Audi RS Q8 Performance Review | The Practical RS6 or Lambo Urus on a Budget?

So today we'll be driving the Audi RSQ8, what many people may refer to as the Urus on a budget. Firing up the Audi RSQ8 is like any other car. Press the ignition button, fires right up and you're greeted by this beautiful noise. And the digital cluster comes to life. One of the first things you'll notice is how techy this cabin is. You've got three digital screens, including the instrument cluster, and they all feel pretty well integrated. Pull down on your typical Audi spaceship thrust lever to get yourself into drive. It's surprisingly pretty quiet in here for the most part, but once we get going, you'll notice that there's a bit of wind howling noise from the bars that go across the roof. Now, those bars are only there because I put them on for the winter look, but I gotta take them off. Hopefully that doesn't create extra drag and slow us down for our half mile test later on. Like most modern luxury cars, the RSQ8 has rear wheel steering and that definitely helps because this isn't a small car. At 197 inches long, we're on the bigger end of midsize SUVs. And at 1.5 degrees of articulation, I don't think the rear wheel steer is as dramatic as the one in the S class that Dan reviewed, but it's still nice to have. First and foremost, I have to remind you that this is an RS vehicle, and what that means is that it's basically an M or AMG equivalent, but for Audi. And it's still an suv, so it has to do SUV things. One of those is to be relatively comfortable. And let me tell you, this car is definitely daily drivable. It may be a little stiff every now and then going over bumps, but very acceptable for what it is, a top tier performance vehicle. A lot of people compare the RSQ8 to the Lamborghini Urus. And if you blindfolded me and asked me to drive, I would probably tell you no, because that's dangerous. But they are very, very similar in feel. Besides being rebadged D250 horsepower and having a more gentrified interior, it's basically the same car in every regard. Of course, for almost half the price, I think that's a worthy trade. Them Lambo trucks are hot, but the Audi RSQ8 is the better value for sure. On the outside, the car is a head turner, but only if you get it in a poppy color like this Java GRE Dragon orange. It's a lot rounder and less angular than a Urus, but the huge blacked out grill looks like it means business. There's definitely road presence, no doubt about it. And steering in comfort mode is as you'd expect. The wheel itself feels pretty simple, but I'm a little disappointed I didn't get the flat bottom wheel like the RS6. But it does have a cool RS button which gets you into the super sporty modes. But we'll use those later because unlike Dan, I enjoy driving my cars in comfort mode. However, right up here is the part of the road where I need to see what it can do. So we'll toss the car into dynamic, but I know that the RS1 and RS2 modes are more aggressive, but this will do the job for now. Now this is what an RS car should feel like. It's definitely noisier and there's a lot more punch all around. The suspension is a bit stiffer, but not too much. There is some float around these corners though, but remember big fat suv, so it's kind of a given. There's a bit of delay in these paddles for the downshift, but nothing too dramatic. Upshifts feel good though. Dan would definitely disapprove these paddles, but I think they're all right. They are better than the previous gen RS paddles in some US spec cars. And most of the time you'll be in sport auto anyway because I hear these cars are faster in that mode. Okay, let's get out of this dynamic mode and get into something more comfortable. The infotainment system in this car to me is very confusing. It's nothing like my old Mercedes that I had. Everything is buried behind different folders and tabs and to me it's very distracting. I like the haptic touch, but I'm an analog button type of guy. I gotta say, the nav screen isn't as nice as I'd want it to be, but most of the time we're using Android Auto or CarPlay anyway. Now let's try out the self driving tech in this car. It's got the usual level 2 stuff and unlike the other German brands, you control it on a separate stalk rather than the steering wheel. But based on these roads here, it's not as good as Mercedes and probably slightly less advanced on the BMW stuff in this segment. But hey, at least it doesn't beep at you like Dan's X6. Well, it's been fun driving this on the street, but I think it's about time we head off to the airship to do the performance test down the Runway. So before we get to the performance section, let's go over the car quickly. The Audi RSQ8 is technically a mid size coupe SUV and it competes in a segment that is currently dominated by the X6M. But we've got other contenders such as a Porsche Cayenne Turbo Coupe or Mercedes GLE AMG Coupe. It's powered by Audi's 4 liter Twin Turbo V8 and makes 591 horsepower and 590 foot pound of torque. All that is obviously put to the ground with all wheel drive and the tried and true ZF8 speed automatic gearbox. At about £5,500 on the curb. It's heavy, but it isn't obscene for this type of car because it's a 9.3 to 1 power to weight ratio. For 2022, the MSRP of this car just went up to 119 and change. Mine for 2021 was 114. Still a hefty tag. And these things will start getting pricey once you begin to customize. But luckily for the 22 buyers, a lot of stuff comes standard like 22s adaptive air suspension that changes the ride height whenever it feels like it and the great Bang and Olsen sound system. For me, these were all options. One of my favorite things about RS cars is their giant oval signature exhaust tips. And since we're getting into exhaust, let's talk about how it sounds. I don't think they pipe as much fake noise into the cabin as BMW or Benz because it definitely sounds better out here than in the car. Gotta love the way this color looks when the sun hits the car. It's so understated but very aggressive at the same time. Anyway, we're short on time and it's pretty cold out here, so we'll only do our straight line acceleration test, which means this will be the full standing half mile run only. Let's do it.

It's. So I'm going to jump in here and go over the acceleration results. We recently did the RS6 not too long ago and this car is basically the same platform, just bigger and slightly heavier. So I expect the times to be comparable. Anyway, let's start with the rolling 60, 130 where the RSQ8 nailed a slower than expected 12.06 second time. I'm wondering if this car would respond better to some ethanol like its little brothers the RS3 and TT RS where they can achieve its full potential of the stock tune. It's faster than Sean's old Jag SVR and it's faster than my old X6 M50, but it would definitely have a hard time with a real X6M or even just a base X3M. But for an SUV, it's still one of the fastest stock ones that we've had on the channel so far. In terms of the standing half mile, we focus mainly on trap speed and the Audi crossed the line at 140.38, but that still falls short of its cheaper entry level 5 cylinder brethren despite having 200 more horsepower. But it was able to overpower the X3M at this point, so I'm certain it would walk away from the SVR and the M50 cars. However, a true competitor like the X6M would likely gap the Audi in any sort of race. For more times on this car and other cars that we've tested, check out the fastest link in the description below. Now I'm going to hand it back over to Sean.

So I sort of fail to mention that this is actually my own personal RSQ8, which means that there is a chance I might be a bit biased, but Dan's been forcing me to be as objective as possible. One regret I do have is not optioning the car with the carbon ceramics because I realized that this thing is lacking in the braking department, especially when we're trying to stop from 140 miles per hour. But it is a $9,000 option and I'm not exactly hitting 140 on my daily commutes. So on second thought, not sure if I would really go for it on a car like this, but I gotta say I love the way the RSQ8 looks. No regrets there. In these vibrant colors, it's basically a budget URUS that is way more practical and attainable and sometimes you want to fly under the radar. And Audis do that magic because Audis are definitely more reserved looking than its competitors. Would I pick this over something like the GLE AMG coupe or an X6M comp? Probably not, because it's the most balanced of the three. It's also the most spacious in theory. Sure, the X6M might be faster, but the interior is lacking taste. The Merc might feel a bit more luxurious, but with the options it's priced that way too. The Audi is fast, but it's a soft kind of fast that I really enjoy at this point in life. It's one of those performance SUVs that checks all the right boxes for me.

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