THE FAB FOUR?(some text hidden)

By Jonathan Crouch

Ten Second Review word count: 75

The Q4 e-tron was the first production Audi built on the Volkswagen Group MEB platform for volume all-electric cars. This lower-mid-sized crossover is pricier of course than other similarly-sized full-battery-powered SUVs from the Wolfsburg conglomerate, but it delivers a much more up-market feel that'll help ease you into your new electrified phase of motoring ownership. Two years into its production life, it was usefully updated to create the car we're going to look at here.

Background word count: 159

With Audi's first three all-electric e-tron full-electric designs, we saw what the brand was capable of with EV technology. These three models though - the e-tron, the e-tron Sportback and the e-tron GT quattro - were merely preludes to the BEV model that really mattered to Ingolstadt, this car, the Q4 e-tron. It was launched back in 2021, then improved in Autumn 2023 in an update coinciding with the movement of part of production to Audi's dedicated EV factory in Brussels (which previously had only made the larger Q8 e-tron). It's tempting to merely dismiss this model as Audi's version of other similarly-sized VW Group crossover EVs like the Volkswagen ID.4, the Skoda Enyaq iV and the CUPRA Tavascan. Certainly, all the engineering bits that matter are common between the four cars, namely the MEB platform and the battery tech. Yet Audi claims to have put its own stamp on the way this car drives and feels. Let's see.

Driving Experience word count: 451

For both rear-wheel drive and quattro all-wheel drive versions of this updated Q4 e-tron, Audi has installed a permanently excited synchronous machine (PSM) on the rear axle. The update is supposed to release higher efficiency and greater power but with the base rear-driven Q4 40 e-tron, it doesn't quite work out like that. With 204PS on tap and an EV range of 250 miles, this base variant has no more power and 66 miles less range than the pre-facelift Q4 40 e-tron model we tested at launch back in 2021, though to be fair, that car had a larger 76.7kWh battery; the current Q4 40 e-tron's battery is just 63kWh in size. Most Q4 e-tron customers are going to need Audi's larger 77kWh battery - for which they'll usually be stretching to one of the two Q4 45 e-tron models, which both offer 286PS and are available with either rear wheel drive (with a 342 mile range) or quattro 4WD (with a 309 mile range). Also using that battery is the flagship Q4 e-tron 55 quattro, which has 340PS and a 320 mile range. All those range figures by the way, are for the standard SUV body shape; you'll do slightly better if you opt for the sleeker Sportback body style. Performance in the base Q4 40 e-tron isn't especially rapid (0-62mph in 8.1s en route to 99mph), but if you stretch to one of the 45 models, an owner of an earlier Q4 e-tron would find that performance is noticeably perkier; rest to 62mph takes 6.7s and the top speed is 112mph. In the Q4 e-tron 55 quattro, 62mph sprint can be dispatched in just 5.4s. That 2024 facelift saw Audi re-tune the chassis across the range for greater driver involvement. As part of this, the steering's sharper. The engineers also tinkered with the suspension, aiming for greater comfort and stability; as before it's a MacPherson strut front and five-link rear arrangement, with sports suspension available (which lowers ride height by 15mm) and adaptive damping offered further up the range. Audi's also created what it calls a new 'character sound', which is offered as an option and emitted via two exterior speakers at the rear and two interior speakers in the rear doors. This 'soundscape' varies according to load and speed. There's now a camera drive assist feature too, which allows assisted lane changes above 56mph. Otherwise, things are as they always have been with this model. The Q4's pretty straightforward to get to grips with behind the wheel. You select drive using a slider-type shifter situated on the centre console and once underway, there's the kind of instant throttle response you'd usually get from an EV of this sort.