Audi Q4 e-tron review

The interior of the Q4 e-tron is predictably high quality, and even base-spec Sport models get a decent kit list with a fancy multifunction steering wheel, heated front sport seats, an impressive looking panoramic display and a rearview camera.

Is that a square steering wheel? 

Lower spec models get a more rounded offering, but the Austin Allegro is sat weeping in its grave at the injustice of it all – the likes of Audi introduce a square steering wheel and suddenly it’s cool. In fact, Audi has managed a solid job of keeping the Q4 e-tron’s insides on brand while simultaneously giving them the sort of angular look we’ve come to expect from these machines of the future. 

It looks quite minimalist, doesn’t it?

It’s a pared back interior, for sure. The gear selector is a tiny button that you nudge forwards or backwards, while above that there’s an iPod-style controller for the infotainment, Audi Drive and a button to turn the ESP off. Otherwise that’s your lot. There’s a reasonable amount of storage, but covered cubbies are limited to the glovebox or a deep central bin under the armrest. 

The boot floor is set quite high, but there’s a decent sized compartment underneath the floor in which you can squirrel away your cables and other gubbins. Overall the boot is a good size, 520 litres seats up, 1,490 litres seats down, offering a chunk more space than electric rivals such as the BMW iX1, Mercedes GLA and Volvo EX40.

What about the infotainment? 

We can’t avoid talking screens here, particularly as they’re now even bigger than when the car was launched. The Q4 e-tron now has a 12.8-inch touchscreen display in the middle and a 11.9-inch virtual instrument panel behind the steering wheel. There’s also now an optional 12-inch passenger display, which you don’t need because passengers have phones to play with. Anyway...

Worst of all, though, is that the central touchscreen now encompasses all the climate controls, where previously there was a separate panel. Sure, there are temperature/fan speed icons displayed permanently in a row along the bottom, but there’s they’re more fiddly to use than before. And why is the aircon always on full blast every single time you get in the car? Baffling.

We criticise these things because the company clearly takes such pride in the details: the control stalks on the steering column are perfectly sculpted for a fingertip flick, and Audi long ago pioneered cheeky little details like holding down the unlock button on your fob to open all the windows. The imperfections here only serve to highlight how consistently high performing Audi’s output has been for a long time.

One big plus point post-facelift though: there’s significantly less gloss back than before, which is always a nightmare to keep dust/fingerprints off. No more microfibre cloths or three stuffed in the door bin.

Anything else we should know?

Yes, actually – this is the first Audi model to support bidirectional charging, meaning it can both receive energy and feed it back to external devices. For example, the Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) function allows e-bikes to be charged from a power socket in the boot or via an adapter on the charging port. Nifty.