Audi SQ8 TFSI quattro 2024 Review

The 2024 Audi SQ8 TFSI quattro has received the mildest of mild updates with new air intakes, Matrix LED headlights, chrome exhaust tips, a revised badge font (including the famed four rings) and the nameplate now etched into the B pillars.

The price of entry has increased $10,015 to $178,815 before on-road costs (ORCs).

While the SQ8 offers stonking performance, there is an RS Q8, which packs even more punch – but also costs significantly more at $228,300.

In terms of rivals, the SQ8 does battle with the likes of the $178,900 BMW X6 M60i, $193,100 Mercedes-AMG GLE53 and $212,600 Porsche Cayenne GTS Coupe.

As is expected from a five-seat luxury SUV, the 2024 Audi SQ8 doesn’t skimp on high-end features.

Some of the standard kit includes S body styling, 22-inch alloy wheels, Matrix LED headlights and tail-lights, metallic paint, power-assisted door closure, adaptive air suspension and dynamic all-wheel steering.

Inside, the SQ8 is trimmed in Valcona leather upholstery and features heated/cooled electrically operated front seats with lumbar support, memory functionality and embossed S logos. Other additions include a panoramic sunroof, colour ambient lighting, head-up display, powered tailgate with gesture control and quad-zone climate control.

As is usually the case, this Waitomo Blue SQ8 tested isn’t completely standard, and is fitted with HUGE 23-inch multi-spoke S-Design Audi Sport wheels for $3000. It also comes with HD Matrix LED headlights with Audi laser light up front and OLED tail-lights at the rear for $3950. Inside, matt carbon twill inlays raise the price by a $1950 premium.

Two notable options that might be worth considering are the $10,900 Dynamic package, which includes active stabiliser bars and the quattro Sport differential, or the carbon-ceramic brakes for $19,500.

The SQ8 is covered by Audi’s five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, and servicing is required every 12 months or 15,000km. For $4600 you can opt for a pre-paid servicing pack that covers the first five years or 75,000km (whichever comes first).

The 2024 Audi SQ8 doesn’t have an official ANCAP safety rating despite the non S and RS versions earning the full five stars in 2019. Still, there are eight airbags and two ISOFIX points for the rear seats.

Highlights of the active safety tech include front and rear autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection, blind-spot monitoring, lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control with stop/go, fatigue monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, exit assist, pre-sense rear, a 360-degree camera, and park assist as well as front and rear parking sensors.

On the road, the systems work away in the background with progressive intervention – the calibration is great.

Largely taking on the interior used in most of Ingolstadt’s bigger offerings means that 2024 Audi SQ8 is festooned with screens inside.

A pioneer of digital instrument clusters, Audi’s Virtual Cockpit continues to be one of the best in the business, with the 12.3-inch display supporting dual layout options as well as Google Earth for mapping. It really is an aesthetic delight and arranges all the information you need in a classy format.

Situated higher in the dash is a 10.1-inch touch-screen display which accommodates Audi’s native MMI Navigation Plus, as well as support for wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Lower down there is another display (8.6-inch) utilising haptic feedback and taking care of all the SQ8’s climate controls. It almost feels like pushing a real button. However, given there’s no physical differentiation on the screen, it still requires your attention to find it in the first place when performing basic tasks.

There are some traditional tactile controls for things like drive-mode selection, but as far as screens go, Audi’s interpretation of the new all-touch norm is one of the best.

Other tech features include a wireless charge pad (located in the centre console), Bluetooth, DAB+ digital radio, USB-C ports in the front and a 17-speaker, 730-watt Bang & Olufsen 3D audio system. The latter produces seriously good acoustics and makes you wonder why you’d select pay $14,400 to gain the Sensory package that includes an ‘upgraded’ audio experience.

Underneath the large bonnet of the 2024 Audi SQ8 sits a 4.0-litre twin-turbo petrol V8 with 48V mild-hybrid assistance. And it’s packed with firepower, the figures amounting to 373kW and a mammoth 770Nm.

Getting all that grunt to the road is a permanent quattro all-wheel drive system and ZF’s eight-speed torque-converter automatic. The former is an active system that can distribute power and torque front to rear, while the latter has been tuned by Audi for quicker shifts.

That’s why, despite weighing in at more than two tonnes, the SQ8 can smash through the 0-100km/h test in just 4.1 seconds. It well and truly passes the seat-of-your-pants test. Ample torque is available from just 2000rpm and the entire powertrain is eager to get up and go.

Audi’s Drive Select offers six modes as well as tailorable sub menus. The main ones are Off-road, Efficiency, Comfort, Auto, Dynamic and Individual. You’re then able to choose between Efficient, Balanced and Dynamic for the drive system, suspension and steering to tailor your own experience.

The only real gripe with the powertrain, aside from its seemingly unquenchable thirst for fuel, is the lack of an angry soundtrack. Sadly, in the current legislative context, it’s hard to get away with truly raucous acoustics. Hence, the SQ8 remains relatively muted no matter what mode you select (Subdued, Automatic and Pronounced). Which is a shame.

