jorgetav

Hi guys. The Q8 is a great looking SUV with some awesome tech. I am seriously considering trading my car for one, but would prefer more power in a $80k+ vehicle. If Audi released an SQ8 in the US, I would jump all over it. There's a lot of people in this forum with good information. Does anyone know (or have an educated guess) what Audi's plans are for rolling out an SQ8 in the US? I would be willing to wait until 2020 model year. Thanks in advance.

markcincinnati

Rumor has it, there will be one. When? Beats me. The thing is, here is what you do, you configure your Q8 and add $15,000 MINIMUM and there you have your SQ8. We love our Q8. We wish it had perhaps 10% more under the hood.

It is, we think, probably not worth $15K for another 95 HP -- and yeah, we know it is more than just power. So, here's my thought, the Q8's power is likely to increase and there is also quite possibly a plug-in hybrid that will give the thing a bit more grunt.

gk1

I agree with mark...the SQ8 is what I would desire but looking at $100k+ with the options I would want...meh maybe not then....
Plus I get a bad feeling they will neuter the SQ8 with the 2.9T like the S6 saving the big gun V8 for the RSQ8. Just my feelings anyway...

GK12345EMAIL

critter6835

Just out of curiosity why the Cayenne S over a potential SQ8? The Cayenne S has the 2.9 V6 engine in it that the SQ8 is almost surely going to get (at least in the US). This engine has already been leaked for the S6 and S7 via the US owners manuals for the A6 and A7. A similarly equipped Cayenne S is going to be 120-130. I would guess the SQ8 is going to be 105 - 115 for the same thing essentially. You could definitely add less things to the Cayenne and get them closer in price.

dubbrand

ABT is working on something for the US motors. Might wait and see what they release. They already came out with something for the diesel motor that added 44hp and 37 trq.

GK12345EMAIL

markcincinnati

Our Q8 was just a few hundred under $80K -- it is currently the "flagship" of the Audi SUV lineup. It does, if you carefully check the acceleration specs, come into a space with better than comparable 0-60 times.

Check out what $80K gets you in a Cayenne if you're looking for a more, uh, compelling accelerative experience.

For $81K a Q8 Prestige with YR-1 package and premium paint and cold weather package is somewhat of a bargain. If you're looking for a better SUV, probably the Q7 makes even more sense. But if you're looking for the Q8's style, well you know you pay more. Look at the A6 vs A7 for yet another "style costs" example.

The 444HP 2.9T motor that Audi puts into the RS5 is, I think, the likely motivator for an SQ8. Torque on that one is 450 lb ft. The current Q8 with 375 HP and a like torque figure would seem to me to be the Goldilocks numbers.

The thing is, an SQ8 will probably not be begging for customers with both the want and the way to buy them. Somehow we "justified" an S4 for me and an SQ5 for my wife -- until we drove the Q8.

Here's another way to look at the Q8: It is a Grand Touring SUV. It can chew through a hundred miles, some of those miles on pockmarked surfaces in quiet comfort at near triple-digit speeds without even breaking into a sweat, And, with the 22" wheels and tires it fosters confidence when the road is no longer straight.

For our purposes, it would seem that adding a hybrid version of the Q8 to the lineup seems a no-brainer. If you could do that for $4 or $5K more, well that might just be the ticket.