightly ponderous in the bends, but the ride is lovely. The Kia sacrifices some ride comfort for more dynamic handling. Neither is significantly better than the other but they neatly stay out of each other’s lane.

Over the years, Audi has cleverly built a brand that is perceived as cool and high-tech. I suspect it will have to do rather more than it has done with the Q4 E-tron to maintain that.

Love it: 

Simpler is better

Manual cloth seats sound like a chip-shortage special, but I’ll take them over painfully slow and plasticky vinyl items.

Loathe it: 

Stop it 

There is a prominent start/stop button, but the car will still turn itself off if you lift off your seat. Annoying if you quickly want to get something out of the boot.

MIleage: 5612

Range is a key selling point over rivals - 4 May

A week-long stint in our Q4 E-tron Sportback has highlighted what I’m really looking for in an electric car: a strong, reliable range figure. The claimed 316 miles offered by the Q4 absolutely trounces the 196 miles from my usual Lexus UX 300e. But while the Audi puts my mind at rest, those soft leather seats in the Lexus are still proving hard to beat for physical comfort. JW

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Life with an Audi Q4 E-tron Sportback: Month 5

MIleage: 4735

Has greater familiarity changed any of our feelings about this electric SUV? - 6 April 2022

This is now as many miles as I’ve put on a car since before you-know-what, as commuting has returned and there’s more opportunity to get on the road for work.

Those 8000-plus miles have come across two very closely related Audi Q4 E-trons, differentiated only really by the slope of the roofline, and with such use comes great familiarity and the chance to really get to know a car’s finer details, joys and quirks.

I’ve been very impressed with the amount of storage in the Q4. After all, Audi owners carry stuff and have families as much as, say, Skoda owners, so why shouldn’t Ingolstadt’s engineers cater to them? Examples include the very handy water bottle holders halfway up the inside of the front doors and a sizable storage bin below the central armrest, along with a big, deep boot with an adjustable floor, and further storage comes from two surprisingly deep areas tucked behind the wheel arches.

The slickness of the graphics on the two screens has been excellent, too. The user interface is very clear, and the infotainment display is one of the more acceptable faces of the touchscreen breed, due to its simple layout and big tiles that don’t require multiple finger stabs or anything too intricate to operate. Plus, physical buttons have been retained for the climate control, which is always a plus.

The Q4 has great seats, too. They’re really comfortable; I’ve done quite a lot of 150- to 200-mile journeys and have yet to experience any discomfort or the need to fidget around. I like the fabric on them, too; there’s no leather to be found here, which is more than okay with me, as I can never quite get used to the chill of sitting on a leather seat on a cold winter’s day before it has warmed up. That’s something a Q4 owner needn’t succumb to, though, as, leather or no leather, you can pre-condition the cabin to be toasty warm for your departure. Unlike in electric cars that I’ve driven previously, the Q4 needn’t be plugged into a charger to be able to do this, which is an even bigger boon.

The remaining range on the digital instrument display is a figure that you know you can trust, being entirely predictable even in changing climatic conditions and journey types. I now know that on a motorway drive in cooler weather, I will get around 2.8 miles per kWh (which is good for around 220 miles of range); and in warmer conditions and on more local journeys, I will be pushing 4.0mpkWh (so well above 300 miles). This really helps you plan your charging well in advance and know that you won’t be caught short. Range anxiety? Not here.

I’ve mentioned this before, I know, but it’s worth repeating, because it hasn’t got better with familiarity: just why isn’t the Q4’s steering wheel round? It’s such a weird shape, almost six-sided, and you never get used to it when you need more lock while manoeuvring. It’s a £285 option to be avoided.

It’s almost as if creating a car that was so usable, comfortable, refined and easy to use just wasn’t enough, and someone from the design team had to inject something into the package to avoid it being labelled conventional. Perhaps their time would have been better spent on the front-end styling and on doing something about the vast, ugly sheet of plastic purporting to be a grille.

