It drives like an Audi. Looks like one, too. The badge is worth it for some, sure, but the car itself has to carry weight now, too. This is the 2026 facelift for the Q4 e-tron. A refresh that whispers instead of shouts. It stays solidly in place while the electric car market runs rings around it.
Britain loves this thing. It was the third best-selling EV in the UK last year. That makes it Audi’s biggest rival to Tesla, home. So, of course, Audi had to keep selling it.
Tech that moves backward to go forward?
The interior changed the most. Or rather, the screens did. Audi stole the infotainment setup from its bigger sibling, the Q6. You get two 12-ish-inch screens stacked together. One for you. One for the passenger.
Wait, why?
The driver gets crisp instruments. Finally, they can show a full map there. That’s good. The buttons on the steering wheel are tactile, not fake touch surfaces. Thank god for that.
The main screen is fast. It shows widgets. It also controls your heat. Those nice physical toggle switches? Gone. Replaced by air vents and touchscreen fumbling. You’ll find fewer physical buttons everywhere now. Voice control works, fine. Do you want to stop your podcast just to raise the temperature three degrees? Probably not.
The third screen for the passenger is a shiny gimmick. You can watch Disney+. You can play games. Everyone has a tablet in their pocket anyway.
Unless you buy the top-tier Vorsprung trim, you get a boring plastic panel instead of that second screen. That trim costs around £12,00 more than the base model. Hard sell.
The plastics feel cheap. Shiny black is out, matte grey is in. It looks better. It still feels like it could crack. Skoda’s Enyaq costs way less and feels just as premium inside. Or maybe even more. That stings a bit.
The base Sport model, however, packs all the useful gear. Heated seats. Wireless charging. Parking sensors. Camera. Heat pump? Nope. Audi wants an extra £995 just for that. Miserable pricing strategy, that one.
Under the hood: Familiar, faster, pricier
Prices start over £46,004. Audi cars aren’t budget cars. Never will be. But you hope they feel the money inside. They don’t always.
The drivetrain lineup is mostly recycled from the old car. Nothing radically new here. Just efficiency tweaks and bodywork aerodynamics helping the range numbers creep up.
There are two bodies. The standard SUV. Or the slinkier Sportback, which costs around £1,90 more. Both have three engine options.
- The e-tron entry-level gets a rear-wheel-drive motor. 201bhp. A 63kWh battery. Range? About 274 miles in the Sportback. Fast enough for 0-62 in 8.1s.
- The Performance is what people will actually buy. 282bhp. Bigger battery. Up to 361 miles range on a charge. 0-62 drops to 6.1s. Our test drove a mix of roads, averaged 4.14 mpk, landing on roughly 320 miles real-world.
- The quattro adds a front motor. All-wheel drive. 335bhp total. 0-62 under 5.5s. Range dips slightly to 338 miles.
The old “45 e-tron quattro” is gone. It was just the Performance with four wheels, less power. Confusing, so deleting it helps.
Charging speeds got a bump for the top model, up to 185kW. But honestly? A 15-to-80% charge takes under half an hour no matter which one you buy. So the upgrade matters less than the headline number suggests.
It still drives great
Here is the secret sauce. The car drives. Really well. Audi blends comfort with a bit of fun. It doesn’t try to be a track toy, but it handles nicely. Steering is light, direct enough. You know where the wheels are.
The rear-drive layout in the basic models gives it a sporty feel. It wants to pivot. A bit of tail wiggle if you press too hard on the throttle. The suspension eats up bumps. Comfortable on the long haul.
One-pedal driving arrived in this update. Adjustable via paddle shifters. We liked it. Smooth regeneration. The passenger doesn’t lurch forward like they’re being thrown. Just a gentle brake from the sky.
Space? It’s huge. The boot stays at 520 litres. The back seats swallow adults for hours. Good headroom. Good knee room. Even in the lower Sportback. This is a car for suburban drives to private schools, not a rally raid vehicle.
Is it perfect? No. The plastics disappoint. The tech interface forces you to touch things you might prefer to flip. It sits just below that nasty £50k luxury tax line in the UK, but only barely.
Still, if you want the Audi name and a competent electric SUV, this remains a strong contender. Just don’t expect miracles from a mid-life refresh.
