For the 2025 model year, Audi’s apex RS Q8 SUV not only receives a raft of cosmetic and spec-related updates, it’s now the most powerful model in the firm’s local lineup! Gareth Dean got behind the wheel during its local launch…
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Audi RS Q8 Performance Fast Facts
- Price: R3 266 100
- Engine: 4.0-litre, twin-turbo petrol + mild hybrid
- Transmission: 8-speed automatic, AWD
- Power: 471 kW
- Torque: 850 N.m
- Driven wheels: All
- 0-100 km/h: 3.6 seconds
- Top speed: 250 km/h (limited)
- Fuel consumption: 12.2 L/100 km
What are we driving?
Introduced to the SA market back in 2021, the high-performance halo model of Audi’s Q SUV was endowed with the same rip-snorting 4.0-litre twin-turbo engine that did service (and currently continues to do so) in the firm’s RS6 and RS7 Sportback models. Delivering 441 kW and 800 N.m, this unit could propel the Audi RSQ8 from standstill to 100 km/h in just 3.8 seconds and on to an electronically limited 250 km/h top whack. Fast forward four years, and the advent of a mid-cycle update shared with the Q7 upon which it’s based has brought with it a significant performance-related shot in the arm – upping those outputs to 471 kW and 850 N.m.
Why is the Audi RSQ8 Performance significant?
Well, that abovementioned boost in outputs now makes the Audi RS Q8 Performance the most powerful model in the firm’s South African lineup, paring its 0-100 km/h sprint time down to just 3.6 seconds. In addition to ushering in the ‘Performance’ suffix to its model nomenclature, the mid-cycle update also ushers in a host of cosmetic and technological updates.
What’s new on the Audi RSQ8 Performance?
As per most mid-cycle facelifts, the RSQ8 Performance benefits from cosmetic revisions to elements such as the grille, rear valance and boot trim garnishes – both of which are claimed to emphasise the car’s visual width – as well as some tweaks to the head- and taillamps. The latter items are especially interesting. In addition to the frontmost items utilising Audi’s powerful laser light technology and the rear featuring OLED elements – they now incorporate preset signatures that the driver can toggle between to add a bit of visual individuality to their car.
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Things inside are as Audi-solid and leather/slush-moulded plastic-clad as you could hope for, and the seats strike a neat balance between securely bolstered and wonderfully comfortable. Audi has also woven some additional functionality into the infotainment system and the haptic lower screen that oversees numerous ancillary functions, although the graphic interfaces do look a little dated when compared to the system incorporated by the new A5 that’s headed our way mid-year.
What does the Audi RSQ8 Performance cost?
Sitting at the top rung of the Q SUV ladder and wearing a great deal of features that help it harness all that power on offer, the Audi RS Q8 Performance wears a hefty R3 266 100 price tag which includes a 5-year/100 000 km maintenance plan.
What is the Audi RSQ8 Performance like to drive?
Obviously, our local traffic legislation precludes us from really opening up the RS Q8 Performance to a full-bore speed run, but the local launch route in Cape Town’s winelands did incorporate the famously sinuous Franschhoek Pass; a perfect place to test out some of the features that allow the car to better harness all that extra grunt. With the first run frustratingly clogged with slow-moving sightseers and lorries toting farm produce, a clearer second run allowed us to better appreciate some of the clever, power-channelling tech at work.
Pitching into the first set of bends, culminating in the notorious hairpin at the top of the pass, it’s the sport differential and electromechanical active roll-stabilisation systems that are put to the test. The former works to counter the inevitable understeer that tends to afflict powerful AWD cars by utilising torque vectoring (the lateral distribution of drive across the rear axle, between the left and right wheels) to tuck the RS Q8’s nose into sharp corners. The system certainly makes a difference, allying with the well-weighted and accurate steering to make the 2 350 kg SUV feel surprisingly nimble. But the key to reining in all that lumber on tight bends is the eAWS (active roll-stabilisation system) setup.
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Overseen by the 48 V electrical architecture that’s fed by the mild-hybrid system, this piece of tech is an evolution of the anti-roll bars found in many cars but instead of a passive mechanical setup it utilises electric motors on each axle that apportions torsion on the physical roll bars in response to lateral loads and forces under hard cornering. The upshot is an impressive resistance to roll and body lean in tight bends. Don’t get us wrong, you’re very much aware that this system is engaged with nearly 2.5 tons of car, but its ability to keep things level and grippy when attacking bends at speed is impressive. With the curves dissolving in the rearview mirror and clear straits ahead, the opportunity to bury the throttle and sample the straight-line grunt on offer presents itself.
Like many performance cars of its ilk, the powertrain is overseen by a management system that can be toggled to a full-attack (RS in Audi parlance) setting that trims everything from the transmission to the throttle, steering and dampers to their most aggressive settings. With a slight hunkering of its tail and an addictive, staccato V8 snarl emanating from the nose, the RS Q8 will avidly draw in the horizon, making Audi’s claimed 3.6-second 100 km/h sprint time feel entirely plausible.
What are the Audi RSQ8 Performance’s rivals?
In terms of raw power, there’s little to touch the apex Q8 but the likes of Mercedes’ 463 kW GLE63 S Coupé and BMW’s 460 kW X6 M Competition both wear similar price tags (R3 968 922 and R3 341 901, respectively) and are also propelled by turbocharged V8s.
Verdict
While undeniably niche, the RSQ8 Performance remains a towering piece of performance SUV engineering that manages to feel both clinical in its ability to iron out the pesky physics that hamper outrageously powerful cars, while still providing a hard-to-match combination of comfort and genuine driver engagement.
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