New Audi RS Q8 review

The Audi RS Q8 is so imposing and powerful, you’d think its development team had been inspired by a rugby coach. They seem to have taken a regular Q8 and beefed it up with protein shakes and intensive gym sessions.

The result is a performance coupé SUV with a brawny 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged petrol V8 engine developing 592bhp. And if that’s still not enough, a mid-life update has introduced the RS Q8  Performance, which dials up the power to 632bhp.

The RS Q8’s engine isn’t just big and powerful – it’s also clever, and can shut down four of its eight cylinders when they're not needed to save fuel. What’s more, there's a mild hybrid system that recoups and reuses some of the energy normally lost when slowing down.

Add in trick suspension designed to minimise body lean and maximise comfort, and there’s no shortage of tech and handling capability.

So how does the 2024 Audi RS Q8 stack up against the best performance SUVs, ranging from the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio and BMW X6 M Competition to the Porsche Cayenne Turbo Coupé? Read on to find out...

As you’d expect, the Audi RS Q8 is seriously fast, with 0-62mph covered in just 3.8 seconds. That matches the much lighter Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio and just pips the brawnier BMW X6 M Competition (taking 3.9 seconds).

If you want to go even quicker, there's the Performance version, which trims that sprint time down to 3.6 seconds (and also raises the top speed from the standard car’s 155 mph to 174 mph). That time is on a par with a Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid with the GT Package.

The RS Q8's eight-speed automatic gearbox shifts through gears smoothly and will change down a gear quickly enough when you just need to build up some speed on the move. The engine produces so much torque that you can still catch up with traffic without working the engine hard. The only slight criticism is that shifting gear manually in the more aggressive RS drive mode is deliberately jerky (we suspect for added theatre).

When accelerating, the RS Q8 rewards you with a growling V8 soundtrack and a wonderfully bassy exhaust tone. Yet it cruises more quietly than rivals, with the engine fading into the background (especially when you switch out of RS mode).

The very little wind noise you hear is around the door mirrors, and there’s hardly any road noise, with just the occasional thud from the fat tyres as it deals with potholes and bumps. Even so, it’s far less harsh and intrusive than in a BMW X6 M Competition.

Permanent four-wheel drive gives you confidence to make the most of the performance, but the RS Q8’s ability to shuffle power towards the rear wheels helps provide a greater sense of fun than most other Audi RS cars, which tend to feel more neutral.

Adaptive air suspension comes as standard and is supplemented with active anti-roll bars. They help to reduce body roll in bends, but also automatically disconnect on straight sections of road in an effort to improve comfort.

Sure enough, most of the time the RS Q8 is remarkably forgiving when you leave it in Comfort mode – particularly given the mammoth 23in alloy wheels fitted to our test car.

The ride is firm and occupants will be jostled around in their seat, but going over a large pothole causes less of a thwack than in a BMW X6 M Competition. However, the low-speed ride does become very busy when driving in its firmest Dynamic setting.

As for the handling, four-wheel steering and those active anti-roll bars help the RS Q8 corner more like a well-sorted hot hatch than a 2.4-tonne SUV, with plenty of grip and composure. That said, the Porsche Cayenne Coupé is more involving at similar speeds, thanks to meatier steering and a lower centre of gravity that helps it feel more agile.

When you need to slow things down, the RS Q8’s humongous brakes do a great job and resist fade well. The brake-pedal response is well judged so they’re not grabby in stop-start traffic yet provide plenty of bite when slowing from a higher speed.

Between the regular Audi Q8 and the RS Q8, there's also a 500bhp version – you can read about that in our Audi SQ8 review. 

“I like that you there are two customisable RS drive modes. You can have one that has the most aggressive settings while the other can be set with slightly softer suspension so you can still enjoy the theatre but with a bit more comfort.” – Lawrence Cheung, New Cars Editor

The RS Q8 doesn’t look dramatically different to a regular Audi Q8 inside, but it does get sports front seats and some bespoke read-outs for the digital instruments, and feels more sumptuous rival performance SUVs.

Racy features include a G-meter, in case you want to know how much cornering force your passengers can withstand before they start to complain of motion sickness.

Meanwhile, driving position adjustments can be made electrically, including for the steering wheel as well as the seat and its lumbar support, so getting settled is effortless.

