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SUV クーデターs are daft in theory but the Audi Q8 is annoyingly good in practice: We try to find out why 買い手s want 'sporty' 4x4s

Updated: 09:02 BST, 7 October 2023

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The rise of the SUV クーデター has been one of モーターing's daftest 傾向s, argues Simon Lambert, taking a big, 激しい car and trying to make it sporty.?So why do 井戸／弁護士席-heeled 買い手s want these expensive beasts?

To find out why 高級な car 買い手s can't get enough of 簡素化するd SUVs, he borrowed an 去っていく／社交的な見解／翻訳／版 of the Audi Q8 - an updated 見解／翻訳／版 will be in showrooms soon - and took it on a 2,000 mile 実験（する）運動.

Big gun: The Audi Q8 is a 簡素化するd 見解／翻訳／版 of its big Q7 SUV - an updated 見解／翻訳／版 is on its way to showrooms soon, but we put the 去っていく／社交的な見解／翻訳／版 to the 実験（する）

What the 豊富な want: From posh saloons to SUVs

支援する in the day, car buying was 平易な for the successful high-flier, you bought a big, posh saloon car and if you 手配中の，お尋ね者 something 急速な／放蕩な, you 選ぶd up a sports car for fun at the 週末 too.

But then the lines started getting blurred, car 製造者s realised there was a healthy market for upselling models if you 連合させるd the two elements and created a very 急速な／放蕩な saloon.

The country that arguably led the way on this was Germany, where bahn-嵐／襲撃するing, big-engined, four-door BMWs, Mercedes and Audi 戦う／戦いd for bragging 権利s.

As the 1980s became the 1990s, designers and engineers （機の）カム up with another 有望な idea, what if you took that recipe and shoehorned the big, powerful engine into an 広い地所 car instead? Thus the 急速な／放蕩な広い地所現れるd as the coolest family car you could own.

Nowadays, there's a different 反対する of 願望（する） for 深い-pocketed car 買い手s, the クーデター SUV, and when I look at them I can't help but ask:?'where did things go wrong?'

遂行するd the Audi Q8 may be, but taking a hefty Audi Q7 SUV, and 追加するing 簡素化するing in an 試みる／企てる to make it look and feel sporty does seem somewhat misguided.

However much you dress things up, there's no escaping that this is a very large two tonne-加える car. Swift and impressive as a Q8 is, ありふれた sense says if you want a sporty car then smaller and はしけ would be better.

The 時代 when things went awry in rich people car land was the 早期に 2000s, when saloons and 広い地所s became old hat and you now needed to be seen in an SUV.

At the pinnacle of 賞与金製造業者s' 範囲s appeared large, 激しい SUVs, which needed more powerful engines to keep pace with their forerunners and chugged through 大幅に more 燃料.

In a '持つ／拘留する my beer' moment, car 製造者s decided instead to come up with surely the daftest モーターing idea ever, the SUV クーデター?

At this point, you might think the car 産業 needed to 静める負かす／撃墜する and spend some time thinking about what it had done.

集まり高級な car 製造者s had other ideas though and in a '持つ／拘留する my beer' moment decided instead to come up with surely the daftest モーターing idea ever, the SUV クーデター.

BMW has a lot to answer for here, with its X6 主要な the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金. Mercedes 速く followed with クーデター見解／翻訳／版s of its SUVs, and Audi and Porsche got in on the 行為／法令／行動する too.

The 傾向 is now so embedded in the モーターing world that your SUV クーデター could be either a Lamborghini Urus or a Renault Arkana (we've 実験（する）d both and in the ありそうもない event that you have the choice between those two, Cars & モーターing recommends 選ぶing the Lamborghini).

The クーデター SUV is an 明白に foolish 概念. It takes a large practical car and makes it much いっそう少なく practical, sloping off the 最高の，を越す of the boot space and often 減ずるing headroom.

At the upper end, these models also 必然的に伴う／関わる成果／努力 to make the car 急速な／放蕩な and sporty, something to which smaller, lower, はしけ cars are much better ふさわしい.

The 最高の，を越す Trumps-loving inner child in us may love SUVs with sub-six second 0 to 60mph times that match the supercars of our 青年, but at a moment in time when we are meant to be thinking about the 環境 is that what we really need?

