You’d be hard pressed to spot the changes. The Audi Q8 has received a facelift for 2024, with tweaks to the styling on the outside and some changes to the equipment on the inside. However, not too much has changed on the powertrain and chassis front. It continues to be driven by the V6 turbo-petrol with Quattro. Previously, the Q8 was available in a stripped out Celebration edition, and a fully-loaded Technology trim, however, the new Q8 comes in a single spec. Let’s run through the changes.
The Q8 looked rather familiar from the outside. The face was ever-so-slightly tweaked, with a new grille, new bumpers and the flattened Audi logo that is going to become a mainstay across their range. The lights were top shelf matrix LEDs with laser lights, but they also had a trick up their sleeve. The DRLs comprised separate elements and you could customise them to four different presets, essentially customising how the car looked. Trust Audi to come up with this — the brand has always been pushing the boundaries of lighting technology and continues to. Other updates? New 21-inch wheels, red callipers behind them and that’s about it.
The Audi Q8 felt a little too familiar from the inside. And that’s because not too much has changed. From where I was sitting, behind the wheel, it looked pretty much the same. The Virtual Cockpit system that has been around for a while (and still doesn’t feel dated! ) was sitting front and centre, and the familiar twin screens were sitting on the centre console. I’ve never been a fan of the twin-screen layout on the centre console, the lower screen isn’t easy to use on the go and you’ve got to take your eyes far off the wheel. Audi has silently acknowledged this with their new generation interiors like on the Q6 e-tron moving away from this layout and back to physical buttons, which are much easier to use.
Pouring over the spec sheet, I realised that the updates were hidden in plain sight — the four-zone climate control was new, as was the 360-degree camera and the premium B&O sound system. This Q8 you see here is effectively an update to the Celebration, and as a part of the update, a lot of the optional equipment from earlier has not been made standard. I would have liked to see ventilated seats as well, if not massage seats. This is, after all, a flagship SUV!
It was time to let the V6 howl! The engine hasn’t changed: it's the same 2995cc turbocharged mill that pushes out a solid 335bhp and 500Nm, now with a mild-hybrid system to improve efficiency. Power delivery is creamy smooth, and ample. 0-100kmph comes up in a mere 5.6 seconds and tops out at a cool (limited) 250kmph. The Q8 feels just like you’d expect your flagship luxury car to — effortless, as it sends the speedo needle climbing towards, and then into triple digits. Not in the mood to rip it? Shift up to top gear on the DCT and it’ll settle into a gentle cruise, the engine receding into the background. The drivetrain meant bolstered confidence on the slick, mountain road and traction was never an issue. So what if the rain was coming down now? Quattro represent!
Much like the Celebration, this Q8 facelift wasn’t specced with air suspension and rode on steel springs with adjustable dampers. No more can it lift its skirt and crawl over tricky bits, but the Q8’s ride height is enough to not require that on the road. What it does affect is ride quality. Air suspension tends to form a cushion that soaks up the road beautifully, allowing the car to lope and stride over an average Indian road surface, but the Q8 didn’t do that any longer. You could feel more of the road — the smaller undulations were ironed out effortlessly but there was a slight firmness that had creeped into the suspension. It was apparent in the way the Q8 dealt with the roads getting out of Mumbai, and some of the national highways before the ghat — with a slightly firm edge, and a sense that it wasn’t fully settled when the road was sub-par. Which was surprising, considering Audi usually nails the ride quality on their big SUVs.
However, as soon as the roads improved, the Q8 transformed into an SUV that felt incredibly stable, planted and confident. Even firing it up the ghat roads, this wide behemoth was dancing through the bends with real finesse. Wide tyres, a wide track and a quick steering combined with a chassis that was willing meant you could get into a really nice flow. This is exactly why I took the long road home!
The facelifted Audi Q8 sits in an interesting space — above the Q7 in Audi’s lineup and therefore competes with other flagships like the Mercedes-Benz GLS and BMW X7. However, those are genuine 7-seaters and the Q8 is a 5-seater with SUV Coupe styling. Which also puts it up against the likes of the slightly more expensive Cayenne Coupe and Lexus RX. What Audi has tried to do is shake things up — by keeping air suspension and superfluous equipment out of the equation, they’ve managed to price it reasonably aggressively at Rs 1.17 crore. That is about Rs 18 lakh more than the Q8 Celebration’s 2020 price, but also Rs 16 lakh less than what the Q8 Technology was launched at. It still is a fair bit of money, but so much of the Q8 has to do with its visual drama: the gaping maw, the angled roofline, the large wheels and the sheer presence it commands while rolling down the road. And that drama hasn’t gone anywhere.