Still, if that’s as big a gripe as there is about the everyday usability and detail execution on the Q4, particularly as it’s simply an option that can be avoided, Audi has clearly got more right than wrong in what’s set to become its best-selling model in 2022 in the UK.

I hope – and now expect – that the next 8000 miles will pass as serenely and efficiently as those before it.

Love it:

No range anxiety In 8000 miles, I’ve not once given a second thought to whether or not I can reach my destination. No stress or worry here.

Loathe it:

Lane keeping assist Does anyone test these systems in the UK during development? They’re so easily thrown by our pockmarked roads.


Mileage: 4222

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As we swap Audi for Audi, let’s play a game of spot the difference - 23 March 2022

After a couple of recent short teasers, this is our first chance to fully welcome the Sportback version of the Audi Q4 E-tron to our fleet. Which, as mentioned in one of those teasers, is pretty much exactly the same as the Q4 E-tron that it has replaced, just with more of a sloping roof.

It’s also in Sport trim and has the same 77kWh battery and 201bhp single-motor ‘40’ drivetrain for rear-wheel drive.

There are more differences than that, though. For stats fans, the drag coefficient is lower than the standard Q4 (dropping from 0.28 to 0.27), thanks to that faster roof line.

The boot is bigger, at 535 litres versus 520 litres, which surprised me to learn, as I would naturally expect the sleeker model’s to be smaller. This has been borne out by the usable space when I’ve loaded it up; there’s nothing between the pair. Style over substance? Not here, and therein lies the appeal of the Sportback version.

Head room for rear passengers decreases a touch (as does boot space when the rear seats are folded down, dropping 30 litres to 1460), and it feels less airy back there by a hair-splitting amount.

I can remember feeling a little ‘meh’ towards the Q4 Sportback’s visuals when it was first unveiled. Maybe it’s familiarity, but I’m now finding it quite an agreeable car to look at. I like the big wheels and proportions, and to me it looks better resolved than its Skoda Enyaq iV Coupé and Volkswagen ID 5 siblings.

In the front of the cabin, there’s nothing to distinguish the pair, either. You get the same two digital displays: one for the driver, rich in information and configurability, and a larger touchscreen for the infotainment.

You might recall that Audi’s MMI system kept crashing and was glitchy in our previous Q4, to the point that our planned swap into this Sportback was brought forward.

On this latest version, it has been generally so far so good, apart from one instance when the speedometer stopped working on a short journey. Turning it on and off again cured it, but it’s a bit unnerving when such a thing fails on you. I was fortunate that the GPS-calculated speedo built into the Waze sat-nav app through Apple CarPlay gave me an indication of how fast I was travelling (not too fast, thankfully). I hope this issue doesn’t return.

That aside, the software running the car does seem that bit sharper and seamless in operation in this Q4 Sportback. Officially there’s no distinction between the two cars in this area, but I would think that our latest one being a later build than our very early Q4 has allowed a few gremlins to be chased out.

I won’t pretend that there’s any real discernible difference dynamically between the pair, because there isn’t. But that’s no bad thing: you get predictable if uninvolving handling, a smooth ride and, best of all, an electric driveline of supreme refinement and as brisk as you would ever want it to be.

That’s a very fine thing for the pair to have in common: both just melt into everyday driving conditions, making journeys more relaxing than they have any right to be.

For instance, my morning commute has resumed with Autocar’s return to the office, and traffic jams with it, yet the Q4 Sportback has noticeably reduced my stress levels in these conditions. It is such a quiet, calming drive and able to be propelled and stopped with one pedal with the well-judged B driving mode.

When even traffic jams don’t blunt the appeal of a drive, you know that you’re getting along with a car very well indeed.

Love it:

Matrix LED headlights A pricey option, at £1075, but they light up the road like no lights on a car of this size and type I’ve ever experienced.

Loathe it:

Privacy notice Every time you turn the car on, this message pops up on the touchscreen and you have to acknowledge it. Why so pushy?

Mileage: 3611

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Back-to-back blurs the lines - 16 March 2022

Dynamic differences between the standard Q4 E-tron and this coupé- like version have so far proved to be marginal, if even noticeable. Which is no bad thing: both have a quiet, refined and easy-going manner that makes journeys long and short relaxing. Electric power has always felt ideal for premium motoring, and the Q4 is an embodiment of that.

