FOUR EARLY-ADOPTERS (some text hidden) SECTIONED_new_audiq4e-tron_2022

By Jonathan Crouch

Introductionword count: 74

Back in 2021, the first production Audi built on the Volkswagen Group MEB platform for volume all-electric cars was this model, the Q4 e-tron. This aspirational mid-sized crossover was a little pricier than other similarly-sized full-battery-powered SUVs from the Wolfsburg conglomerate, but it delivered a more up-market feel that aimed to help ease its customers into their new electrified phase of motoring ownership. Here, we look at the early 2021-2023-era versions of this car.

Modelsword count: 14

5dr MPV (Petrol - 1.5 EcoBoost / 2.5 FHEV Hybrid / 2.0 TDCi diesel)

Historyword count: 233

With Audi's first three all-electric e-tron models, we saw what the brand was capable of with EV technology. These three cars though - the e-tron, the e-tron Sportback and the e-tron GT quattro - were merely preludes to the EV model that really mattered to Ingolstadt, this car, the Q4 e-tron, launched in 2021. 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 claimed to have put its own stamp on the way this car drove and felt. This model, as its name suggested, was sized between the marque's existing mainstream SUVs, the fossil fuelled Q3 and Q5 ranges. There were two Q4 body styles, the standard SUV and the sportier-looking Q4 Sportback e-tron. Both were produced in the same Zwickau German factory as Volkswagen's ID-series EVs, but this Audi also had to stretch bit further up-market. Its brief was to bridge the gap between relatively compact mid-sized EVs like the ID.4 and larger ones like Jaguar's I-PACE and the Mercedes EQC. The Q4 e-tron sold in its original form until late 2023 when the powertrains were significantly updated. It's the earlier-spec 2021-2023-era Q4 e-tron models we look at here.

What You Getword count: 400

The Q4 e-tron offered what Audi called 'the next step' in its design language for electric models, an approach heralded by the Q4 concept car the brand unveiled back at the Geneva Motorshow in 2019. By 2021, a lot had changed in the world, but the look of the Q4 didn't, the shape characterised by short overhangs, large wheels and a surface treatment that was clear and pared-back, but also intersected by super-precise high-definition lines. You might struggle to call it pretty, but it's certainly striking, especially in the alternative Sportback e-tron form that offers a sportier-looking body style option for prospective Q4 folk. Inside up-front, it's certainly nothing like anything you'll have seen from any previous Audi. Everything on the upper level is angular, with none of the elements appearing to blend very harmoniously with each other, but it all kind of works in a contemporary, minimalistic sort of way. There's an unusual jutting lower console trimmed in smudge-worthy piano black for the neat little gear selector slider. And, just above, the silver trimmed central fascia section incorporates horizontal vents and the 11.6-inch MMI Navigation Plus central display, with a sweep across the cabin that gets interrupted by a beady-browed instrument binnacle. If you've a Q4 with brake recuperation paddles, that binnacle's 10.25-inch 'Virtual cockpit' screen has to be viewed through a rather weird quartic steering wheel with flattened top and bottom sections. Futuristic? You'd say so. Premium? Possibly, but only really if you spend some cash on a more up-market level of trim. The need to house the big battery under the rear bench brings with it the benefit of positioning back seat folk 70mm higher than those in the front, giving them an excellent view forward, though a little at the expense of headroom. Mind you, that's something taller occupants will only really more acutely notice if the panoramic glass roof has been fitted. It's also wider cabin than you'd expect a relatively compact mid-sized SUV to be able to provide and with no central transmission tunnel to obstruct things, three adults could actually fit reasonably easily into the back of this car. Let's finish with the boot. Unlike in volume versions of the ID.4, power assistance for the tailgate is standard across the range and it rises to reveal a 520-litre space in the SUV model - curiously, it's actually more in the Sportback version, 535-litres.

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