2019 Audi Q8 Interior: Price and Features

2019 Audi Q8 Interior, and features

The 2019 Audi Q8 interior and price, and way this SUV is better than its competitors? let's review these features.

2019 Audi Q8 Interior, and Features

I'm here for this brand new product in the Audi Q8 s line up, the Audi Q8 review.

Not very often you get a brand new model, so this is exciting.

What they've basically done is taken the 3 row 7 passenger 2019 Audi Q7 and turned it into more of a coupe like sportier version.

• The wheelbase remains the same, it offers you a ton of space on the inside. Let's get in, go for a drive and I'll tell you all about the new Audi Q8.

Before I get into the specs of this new Q8, a little background on where we are.

2019 Audi Q8 Interior, and Features

• Atacama Desert, high desert plane in Chile, one of the driest places on Earth, one of the places against the least amount of cloud cover.

So this is a hot spot worldwide for people who come and stargaze and do astronomy.

So it really is a spectacular spot and we're here in the wintertime down to about the freezing mark overnight and the highs around, you know, 20 degrees Celsius or about 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Just a spectacular spot for what Audi hopes is going to be a spectacular vehicle for them.

So what they've done with this new Audi Q8 is take the 2019 Audi Q7, make it shorter, make it sportier, crop the roof, give it a more sleek and sexy look.


The good thing about not being the first into this sort of coupe-like utility space is you get to learn from the others and do what's good and leave some other things behind.

2019 Audi Q8 Interior, and Features

Outside of Audi Q8 2019

So we'll start on the outside. 66 millimeters shorter as I mentioned.

• The roof line has been dropped by 35 millimeters, but the product's a little bit wider than the 2019 Audi Q7 by about 27 millimeters and you notice that on the outside.

• The shoulders, the front fenders, the rear fenders, they have haunches, they give accent lines to make the product look much more hunkered down and sportier looking.

Now you also notice the light bar that goes right across the back of the Q8 and that's to give it a family resemblance to the rest of the new Audi products that are also coming with that light bar.

At the front the grille is not as big as the 2019 Audi Q7, it's a little bit narrower but a bit wider. And the headlamps are a bit more sleek as well giving it that sportier look.

Around the back the exhaust tips have been integrated into the lower valance to give this new Q8 a sportier look. Wheel sizes are really quite dramatic.

They go from nineteen inches up to twenty-two inches. But the one thing that was noted here yesterday is the diameter not only of the wheels, but the tires is also bigger.

2019 Audi Q8 Interior, and Features

2019 Audi Q8 Performance

So when you put big wheels on a SUV vehicle, especially a sleeker looking one, it certainly looks much sportier.

Now the Q8 that we're going to get in North America comes with one engine.

There are other TDI products here, but we're not going to get those in North America. It is the 3 liter turbocharged six-cylinder with 340 horsepower.

It's a great powerplant and it's doing everything perfectly well today even though we are at altitude, Quattro all-wheel drive and then you get add-ons so you can put as different packages.

For example the regular springs are steel springs, but you get active dampers so you can select between comfort, you know, sportiness and also individual settings through the drive select system.

But there will be two optional air suspensions.

A regular one and then a sport-tuned air suspension.

2019 Audi Q8 Interior, and Features

Audi Q8 2019 Air Suspension

Now speaking of the suspension, if you get the air suspension you're also going to be able to get the active rear steering.

Which turns the wheels opposite to each other at low speeds, which is great for parking in parking lots or low-speed maneuvers in and out of underground parking lots.

But at high speeds the wheels turn in tandem, which gives you much better on-road stability.

So the roads here in Chile have been some of them have been fantastic and some of them have been marginal.

Yesterday driving to the hotel we were in a big GM van and I thought these roads are not that good.

Then driving the exact same roads today but in the Q8 it's amazing how this can swallow up all of these bumps and do with absolute grace.

Then when you push it into the corners, it's doing everything perfectly well.