Mileage: 2175

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Life with an Audi Q4 E-tron: Month 4

Swapping into the coupe version of Audi's all-electric SUV - 2 March

This Q4 Sportback has the same ‘40’ powertrain as the regular-shape Q4 that it recently replaced: one motor at the rear and a 77kWh battery. It looks smart in grey, and I prefer the sleeker roofline of the Sportback, which doesn’t seem to have reduced usable boot space much. And pleasingly, our old Q4’s electrical gremlins have yet to resurface. MT

Mileage: 1411

Electrical issues take the gloss off our EV’s premium allure - 16 February

Without warning on one innocuous journey late last year, the Q4 E-tron’s infotainment froze and shut down, taking some active safety systems with it. It restarted a few moments later, and all was well. Until it did it again. And then again.

Given the car was already due to be swapped for a different Q4 E-tron variant to see us through the last few months of this story (a Sportback version, no less), we brought the exchange forward so our original Q4 could be inspected by Audi.

The day before the swap, I parked the car overnight at a hotel and had it on charge. The next morning, when I came down to leave, the charging cable would not release. The old ‘turning it on and off again’ trick didn’t work, nor did the efforts of a couple of members of staff.

Google didn’t get us anywhere, until that most wondrous of things saved the day: the manual. The printed page, hey? The book said there’s an emergency release catch under the boot carpet below where the charger is sited. The problem was, we were in a central London car park that’s on the tight side, and the tailgate wouldn’t open in the space.

Thankfully, mince pie season had yet to kick in for yours truly, and I managed to squeeze in under the parcel shelf having collapsed one of the rear seats, before pulling the carpet back and finding the release catch. It gave some serious resistance – so much so that I was fearful of snapping the cord – yet the hotel worker who had stayed to help managed to wiggle the cable free and all was well again. 

Except it wasn’t really. It’s a regrettable thing to happen, and not what you’d expect from a premium product. Crawling through the cabin in the dark to give a firm yank on a cord is probably about as un-premium an experience as you could imagine, in fact.

The good people at Audi HQ were helpful in making sure I got on my way safely and were on hand to escalate the help as needed (thankfully it wasn’t). Upon diagnosis back at HQ, no issue showedupinthecar’sevent memory and the infotainment was in full working order, while the car was also not due any recalls or workshop orders.A factory reset had it back to full working order once again, leaving me scratching my head over what had been going on.

The thing is, I’m not alone in having suffered electrical issues. Reader John Leck has been in touch a couple of times to share the experiences with his Q4. He’s very much enjoying it save or some electrical gremlins, also involving the infotainment system.

Contact with his dealer has elicited responses including “it’s a known fault”, “there will be an upgrade but we don’t know when” and “yes, it does have bugs”. Also a vague promise that a software update would be coming soon, but details of what it might contain and when it can be done were then unknown.

Bugs in early examples of any new car are common at the start of a model cycle, and the Q4 E-tron is not immune to that. Yet that still doesn’t excuse the inconvenience and worry it causes owners.

Mileage: 4600

Life with an Audi Q4 E-tron: Month 3

Trips require planning but no plan survives contact with the vet - 1 December 2021

The family Ford Fiesta was all ready to be packed up to travel 200 miles to the north Norfolk Airbnb we had booked for a few days away when my partner asked why we weren’t going in my work car, like we always do. It’s electric, was my reasoning. Which was fairly flimsy reasoning, given that I had spent the past few weeks answering the first question most people asked me when they saw my latest Autocar fleet test car was the new electric Audi Q4 E-tron with “about 300 miles”.

With such a range, why wouldn’t we take it? So we did. It was still early autumn at the time, with mild weather, so the 300-mile range figure could be relied on.

Past experience tells me to knock off about 40% of an electric car’s range in winter, and with a dog on board for the long journey and no desire to make it any longer by leaving ourselves at the mercy of the public charging network, it’s not a journey that I would take on by the time you read this. Yet back in mid-September, I couldn’t foresee any jeopardy.

Until the dog decided to lose a whole nail and needed to see the vet at the precise early Saturday time we had planned to set off at to beat the traffic. So the three-and-a-half-hour-or-so journey quickly became a five-hour one, as the M4 and A1(M)’s closure exposed us to more of the M25 and godforsaken M11 than one’s stress levels would ever want.

Smooth, quiet electric power and one-pedal driving with maximum regenerative braking made stop-start traffic about as tolerable as it ever could be, and it also helped the range, because we weren’t draining power driving at fast motorway speeds. And so it was that we reached our destination with 25% battery remaining – an indicated 80 miles. The only range anxiety had come from one’s bladder as we crept slowly, teasingly towards the services in the height of the M11 traffic.

I have a wallbox charger at home, but no such facility was available in the driveway of our rental. So the Q4’s three-pin plug was called into action, running securely into the house, and it trickled the battery up to about 75% battery from an overnight charge. We had a three-night stay booked and didn’t plan to head too far from our base in Nelson’s County, given the wonderful beaches and local landscapes. So we would simply get the trickle charger back on every night (once a battery charge reaches 80%, it slows right down for the remainder, something a three-pin charger magnifies), and we left a few days later with 99% battery for a much less eventful drive home.

We returned home after an almost traffic-free run, averaging just over 50mph, with a 10% range. Again, no anxiety, as I knew it would make it.

When the family holiday becomes in reach of an electric car, suddenly their usefulness increases yet again. The usual caveats remain: plan ahead, know the range limits and don’t overly rely on charging on the way but instead focus on charging at either end. That still doesn’t make them for everyone or every scenario, of course, but to me it felt somewhat of a game-changer for electric cars and how I can use them.

Love it:

Range You can see why many car makers are settling on 300-plus miles for their EVs. It breaks a big psychological barrier.

Loathe it:

Too few service areas Not the Q4’s fault, but when you’re bursting, you don’t half notice how poorly gapped services are on the M25 and the motorways it links to.

Mileage: 3911

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One pedal is enough - 10 November 2021

Sliding the Q4’s gear selector from ‘D’ into ‘B’ brings the regenerative braking into play so strongly that you hardly ever need to move your right foot across. I’ve become so used to this that the first time in a long while I had to use a brake pedal in anger was at 150mph at the end of a runway in a Rolls-Royce Ghost, which felt weird for so many reasons...

Mileage: 3773

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Life with an Audi Q4 E-tron: Month 2

back it up, back it in - 27 October 2021

The past two electrified cars I’ve ran on these pages have sited their charging points either on the nose or front wing, so reversing into a space to charge has not been an option. Thankfully, the Q4’s is at the rear, where a fuel filler flap would be, so I can back into spaces and charge. A minor thing, but in the real world it makes a huge difference.

Mileage: 3001

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People are getting clued-up on EVs and are inspired by this one - 6 October 2021

When, like you and I, dear reader, you’re the car person in any peer network, people come looking for car-buying advice. And they do so usually having already made up their mind on what they want – or having just bought the car and simply wanting validation.

Remember to remain polite and keep smiling in these scenarios. “What do you think of the Peugeot 308 CC, then?” “Have you bought one?” “Yes.” “Great car...” That’s how it usually goes.

But what I’m finding with people who you wouldn’t call car lovers or enthusiasts is that they already seem far better educated about and aware of not only electric cars but also the related technology. They’re making good decisions and know the pitfalls and limitations as well as the advantages and suitability for some but not all car buyers, and the “Yeah, but will it get me from London to Edinburgh?” default question has gone away as they realise that they’ve never driven from London to Edinburgh without stopping, and probably never will. (And, as ever, if that’s you, buy a diesel!)

This building of knowledge of electric cars seems to have happened quite quickly. When I was running EVs only a year or two ago, people who ask what I drive simply wanted to know “what are those electric cars like?”. Now the questions are more on the power outputs of various home chargers, which has the best app to support them and which energy supplier offers the cheapest overnight charging tariff.

And, in the early days of running the Audi Q4 E-tron, I’ve never experienced so many people knowing so much about such a new car – particularly (and respectfully) one that doesn’t set your trousers on fire and isn’t especially pioneering.

“I really like that. That’s my next car,” said a friend after seeing me with the Q4 E-tron for the first time. Essentially, that the car was an Audi and electric was all it needed to win him over and, given his motoring history and how keen he is to go electric, I wasn’t surprised.

Then someone else I know – a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV owner, pretty much only for tax reasons – said that the Q4 E-tron was their dream car as soon as I mentioned that I was running one.

And continuing a theme, someone who was going green for the first time cancelled the plug-in hybrid they had on order when they started looking into the Q4 E-tron and I suggested that for their annual trip to the Lake District they rent a big diesel, because the EV option is better suited to the 99.9% of other journeys they do.

So even though I questioned in the introductory report if the Q4 E-tron did anything better than its more mainstream rivals (Ford Mustang Mach-E, Skoda Enyaq iV, Volkswagen ID 4 et al) to truly deserve its premium pricing and positioning, it doesn’t seem to be putting off those in the market.

Perhaps that’s a reflection of just how strong the Audi brand has become, that it can make something so rational and practical and still be considered a premium, desirable product.

Love it:

Range Credit to Audi: we’re seeing 300 miles between charges, even with exterior temperatures in the teens. Winter will be the real test, though.

Loathe it:

Glossed over Car makers, please stop putting gloss black plastic in interiors. It’s a magnet for grime and reminds me how grubby human hands are.

Mileage: 2522

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Why not round? - 22 September 2021

When I saw the £285 flat-bottomed and flat-topped wheel option on our Q4, I had to send quartic wheel ‘fan’ Matt Prior a picture. “There should be a law against it,” he said. “With round wheels, the rim’s always where you expect it.” He’s right. The weird shape is the thing that’s taken the most time to get used to. Operating everything else is a doddle.

Mileage: 2400

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Life with an Audi Q4 E-tron: Month 1

Welcoming the Q4 E-tron to the fleet - 15 September 2021

We’ve heard of many watershed moments for the mass adoption of electric cars, but for the UK’s third-biggest-selling brand’s second-best-selling model to be a family crossover with a range in excess of 300 miles feels perhaps the most significant of all.

In its first full year on sale in 2022, the new Audi Q4 E-tron is expected to be the German car maker’s top seller behind only the A3. That means ahead of the A1, A4, Q2, Q3 and Q5 – all models that you might expect to be higher up the sales charts.

The Q4 follows the larger Audi E-tron/E-tron Sportback and E-tron GT as Audi’s third dedicated electric car and, with those sales predictions, marks a coming of age for the technology at a brand that will have sold its last combustion-engined car by 2032.

Unlike the more bespoke models before it, the Q4 E-tron doesn’t deviate from Audi’s typical A/Q naming strategy. So as its moniker suggests, it has a Audi Q3-sized footprint with the more rakish bodystyle that even-numbered Audi Q models adopt. Unlike the Q3, or indeed any other A or Q Audi to date, it will be electric-only, with no hybrid or combustion-engined variants.

Our companion for the next few months is a mid-range 40 model, with a 201bhp rear-mounted electric motor (what odds would you have got a few years ago on BMW’s mainstream family hatchback offering front drive and Audi’s rear drive?), powered by a battery that has a usable capacity of 77kWh and gives a claimed range of 316 miles. Below the 40 sits the entry-level 35, which uses a 168bhp electric motor and a smaller (52kWh) battery and above it a range-topping 50, which features the larger battery and gains an extra motor at the front to give it four-wheel drive and a combined 295bhp.

In terms of specification, our choice, Sport, sits below S line and Vorsprung but is still well equipped. As standard, the car comes with 19in alloy wheels, front sports seats, tri-zone air conditioning, a 10.1in touchscreen running Audi’s MMI infotainment system and a fully digital instrument dashboard.

