LIKES
- Superlative performance versions
- Handsome interior
- Great space
- Good tech
- Excellent safety record
DISLIKES
- Not very fuel-efficient
- Conservative style
- Some extras are headscratchers
- Eye-watering price tag on top trims
BUYING TIP
The 2022 Audi Q8 edits the Q7 into fighting form by cutting out the third-row seat and pasting in scintillating V-8 power.
What kind of car is the 2022 Audi Q8? What does it compare to?
The Q8 is Audi’s flagship crossover SUV, a five-seat luxury vehicle with a ritzy option for four-person seating. It’s not just comfortable; it’s exceedingly quick, fast, and plush, which makes it a rival for vehicles like the Porsche Cayenne Coupe, the Range Rover Sport, and the BMW X6 and Benz GLE-Class Coupe.
Is the 2022 Audi Q8 a good car?
We give it a TCC Rating of 7.0 out of 10, for the stock Q8’s combination of safety, performance, and technology. The SQ8 and RS Q8 models would score even higher. (Read more about how we rate cars.)
What’s new for the 2022 Audi Q8?
It’s mostly equipment changes for the new model year. Premium models now get 21-inch wheels with all-season tires and rear side airbags, while the Premium Plus gains adaptive cruise with traffic-jam assist. The Executive package adds cooled front seats, and the Prestige version gets a standard adaptive air suspension, with optional all-wheel steering. SQ8 SUVs can be trimmed with red brake calipers as a stand-alone option, and a Carbon package gets dark exterior trim and 22-inch gray wheels.
The Q8 storms out of the gate, even when it’s powered by a 335-hp twin-turbo V-6. With all-wheel drive and an 8-speed automatic, this version can dropkick itself to 60 mph in 5.6 seconds–and it’s the slow version. The twin-turbo V-8 models have scorching acceleration, with 0-60 mph runs taking as little as 3.6 seconds, accompanied by eerily flat cornering and nearly unflappable handling that’s undone only at the limits by the Q8’s hefty curb weight.
The Q8 has enough room for four or five grownups. No Q8 comes with the similar Q7’s third-row slap-fight generator. Every Q8 comes with automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitors, and active lane control.
How much does the 2022 Audi Q8 cost?
The $70,345 Q8 Premium comes with a panoramic sunroof, 21-inch wheels, leather upholstery, wireless Apple CarPlay, and a trio of digital displays: a 10.1-inch central touchscreen, a 8.6-inch ancillary function touchscreen, and a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster. We like the $74,245 Q8 Premium Plus, with its premium audio, LED headlights, and surround-view camera system.
Where is the 2022 Audi Q8 made?
In Slovakia.
Styling
Audi passes on faux outrage, and keeps the Q8’s styling sane.
Is the Audi Q8 a good-looking SUV?
We give it a 6 for style, with a point for the more intriguing interior. It’s conservative, maybe blessedly so. While some SUVs built from the same mechanicals offer more body sculpting than an Orange County OrangeTheory storefront, the Q8 simply traces a coupe-like silhouette and underscores a few details to let you know it’s sinfully fast. Where it works best is at the wide nose, where equally wide air intakes brace the world for the ginormous wheels tucked into muscular arches. The Q8 has Olympic haunches and a sexy roofline, but adventure? It’s pretty, color-by-number stuff, mostly.
Inside it’s tranquil, even elegant. Passengers bathe in ambient lighting in a rainbow of tweakable shades, and touchscreens brighten up the interior as they cast reflections in stretches of piano-black trim. At the Prestige level, special color combinations create visual delights all their own, from silver headliners to gray leather dashboards to brown leather seats.
Performance
The Q8 smothers bumps and snuffs out pavement.
We give the Q8 a point for its handling and ride, another for its acceleration in base form. Were we to rate the SQ8 and RS Q8, the lineup might earn an 8 or a 9 for performance, rather than the 7 we award it here.
Is the Audi Q8 4WD?
Every Q8 comes with all-wheel drive—but one look at its high-performance tires should deter you from planning any overlanding in it.
How fast is the Audi Q8?