The RS Q8 combines decent visibility with front and rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera to help with low-speed manoeuvres. Plus, the standard LED matrix headlights automatically dim portions of the high beam to avoid dazzling oncoming traffic while ensuring that you still get a bright view of the road ahead.

It’s a pity you have to look away from the road to operate the two touchscreens in the centre of the dashboard. The rotary dial-based set-ups in the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio and BMW X6 M Competition are far less distracting.

However, given how many new cars stuff every feature into just one single infotainment touchscreen, we’ve come to appreciate the Q8’s dual-screen format. For example, it means the climate control settings, which sit on the lower screen, are easily accessible all the time.

“It took me a while to get used to the RS Q8's touchscreen providing haptic feedback every time you press on an icon, and you have to press harder than on rival screens. I’m not sure it actually helps.” – Lawrence Cheung, New Cars Editor

Despite its chunky front sports seats, interior space in the RS Q8 is similar to that of the standard Audi Q8, meaning you’ll be happy enough in the back, even if you’re tall. The sloping coupé SUV roofline isn’t so low that you feel hemmed in, while leg room is simply vast.

As a bonus, you can slide and tilt the rear seat position for either greater passenger comfort or increased boot space, and there are some useful cubbies and storage areas for your gadgets.

The RS Q8 has a hands-free electric tailgate as standard and the boot itself is square and generously provisioned with tie-down hooks. A 605-litre boot capacity makes it more generous than the 580 litres in a BMW X6 and 592 litres in a Porsche Cayenne Coupé.

True, the roofline is more of an issue here, limiting the height of the items you can carry. However, it’s not as low as the X6’s and you’re still able to bring more luggage than you can in an Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio.

The rear seat backs split and fold down in three pieces (40/20/40) but you don't get levers in the boot to fold them down from the back of the car, as you do in some SUVs.

“It may not look as sleek and as coupé-like as its rivals, but that pays off for those sitting in the back. Without a heavily sloping roof above me that eats into my head room, I’d rather spend time in the back of this.” – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

To help keep things relatively simple, the standard Audi RS Q8 is available with just one trim level, which includes all the fancy suspension technology. Mind you, with a six-digit price tag of more than £115,000, most would agree that it ought to be.

Compared with most rival performance SUVs, the RS Q8 represents good value and you can have the pricier and more powerful RS Q8 Performance for the same price as a BMW X6 M Competition (around £130,000). The Porsche Cayenne Turbo Coupé is more expensive with less equipment, but you'll pay much less for an Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio.

The cheapest RS Q8 has 22in alloy wheels, metallic paint, privacy glass, heated and ventilated front seats, four-zone climate control, a 17-speaker Bang and Olufsen sound system and two electric sun blinds for the rear side windows.

The RS Q8 Performance version adds ceramic brakes (rather than steel ones) and a sports exhaust. Still, for those who crave even more features, Audi offers the RS Q8 Performance in a Carbon Black edition, which adds adaptive cruise control and larger 23in ally wheels, and liberally applies Alcantara-suede trim to the steering wheel, gear selector and headliner. 

Vorsprung models have black 23in wheels, a panoramic glass roof, night-vision display for the driver, and two rear USB ports. 

Given the RS Q8’s 2.4-tonne weight and hugely powerful V8 petrol engine, it’s not surprising that single-figure fuel consumption figures are entirely possible if you make full use of its performance. Even when you’re employing the cylinder deactivation and mild-hybrid tech, the official average of 20.5mpg (for cars with the smaller 22in alloy wheels) is nothing to write home about. A gentle motorway cruise should see a fuel economy figure nearing mid-20s.

As for reliability, Audi finished in a disappointing 24th place out of 31 car manufacturers in the 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey. That's above Alfa Romeo but below BMW and Mercedes. The Audi Q8 and the closely related Audi Q7 did not feature in the survey.

The RS Q8 was awarded five stars out of five for safety after it was tested by Euro NCAP. It comes with Audi’s full suite of safety technology, including automatic emergency braking (AEB), lane-departure warning and speed-limit recognition software.

“I like that you can get a night vision camera as part of the optional Technology Pack Pro to boost visibility at night. It’s a similar system to what you find in Bentleys and displays a live image on the instrument panel for you to glance at when driving.” – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

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