With badge engineering, an existing car is provided with a different logo in order to create a new model. It is an exercise that has been performed many times in the past, but is still relevant today. Audi is transforming the Skoda Enyaq into a Q4 e-tron. Does that badge fit this car?
The Volkswagen group is currently rapidly releasing models based on the modular MEB platform for electric cars. In roughly a year we were introduced to the ID.3 and ID.4 from Volkswagen itself, the Enyaq from Skoda and now it is the turn of the Q4 e-tron from Audi. And then the Volkswagen ID.5 and the Born van Cupra will be added in the short term. They are all based on the same basis, with the same battery packs and the same electric motors. Anyway, in fact that is no different with the well-known MQB platform, because an A3, Golf and Octavia are also largely the same under the skin.
The electric motor in the Q4 is located at the rear wheels. This makes the Q4 after the R8 RWS only the second Audi where only the rear wheels are driven. Nice to be able to say in the pub. In addition to a smaller turning circle (after all, the front wheels can steer further because there is no motor in between), this mainly has advantages for traction. Despite 204 horsepower that is almost always present, it is exemplary. Even on wet asphalt in a tight bend, the accelerator pedal can immediately go to the bottom and puts the Q4 into the sprint without drama. That small turning circle turns out to be an advantage not to be sneezed at in built-up areas. Despite its fairly large exterior dimensions, the Q4 feels compact and agile. At higher speeds, that changes into a feeling of confidence. At 2,000 kilos, the Audi is by no means a featherweight, but that mass is rarely in the way. Thanks to a low center of gravity and a carefully tuned chassis, the car feels stable and predictable. Compared to an ID.4, the Q4 is tuned slightly more tightly, so that the carriage moves faster in a bend and passes more unevenness. Fortunately, comfort hardly suffers from this. It is only in appallingly bad asphalt conditions that you notice how much mass has to be blocked off. Even then, the chassis handles it all without too much drama. Audi has done its homework well in this area.
Step further
The battery pack on board is 77 kWh, which means that the Q4 can travel almost 400 kilometers in practice. In addition, the Q4, provided it is equipped with the 77 kWh battery and not the smaller 52 kWh variant, can quickly charge up to 125 kW. The Q4 initially feels much faster than it turns out to be. 204 hp on a weight of over two tons is of course not spectacular, but those 204 hp are always there, in contrast to a car with a combustion engine. The regeneration mode can be changed with paddles behind the steering wheel. However, the Q4 does not regenerate very strongly in its strongest position and the last bit of speed must always be removed with the foot brake.
The Q4 offers a lot of interior space. All the way in the back fits 520 liters of luggage and you just can’t walk around in the back seat, it’s that spacious there. A ‘frunk’ to store the charging cables in the nose is missing, but the Q4 does have a compartment under the luggage compartment, so that the cables do not have to swing around loose. At the very front, the Q4 cannot hide the fact that it is a relative of, for example, the Skoda Enyaq. Now the latter has a pretty nice interior for a Skoda, but the materials used are a bit disappointing for an Audi. In particular, the lower half of the interior looks and feels far too cheap for a car that costs at least half a ton. It is very nice that Audi provides its Virtual Cockpit as an option on the Q4. As a result, you have a lot of useful information right in front of you. Another useful addition is the augmented reality arrows in the head up display. These appear in the windshield when navigation is activated, making incorrect driving almost impossible. A fast and logically arranged touchscreen and a separate module with physical buttons for the air conditioning complete the service party.
Do you have nothing more to wish for when you spend more than 60 grand on this Q4? Well, no, not quite that either. It remains a bit poor that you have to fold your mirrors by hand in such a car. The fact that the multimedia system reminds you with a push of the climate control sync button that you were too stingy to purchase separate climate control leads to some hilarity. However, there are 20-inch wheels, metallic paint and heated seats. Oh, and the maintenance and MOT inspections for the first seven years, although that is of course a considerably smaller cost item for an electric car.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl