Audi Q8 review

We’ve spent most time in the diesel, and it’s a rapid, comfy cruiser – even on 22in wheels – with a surprising ability to go around corners. Not with the agility of a gazelle, we'd point out, but there's a togetherness to the way the Q8's body responds that's deeply impressive for something this large.

The petrol too has a deep well of power that'll embarrass any crossovers in the middle lane getting ideas above their station, and it'll cruise at motorway speed so far below maximum effort that you'll think it's sat at idle. Nope, see how the immediate landscape is whizzing past you in a blur?

It’s not an exciting car to drive, but there's something wonderfully affirmative about piloting a car this big and this endowed with V6 torque that makes all of life's worries disappear. Right until you hit a width restrictor Google Maps didn't warn you about.

When you need to plant it out of a slip road, the diesel's 282bhp and 443lb ft will propel it from a standstill to 62mph in 6.1 seconds; the petrol harbours 335bhp and 369lb ft, and is half a second quicker with peak torque earlier in the rev range. Either way, the Q8 has a decent stretch of dynamic bandwidth from the seven different (selectable) modes.

Seven modes? Sleepy, Happy, Grumpy...

Ha! You get Comfort, Efficiency, Auto, Dynamic, Individual, Off-road and All-road. ‘Comfort’ really is leggier and softer, ‘Dynamic’ noticeably firmer and more responsive with a 40mm suspension drop. This sounds obvious, but it isn’t always the case. The off-road mode raises the suspension 50mm from the Comfort/Standard position in case you need to potter down a track.

Claimed fuel economy is 27.4mpg for the petrol and 34.9mpg in the diesel. The former especially sounds quite scary until you realise the fuel tank is 75 litres and will comfortably get you from London to Edinburgh. The shock will come when you fill up...

Is it fun to drive?

The steering isn’t especially communicative, but this is a big car that doesn't imagine you'll be scything down B-roads very often. It goes where you put it, feels lighter than it is, and can three-point turn without needing the car park to be entirely empty. For which we thank the four-wheel-steering option.

The all-wheel drive is clever and subtle, with torque-vectoring on the rear axle, and a torque split that can shove up to 70 per cent to the front or 85 per cent to the rear, depending on conditions.

It’s wide – over two metres with the mirrors as mentioned – and has some fairly hefty blind spots, but there’s a suite of systems (though we quickly turned off the over-sensitive collision avoidance assist) to deal with that.

Overall, it’s a ‘doing’ car rather than something you’d choose to take out for the hell of it, but the general feeling is that Audi has got the air-ride nicely sorted. You really can cruise efficiently and well, and it demands very little management. Bliss.