Audi Q4 e-tron Sportback - long-term review

Bye bye Mustang Mach-E, hello Audi Q4 e-tron. The way the world’s going, what are the chances I’ll be driving nothing but electric SUVs from now until my dying day? Or my children leave home, at least? Not that I’m grumbling, just observing, because hopping from Mach-E to Q4 is potentially a very interesting exercise.

Both ultimately serve similar purposes, cost similar amounts of money, but go about their business in very different ways. While the Ford is extremely keen for you to notice it – all those Mustang badges, the elongated bonnet and sculpted haunches, an excess of horsepower and screen acreage inside – the Audi is very happy to be just another smart-looking German SUV with a toothy smile, merely adequate amounts of power and a focus more on quality and serenity than scalp-peeling acceleration. Which approach is best? That’s literally what I’m here to find out.

We have here a Q4 e-tron S line 40, which as we’ve become accustomed to with Audi’s latest naming strategy, is essentially a random jumble of numbers and letters. It means we have a 201bhp, RWD-only SUV with a claimed range of 308-miles per charge from its 77kWh battery. It’ll do 0-62mph in 8.5 seconds and hit an underwhelming 99mph, but venture that far on the speedometer and you’ll be gobbling electricity faster than a Bitcoin blockchain.

On top of the rather punchy £55,435 list price, options added include Geyser Blue metallic paint (£575), the comfort and sound pack (£1,295, includes upgraded Sonos speakers), a range-preserving heat pump (£950), Matrix LED headlights (£1,075) and the Technology Pack (£1,050, throws in a head-up display).

Or to put it another way, we have more than we need. The only feature I immediately noticed was missing was electrically adjustable seats. Not a huge problem of course, I have functioning hands, but a sign that Audi is all about creating a luxury experience, but always has a beady eye on cost-cutting too. Have the four rings become a bit… premium economy? We shall see.

On a purely functional level, the Q4 has passed its first test with ease. A family trip to Normandy, taking the long way round: 70-odd miles from South London to Folkestone, Eurotunnel to Calais, then another 270 miles from there.

One big charge at an Ionity station (which continues to be mildly infuriating to use and silly expensive if you’re not a member) each way and we cruised it – comfortable, quiet, enough space for a week’s worth of stuff despite no front trunk like the Mach-E. In France, if we weren’t driving it around I had it on the granny cable trickling away, which worked fine. As I read on Twitter recently running an electric car is easy… #alwaysbecharging.