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By Jonathan Crouch

Audi's fastest SUV, now subtly updated, aims to re-write just what's possible for a car of this kind. Jonathan Crouch drives the RS Q8.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 76

Audi pushes on into six-figure territory with this improved RS Q8, targeted at those who come in search of the ultimate high performance luxury SUV. Its twin turbo V8 can now put out up to 640PS, so this car is astonishingly rapid, but perhaps what's even more impressive if the way it can transmit its torque to the tarmac along a twisting road. Politically incorrect the RS Q8 may be, but it's still very desirable indeed.

Backgroundword count: 200

I'm not quite sure what your idea of the ultimate money-no-object performance luxury SUV might be, but it's quite likely that it has a VW Group-sourced twin turbocharged 4.0-litre petrol V8 beneath the bonnet. That engine's common to the Porsche Cayenne Coupe Turbo, the Lamborghini Urus and this car, the Audi RS Q8. The other potential contenders for your sizeable cheque in this segment are also V8s, the BMW X6M Competition and the Mercedes-AMG GLE Coupe 63S. All are extreme, all are very fast and all are difficult to justify in a world of melting polar ice caps. But I'm guessing that if you're reading this, you'd love to own any one of them. But why this Audi in particular, here lightly updated? Well it's still the fastest SUV around the infamous Nurburgring Nordschleife racetrack (7m 42.253s if you're interested), so there are bragging rights with that. Perhaps more significantly, on paper at least, it's got more power than the Porsche, it's vastly more affordable than the Lamborghini and there's more technology than the BMW and Mercedes. Sounds promising. If for you, Audi's 507PS SQ8 isn't quite enough, here's an uber-fast Audi SUV that will really get your blood pumping.

Driving Experienceword count: 362

The key change with this update is that there are now two RS Q8 variants using the usual 4.0-litre twin turbo V8 petrol engine; the standard one with 600PS and 800Nm of torque; and the top performance version, with 640PS and 850Nm of pulling power, which offers the most powerful series-produced combustion engine in Audi Sport GmbH's history. It improves the standard model's 3.8s 0-62mph time to just 3.6s. By reducing back pressure, the newly developed, lighter RS sport exhaust system increases the output of the RS Q8 performance model, while creating a sportier, more evocative sound. And with performance-spec, the usual 155mph speed limiter is removed, allowing the car to surge on up to 174mph. With both models, you'll need only around 10 seconds more to get to 125mph. And drive is delivered via an 8-speed tipronic auto gearbox to a quattro 4WD system that can apportion up to 80% of torque to the rear (though 40:60-split front-to-rear is its usual setting) and to manage it all, there's an active torque vectoring limited slip differential. Lots more has also gone on to help handle all that power. You get a wider track than with an SQ8 (10mm more at the front and 5mm more at the rear) for a squater stance - and there are bigger brakes of course. And revised damper rates for the adaptive air suspension. As standard-fit, there are two further features: a 48V anti-roll system and a four-wheel steer set-up that reduces cornering understeer and promotes the kind of turning ability you'd think would be impossible for a car of this size. When changing lanes quickly, the rear wheels turn up to 1.5 degrees in the opposite direction of the front wheels. At lower speeds, they turn up to five degrees in the opposite direction of the front wheels. This reduces the turning radius accordingly. There's the usual drive mode system and your favourite blend of attributes can be stored and summoned by pushing the provided RS button on the steering wheel which has two settings; RS1 (where perhaps you'd store your more laid-back settings) and RS2 (for when you want to select a more aggressive demeanour).

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