If you 手配中の，お尋ね者 to build a sleek, quick, good 扱うing car, you wouldn't start with an SUV?

At the 危険 of 大打撃を与えるing the point home too hard, if you 手配中の，お尋ね者 to build a sleek, quick, good 扱うing car, you wouldn't start with an SUV.

It's with that admittedly prejudiced mindset that I approached the Audi Q8 I spent ten days with for a family 運動 to the アルプス山脈 and 支援する.

This 調書をとる／予約する was to be 堅固に裁判官d by its cover: the big Audi was 明白に going to be comfortable, luxurious, spacious a nd a very nice place to sit and cross フラン, but it was foolish.

So, did that 2,000 mile 一連の会議、交渉／完成する trip with an S Line 50 TDI 見解／翻訳／版 of the Q8 change my mind?

As much as I hate to 収容する／認める this, it sort of did. This is the problem with modern day cars so 遂行するd that what is bad in theory can turn out to be good in practice.

The Q8 is more practical than some SUV クーデター競争相手s

Firstly, I think you can make a reasonable 事例／患者 that an Audi Q8 is not やめる as daft as a BMW X6, or Mercedes GLE (or even some of Audi's other クーデター SUVs).

With the Q8, Audi has sensibly tempered the reshaping of the car, 選ぶing for a broader curve than the 十分な-on クーデター試みる／企てるs that BMW and Mercedes have done on their 競争相手s.

The Q8 is more 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd-off SUV and is a 公正に／かなり handsome car. It's 抱擁する and wide but manages to pull off the trick of not looking as big as it is when out on the road, it's only when you 適切に look that you realise how humungous it is.

The gently curved, 一連の会議、交渉／完成するing-off of the roofline means that you are losing a smaller 量 of boot space and not eating into 後部 headroom in the same way that 競争相手s do.

Audi's 高級な操縦室 is a nice place to spend a long 旅行, 一方／合間, even with the 後部 seats slid 今後s there's トンs of room in the 支援する of the Q8 and the 40 / 20/ 40 seat 分裂（する） is handy for long items

In fact, there's 絶対捕らえる、獲得するs of room in both the luggage compartment and the 後部 seats of a Q8.

The Q8's hatchback boot 負担s easily and has a 605 litre capacity, a step 負かす／撃墜する on the Q7's 770 litres, but it easily swallowed our family of four's luggage and mountain gear. As you rarely pack a SUV or 広い地所 boot to the roof, it doesn't really feel 妥協d.

With the middle of the 後部（法廷の）裁判負かす／撃墜する, skis, snowboards, surfboards, ゴルフ clubs, or any other 非常に長い items you need to 輸送（する） easily slide through ? and Audi deserves 賞賛する for making the practical 40 / 20 / 40 分裂（する） its default rather than the 60 / 40 後部（法廷の）裁判s many 競争相手s annoyingly persevere with.

The 後部（法廷の）裁判 slides to 貿易（する） off some extra boot space with 後部脚 room, but even if you 選ぶ for more of the former there will still be plenty of the latter.

The generous legroom in the 支援する連合させるs with wide, comfortable main seats at each 味方する to mean that 後部乗客s are travelling in 高級な.

My two girls looked like they were in club class 支援する there on the big reclining seats and had no （民事の）告訴s about the 12-hour straight 旅行 we did in a day on the way to the French アルプス山脈.

The middle seat in the 後部 won't be most 乗客s' first choice but is sizeable enough to make the Q8 a 本物の five-seater.

Upfront the Q8 has the 肉親，親類d of luxurious, 井戸／弁護士席 laid out cabin that's given high-end Audis such a good 評判 for 内部のs these days.

Our car's stylish piano 黒人／ボイコット wraparound dashboard and soft leather seats 連合させるd with the clean lines and switchgear to give a real sense of 質. Large central armrest 貯蔵 and 深い doorbins made it a practical space too.

A 二塁打 touch 審査する sits in the middle of the Q8's dashboard, helpfully splitting 気候 and other 支配（する）／統制するs and 地図／計画するs to make it easier to use on the move. A simple and 井戸／弁護士席 laid out 数字表示式の陳列する，発揮する behind the big leather steering wheel, puts the （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） you need in your 注目する，もくろむ line.