2019 Audi Q8 Interior, and Features

Inside Audi Q8 2019

Let's talk about the 2019 Audi Q8 inside now. This is the wow factor. So, sure it's a great looking product on the outside and I think when you compare it to BMW's X6 and the GLE Coupe from Mercedes-Benz.

I mentioned they didn't fall into that trap of making it look really kind of odd-looking... It has a cohesive design that is sporty and when you get inside that cohesiveness carries through.

It's got the futuristic MMI touch response system with the two screens.

2019 Audi Q8 Interior, and Features

The upper screen is 10.9 inches, and the lower screen is just over 8 inches. And this is where all of your controls are for the car, for communications and everything that you need to access.

There are some negatives and some positives to this.

2019 Audi Q8 Interior, and Features

Negative 

The negative is that some people might find it cumbersome and overwhelming initially and then on top of that it's a dust and fingerprint magnet.

Which just means the owner has to take the time, you know, every once in a while to give it a wipe down.

But that's not much of a price to pay to have so much more information right here at your fingertips.

2019 Audi Q8 Interior, and Features

Positives 

So I have liked cars in the past where you have switches that are reasonably accessible.

You want to change something, you just look down and you change it with a button, so they tried to mimic that but it's a touchscreen with haptic feedback.

So when you push the button, you know that you've activated whatever you're trying to get into. On top of that, it's customizable.

Now, when I was on the Audi A7 launched in South Africa at the beginning of this year, I actually sat down with one of the engineers that helped design this whole system.

He walked through how it works and how it's customizable and it's worth your time to watch to see exactly what's going on here.

Because he explains it very simple and once you learn what this system can do, you go oh I get and it actually does make sense.

So you have those two screens and then in behind the steering wheel, you've got the new Audi digital cockpit.

Now we've seen that before, customizable, it really is dramatic when you have navigation on the screen behind the steering wheel and navigation in the centre of the cluster.

2019 Audi Q8 Interior, and Features

Audi Q8 Interior Features

Now what can I say about Audi Q8 interior that hasn't already been said?

The level of refinement and finish in this product is really second to none.

This particular car has a great combination of leather dashboard, soft touch materials, Alcantara, Alcantara headliner.

The quilted seats that are very supportive and comfortable, the beautiful flat-bottom steering wheel and it makes it feel rich and luxurious

You spent the money, you want to feel like you're getting your money's worth, but also supporting at the same time.

I mentioned the other products and one of the things that's detrimental to both of those is outward visibility.

The windows are as large as you expect in most five-passenger utility vehicles and also because this is based on the Q7, they didn't shorten the wheelbase.

2019 Audi Q8 Interior, and Features

Audi Q8 2019 Space Review 

They left the wheelbase long and that affords a ton of space in the backseat. I've had some time in the back already there today and you can stretch out.

The back seats also slide forward 10 centimeters to add to the already large cargo area at just over 600 liters, so you add even more space when you slide those seats forward.

2019 Audi Q8 Interior, and Features

2019 Audi Q8 Price 

We're getting to drive this new Q8 long before it's available in the Canadian marketplace and we don't have the specific 2019 audi q8 price.

So what you need to do is go online to Audi and look at the 2019 Audi Q7 and configure a product similar to this similar engine and with the features that you might want.

I've been told that you're probably gonna pay a little bit of a premium to get this sleeker look. 

But you also then need to look at the competitors to see what they're charging to get a really good idea of what this new q8 is going to cost because it's a competitive marketplace out there and this product has to compete with them at a price point as well.

But as I said at the beginning, it's nice coming in late to the party. Those two products have been out for a while, Audi looks at them, what do we like about them?

What do we not like about them and come up with a product that is easy to live with like could you live with this car? Absolutely every single day.

So when is this all-new Audi Q8 gonna arrive in North America?

Look to the end of 2018, the beginning of 2019 to get this new product. Yes, there are already established players in the market.

This one does it with a different kind of level of finesse. The extra room in the backseat is amazing, the cargo space is great.

You really lose none of the functionality of a regular SUV, but you get a much sportier, sexy looking vehicle. The Q8 the future of audi for SUV... I like it.