Well, efficient isn’t a word you’d use to describe the 2024 Audi SQ8. However, if you’re in the market for a performance SUV, you know this is all part and parcel of the experience.

The big Audi claims an official combined-cycle fuel-consumption figure of 11.9L/100km and the 4.0-litre V8 uses Cylinder on Demand (CoD) to help save fossil fuels. Yet, access even half of the performance available and that figure becomes impossible to achieve.

Throughout a week of testing we averaged 15.5L/100km – across all types of environments, including city, country and highway use. There’s no escaping the fact that when you’ve got a heavy right foot the SQ8 likes to drink 98 RON from its 85-litre tank at a rapid rate.

It’s quite incredible how well the 2024 Audi SQ8 handles on-road. You almost forget it’s a heavy SUV.

The rear-wheel steering helps the big Audi feel like a much smaller car. The way in which the SQ8 enters a corner, rotates and then fires back out the other side of the apex is astonishing.

Unless you’re pushing too hard, there’s little-to-no understeer, either, as the squared 285-section Continental tyres dig into the tarmac.

In terms of feedback, the steering isn’t the final word in communication, and it does err on the lighter side – which is very traditional from the Volkswagen Group.

Under brakes is where the heft and raw speed are at odds. The SQ8 certainly isn’t lacking the hardware, you just need to allow longer braking distances when driving spiritedly. There’s a slight dead spot at the top of the brake pedal, too, but it is progressive thereafter.

After all the attributes associated with the S label are considered, the Q8 part of the equation needs to stack up, too. Given it’s essentially Audi’s flagship SUV limo with a sloping roofline, the SQ8 must be comfortable and able to crush endless highway kilometres as well as cope with city streets.

Surprisingly, given the optional 23-inch Audi Sport wheels, it does. And thanks to the adaptive air suspension, it isn’t a mere pass mark, either. Only a really unkept road surface flusters it; otherwise the SQ8’s ride quality is remarkably supple.

At this price point, it’s a bit of a shame that the Dynamic package isn’t standard. While body control is impressive, the active stabiliser bars (also used in the Porsche Cayenne) and quattro Sport differential would amp up the capable performance side of things just that bit more. If you can afford the extra $10,900 it’s a box worth ticking.

You can, in theory, go off-road in the 2024 Audi SQ8. But would you want to in your near $200k performance SUV? That’s another story.

Yes, there’s a dedicated off-road mode, quattro all-wheel drive and 209mm of ground clearance, but the tarmac-focused tyres and optional 23-inch wheels tend to discourage any bush-bashing aspirations.

Oh, and there’s only a space-saver spare tyre if things go wrong. Basically, an unsealed driveway to a winery is about as hardcore as the SQ8 is ever going to be required to get.

While the 2024 Audi SQ8 has all the performance chops you’d ever realistically want or need in an SUV, it remains a truly luxurious product.

All the switchgear is pleasingly tactile, the materials are of a high quality and the fit and finish can be safely described as exemplary. The SQ8 is also quiet inside, with tyre noise reduced to a minimum, despite the oversized rubber.

Space in the back is almost limo-esque. Extra ride height aside, you would be forgiven for thinking you’re in an A8L. The 3005mm wheelbase affords plentiful legroom, and headroom is generous, even with the full-length glass sunroof.

Amenities are copious too, with rear individual climate controls and air vents (two in the centre and another in each B pillar), plus dual USB-C charging ports as well as a 12V outlet. Coat hooks, lighting and map pockets also feature, but the cupholders within the centre armrest are too small.

The 40/20/40-split folding rear seats are very handy for accommodating various passenger and load configurations. Further aiding practicality is the fore/aft adjustment of the rear pews, either generating more legroom or boot capacity. It’s a shame that they can’t be electronically folded from the boot, and the recline feature doesn’t go far enough.

Given the more than five-metre length, the SQ8’s capacious boot is not unexpected. In five-seat mode the boot measures 605 litres, which is expands to 1755 litres with the back chairs stowed. And there’s a handy button to lower or raise the rear air suspension to aid loading and unloading.

Unfortunately, the spare is of the space-saver variety, but that’s also to be expected.

The 2024 Audi SQ8 attracts the type of buyer who will purchase the performance SUV if they want it – no convincing needed.

And they won’t be disappointed if a resoundingly fast, dynamically adept and utterly opulent ‘off-roader’ is what’s expected.

You could step up to the more powerful RS Q8, but the smaller sibling does most of what it can at a significantly reduced price. It makes a compelling case if you’ve got $200k to spend.

2024 Audi SQ8 TFSI quattro at a glance:
Price: $178,815 before on-roads costs ($187,715 as tested)
Available: Now
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbo petrol mild-hybrid
Output: 373kW/770Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 11.9L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 272g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Unrated

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