Our car’s £44,990 base price is soon pushed above £50,000 with a whole host of options, including Navarra Blue metallic paint, matrix LED headlights, the Technology Pack (including the impressive augmented-reality head-up display) and 20in five-spoke alloys.

At £52,685 all in, our car costs a good £10,000 more than similarly positioned more mainstream rivals, such as the Ford Mustang Mach-E and the Q4 E-tron’s Skoda Enyaq iV and Volkswagen ID 4 cousins.

Which brings us to the elephant in the room: the three-and-a-half stars scored by the Q4 E-tron in its recent Autocar road test, where it was marked down for failing to fully distinguish itself from the Volkswagen Group cars with which it shares its MEB EV architecture.

While impressively refined, practical and efficient, the Q4 E-tron’s premium credentials were let down by looks, proportions and cabin build quality one wouldn’t typically expect of an Audi. While perhaps okay for the Enyaq iV and ID 4, the Audi’s premium positioning and pricing can rightly be held against it.

Digging more deeply, at which point is a premium brand and model no longer premium when what it offers is in fact mainstream and sells in such high volumes? Despite its mega sales success of recent years, Audi (and this is true of BMW and Mercedes-Benz too) has successfully managed to keep its premium aura and appeal with the quality feel and execution of its cars. Is the Q4 E-tron, which at face value doesn’t really stand apart from its more mainstream peers, the car that bursts the premium bubble?

It will be fascinating to see over an extended ownership period the hidden depths of high-quality appeal that this Audi EV (surely) has to offer. That’s all to come, though. As for first impressions, I would agree that the interior feels a bit plasticky in places once you get past the initial wow factor of all the glossy screens, yet on the move the Q4 E-tron is as quiet and refined a family car as they come. It’s not one to set the pulse racing, but rather soothe and cosset those on board.

I would expect the issue of range to be a footnote to this long-term test, at least in all but the coldest months, as a figure well in excess of 300 miles is entirely achievable. I can’t think of any journey I’ve done in the past couple of years that would have given me range anxiety in a Q4 E-tron.

Perhaps those early high points are premium qualities in itself: the Q4 E-tron seems a car that leaves you nothing to worry about, removing the fears that prevent some from switching to electric motoring. Once it has allayed those fears, can the Q4 E-tron offer enough elsewhere to leave a lasting special feeling, and justify the extra cost of a smaller premium car that has so much in common with its peers? That and lots more will be revealed in the months to come.

Second Opinion

The Q4 doesn’t seem a comfortable fit for Audi, whether you’re a modern convert to the brand attracted by strong design or remember when these cars really did represent ‘progress through technology’. For me, Audi needed to do more than just present a refined, practical, usable family EV to really stand out. Let’s see if Mark finds hidden depths.

Matt Saunders

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Audi E-tron Sportback 40 Sport specification

Prices: List price new £46,490 List price now £50,375 Price as tested £54,565

Options: Panoramic glass sunroof £1250, matrix LED headlights £1075, Assistance Package Plus £950, suspension damper control £950, MMI Navigation Advanced £750, Safety Package Plus £650, 20in V-spoke graphite grey alloy wheels £625, Audi Phone Box £475, privacy glass £395, flat top and bottomed twin-spoke leather steering wheel with paddles £285, Storage Package £225, aluminium convergence inlay in anthracite £225, acoustic glazing for front doors £120, Ambient Lighting Package £100 

Fuel consumption and range: Claimed range 245 miles Battery 82/76.6kWh Test average 255 miles Test best 305 miles Test worst 211 miles

Tech highlights: 0-62mph 8.5sec Top speed 99mph Engine Permanent magnet synchronous motor Max power 201bhp Max torque 229lb ft Transmission 1 spd automatic Boot capacity 535 litres Wheels 20in, alloy Tyres 235/50 R20 Kerb weight 2120kg

Service and running costs: Contract hire rate £717 pcm CO2 0g/km Service costs None Other costs None Fuel costs £363 Running costs inc fuel £363 Cost per mile 7 pence Faults Software problems

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