Audi RSQ8 review

If you’ve sat in any posh internal combustion Audi from recent years, you’ll be familiar with the multi-screen, virtually buttonless layout. On first inspection it looks fantastic – sleek, uncluttered, built to unfeasibly tight tolerances – like any high-end piece of consumer electronics really, and perfectly in step with Audi’s techy image.

But to actually use?

The graphics are slick, the connectivity is top end, the response as good as anything out there, but having to jab at a screen with haptic feedback rather than a physical button just isn’t as satisfying, and a lot more distracting on the move.

What’s more, it’s not long before your smudge-free glassy dashboard is covered in greasy fingerprints, which won’t impress your passengers. This is a bug bear with all large Audi interiors, not just the RSQ8, mind. The upper screen is 10.1in and controls things like navigation, media, settings etc, while the lower screen is 8.6in and deals mainly with climate controls but also offers a few handy shortcuts.  

Are there any RS-specific touches?

The MMI is spritzed up with some RS-specific info and graphics – torque, tyre pressures, lap times and g-forces on the 12.3in digital dial display – stuff you’ll almost certainly never use, while a shift-light display helps you time your upshifts to perfection with the paddles behind the wheel that, again, you’ll rarely call into action.

Heated and ventilated stitched ‘RS super sports seats’ are standard in the UK and keep your bum and back suitably pampered, but we didn’t actually find them all that supportive. The Bang & Olufsen sound system is glorious though and there are a smattering of RS badges on the steering wheel, mats and sills that might wow your passengers. Or perhaps not.

But is it practical?

A sliding three-seat rear bench is standard, and despite the Q8’s sloping roofline, bootspace is 605 litres with the seats up, and 1,755 litres with them down; a few more than the RS6.

For reference, that's broadly in line with what you get from the Aston Martin DBX 707, BMW X6M, Lamborghini Urus and Porsche Cayenne Coupe. Not that you'll be choosing between any of these based on how many shopping bags they'll carry.