Skip advert
Advertisement

Audi RS Q8 – ride and handling

You’d never mistake it for a sports car, but the RS Q8 can decimate a road

Evo rating
RRP
from £122,280
  • Relentless performance; unshakable handling
  • An RS6 is cheaper and superior in every way

Set off in the RS Q8’s more benign modes and you’ll be hard-pressed to tell this is Audi’s most aggressive and powerful SUV yet. The engine is very quiet, and even at low speeds, it’s compliant over Britain's broken tarmac in its softest setting. The light steering, soft throttle response and general ease of use only exaggerate this feeling, but prod some buttons (virtual or physical) and the RS Q8’s trick of transforming itself from family cruiser into something more violent comes to the fore.

Advertisement - Article continues below

Switching to Dynamic mode adds weight to the steering, tightens the damping, sharpens up the throttle and opens the V8’s exhaust flaps. But the RSQ8 is such a hardware-heavy car that the changes continue, as the rear-wheel steering, active anti-roll bars and even the air conditioning all optimise, too. 

The result? It does feel quantifiably more responsive and athletic than you’d expect of a 2.3-ton SUV. It feels dialled in and hooked up, eating up aggressive inputs and somehow digging in and finding purchase. There’s not much feel and the way the RS Q8 dissects a road can feel one-dimensional, but you can’t help but be impressed by what it can do. And on every straight, there’s 592bhp chomping through the prop shafts ready to launch you towards the next corner. 

Skip advert
Advertisement
Advertisement - Article continues below

Keep pushing harder into corners, start leaning on the 440mm (optional) carbon-ceramic brakes, turn in with more aggression, get greedy with the throttle; the RSQ8 just laps it all up. There are of course physical hardware elements like the rear-wheel steering and torque vectoring rear differential facilitating this, but you still never quite believe that a car of this size and weight is able to carry such speed through bends. 

A Porsche Cayenne GTS has more finesse to the way it steers and handles, but the RS Q8 is certainly more rounded and resolved than BMW’s X6 M, which is uncouth and overly firm on anything other than smooth roads. The Audi can pogo along on bumpy surfaces in its firmest mode, but you can dial back the damping to introduce more compliance and a touch of vertical float in the body at speed. 

On the whole, though, you wouldn’t call the RS Q8 fun, bemusing and impressive though it may be. The irony is that the RS Q8 is barely (or not at all) any more practical than the new RS6 Avant, which itself isn’t a lightweight considering it tops two tons, but feels every bit 300kg lighter, holds its weight closer to the ground and is genuinely entertaining.  

Skip advert
Advertisement
Skip advert
Advertisement

Most Popular

Ferrari 296 Challenge 2025 review – Maranello's hybrid supercar goes V6-only
Ferrari 296 Challenge
Reviews

Ferrari 296 Challenge 2025 review – Maranello's hybrid supercar goes V6-only

Stripped of the road car’s heavy and complex hybrid technology, Ferrari’s entry-level competition car provides a glimpse of an alternative universe
15 Mar 2025
New Mercedes CLA revealed – BMW 2-series rival packs EV and hybrid power
2025 Mercedes CLA front
News

New Mercedes CLA revealed – BMW 2-series rival packs EV and hybrid power

Mercedes’ junior four-door saloon will reappear in its third iteration in 2025, with electric and AMG guises to follow
13 Mar 2025
Porsche's EV U-turn means more new petrol cars and hybrids are coming
2025 Porsche 911 GT3
News

Porsche's EV U-turn means more new petrol cars and hybrids are coming

The 911 will get even more exclusive and desirable variants with increased customisability going forward
12 Mar 2025