Shorter than a Q3 but with an A3's wheelbase, the Q2 expands Audi's crossover line-up
PAUL HORRELL
For years, Audi has made absolutely no secret of the fact it will launch a new baby crossover. But it managed to keep the looks pretty well hidden until the Geneva show announcement.
The new Q2 is about 200mm shorter than the Q3, but has the same wheelbase as an A3 five-door. So inside it’s pretty much as roomy as a Q3, though the boot is smaller.
Audi is aiming not just at people who want an Audi crossover but who don’t want to pay for a Q3. Oh no. It’s for – cliche alert – ‘young edgy urbanites, always-on connected people’.
Given ridiculously conservative styling of the new A4, the Q2 could hardly fail to look edgy. But even aside the baby-crossover class norm, it has some distinctive design elements.
The C-pillar is a big slab of contrast material, available in different shades of grey depending on how high up the trim ladder you climb. A stretched octagonal recess runs along the side above door-handle level, forming wheel-arch blisters. The base version gets back lower-body protection in the SUV norm, but the S-Line is more body-coloured.
Inside, it’s loaded (if you pay for the options) with many of Audi’s head-spinning array of connectivity options and driver aids.
The Q2 uses the Group’s MQB platform, meaning lots of modern engineering and tech. But though it’s an Audi, and though it’s a crossover, all-wheel-drive doesn’t figure very prominently. In fact for a few months after the UK launch in autumn, there’ll be no Quattro versions at all.
Engines are 1.4 petrol and 1.6 diesel at the beginning. Only when a 2.0 diesel arrives in 2017 will there be a Quattro option. And by that time there will also be a diddy 1.0 petrol, which gives you an idea of the class of car the Q2 is up against.
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