Quite fast, even in the standard Q8 outfitted with a 335-hp 3.0-liter twin-turbo V-6. Despite its chunky curb weight of about 2.5 tons, Audi estimates this version can launch to 60 mph in 5.6 seconds, onward to triple-digit top speeds.
All Q8s sport an 8-speed automatic with quick and seamless shifts, as well as a full-time all-wheel-drive system with a rearward torque bias that helps give it a surefooted feel.
The thrills get more fierce with the twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 found in the SQ8 and RS Q8, which punish the ground with 500 or 591 hp, respectively. The 0-60 mph sprint takes just 4.3 seconds in the former, 3.6 seconds in the latter. Blisteringly quick acceleration couples with an air suspension that smothers bumps without jostling the passengers much—or the SUV can steel itself to haunt Hellcats and Corvettes on the twistiest and least occupied back roads, rolling on 23-inch wheels. With electronically controlled anti-roll bars, the RS Q8 remains shockingly, almost alarmingly confident, no matter what the road—and those manners can extend in large part to the more basic Q8, if it’s configured with the air suspension and grippiest tires. In any trim the Q8’s an SUV that does its best to defy its height and weight—and most of the time it succeeds.
Comfort & Quality
The Q8 wraps up to five people in lavish comfort.
The Q8 takes Audi’s Q7 and deletes the skimpy third-row seat, then plushes up nearly every surface not made of glass, all to fabulous effect. Good front and back seats, and good cargo space, combine with exceptional fit and finish for a 9 here.
The Q8 measures 117.9 inches in wheelbase, and 196.6 inches overall. It’s a big SUV, and with all the space devoted to five people (or four with the Executive package), it’s spacious in every dimension. The front seats have great support and adjustments, and come with heating and available cooling and massaging. The sport seats on the SQ8 and RS Q8 skip the massaging function; why, we don’t know.
Every Q8 comes slathered in soft quilted leather and trimmed in wood and brushed aluminum, while the most expensive versions wear fire-engine red leather, if you like, and a sueded and stitched steering wheel.
Fold down the rear seats and the Q8 can hold more than 60 cubic feet of cargo; leave them upright and the storage space still exceeds 30 cubic feet.
Safety
The Q8 aced its safety tests.
How safe is the Audi Q8?
It’s very safe. The NHTSA gives it a five-star overall rating, and the IIHS says it’s a Top Safety Pick when outfitted with better LED headlights in the Premium Plus and Prestige trims. Base Premium and Premium Plus headlights were “Poor,” and thus don’t earn the award.
In tandem with standard automatic emergency braking and great safety extras, the Q8 earns a 9 here.
Features
Audi’s infotainment excels; its warranty doesn’t.
The Q8 sits in the flagship position in Audi’s crossover lineup, and it’s lavished with standard and optional equipment as a result. It also has Audi’s excellent infotainment interface—but it doesn’t come with free maintenance along with its 4-year/50,000-mile warranty. We give it an 8 for features.
The $70,345 Q8 sells in Premium, Premium Plus, and Prestige trim levels. The $91,045 SQ8 comes only in Premium Plus and Prestige trim.
All versions sport 21-inch wheels, a panoramic sunroof, a 10.1-inch touchscreen, a 8.6-inch ancillary function touchscreen, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, wireless Apple CarPlay, wood trim, leather upholstery, and navigation. This year the Q8 gains standard rear side airbags, while its available adaptive cruise control system adds traffic-jam assist. The optional Executive package adds cooled front seats, and the Prestige version gets a standard adaptive air suspension, with optional all-wheel steering.
We recommend the $74,245 Q8 Premium Plus, which gains better LED headlights, four-zone climate control, premium audio, and a surround-view camera system. It can be configured with the air suspension, which we recommend.
How much is a fully loaded Audi Q8?
The top-gun RS Q8 cost more than $113,000 in 2021, but prices haven’t been released yet for 2022.
Fuel Economy
The Q8’s gas mileage is about what you’d expect.
Is the Audi Q8 good on gas?
No. Even in base trim, the Q8 only earns EPA ratings of 18 mpg city, 23 highway, 20 combined. We give it a 3 for that version. Others would do worse: The SQ8 checks in at 15/21/17 mpg, while the scorching RS Q8 only merits 13/19/15 mpg.
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