The Q8's 申し込む／申し出s a 抱擁する boot that even with four スーツケースs and a board 捕らえる、獲得する in has plenty of room left to fill

While the sloping roofline eats into the luggage space わずかに that is not to the degree of 競争相手s where practicality is more 妥協d - pack it to the 最高の，を越す and it will swallow a 抱擁する量

The Q8 on the road

The Audi Q8 easily passes the big and luxurious 実験（する） ? as you'd やめる rightly 推定する／予想する a ￡72,000 car to ? but what's it like on the road?

The S Line 50 TDI Quattro Tiptronic 見解／翻訳／版 that I had to review had a 3.0 litre turbocharged ディーゼル engine putting out 286 horsepower. That's enough to 推進する the Q8 from 0 to 62mph in 6.1 seconds and on to a 最高の，を越す速度(を上げる） of 150mph.

ディーゼル engines may not be flavour of the month nowadays, but they are arguably a far more sensible 選択 for a big 激しい family SUV, ーに関して／ーの点でs of 力／強力にする配達／演説／出産, 燃料 efficiency and trying to be a little kinder to the 環境.

The ディーゼル engine packs lots of torque and the Q8 has plenty of punch when you put your foot 負かす／撃墜する, for example, 追いつくing or pulling の上に motorways.

For all its 冒険的な aspirations there's no getting away from the fact that at a notch under 2.2 tonnes the Q8 is a hefty beast. This means that it won't be competing with a real sports car ? or even a sports saloon ? in the bends.

Where it excels is as a long-distance 巡洋艦, knocking off motorway miles with 緩和する as you sit 支援する in the 操縦室?

But the Q8 can hustle when it needs to and was good fun to 運動 up and 負かす／撃墜する mountain roads, bounding along effortlessly and 力／強力にするing out of the bends.

Where it excels is as a long-distance 巡洋艦, knocking off motorway miles with 緩和する as you sit 支援する in the 操縦室. Crossing フラン on empty autoroutes was like 運動ing your living room at high 速度(を上げる）.

In fact, whatever the road surface thrown at it, the Q8's ride is exceptional ? supple enough to soak up the bu mps but 会社／堅い enough to be fun to 運動.

燃料 economy is 明白に not the Q8's strong point but with a ディーゼル engine the SUV 影響 is mitigated somewhat. We 普通の／平均（する）d 29.3mpg over 1,316 miles in total, but most were done fully 負担d at French motorway 速度(を上げる）s. On the shorter and slower two-hour run 支援する from Dover, the Q8 notched up 36.6mpg over 108 miles.

The Audi Q8 we had on 実験（する）（機の）カム with the 3 litre ディーゼル engine that is better ふさわしい to a 激しい SUV than a 石油同等（の）

The Q8 has unmistakeable Audi family looks and while it's a big car it's not bad looking

The Cars & モーターing 判決

If you've got 深い pockets and want to buy a big luxurious expensive SUV, there's a lot of choice out there. So, does the Audi Q8 do enough to stand out from the （人が）群がる?

A new 見解／翻訳／版 of the Q8 is on its way to showrooms but doesn't look as if it will be radically different. The 去っていく／社交的な見解／翻訳／版 that we 実験（する）d can still be 選ぶd up and there is probably some room for 交渉 on its price.

I'd argue it's a better and more practical choice than many of its SUV クーデター peers, 特に those with the most 積極性 sloping rooflines, such as the BMW X6 and Mercedes GLE.

Other 選択s 買い手s will consider could be the Porsche Cayenne クーデター and 範囲 Rover Sport, which 類似の to the Q8 緩和する off on the クーデター styling わずかに.

Those that 選ぶ for the Q8 will get an exceptionally talented car, with 負担s of space, a fantastic cabin and a feel of 高級な to it.

But if they really want to go 負かす／撃墜する the 大勝する of space and sportiness, perhaps 見込みのある買い手s should consider an Audi S6 広い地所 instead: it's faster, has better 燃料 economy and as its smaller, はしけ and closer to the ground it's better 始める，決める up for sporty 扱うing.

Of course, 買い手s probably won't choose the 広い地所 ? they want an SUV, but it's at least 価値（がある） trying to 納得させる people さもなければ.

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