This thread has two purposes. With the release of the Porsche Cayenne. The VW/Porsche/Audi team has proven that they can build a dominating EV (at a price if you play with the Porsche configurator). Audi has recently admitted to lurking on the forum, so OG e-tron and Q8 e-tron drivers,

1) what are you looking for in an eventual PPE Q8 e-tron. (Assuming that the Cayenne in just not decontented to Audi).

2) As part of this, I would love drivers like @calbear92 to chime in who has owned and driven the various configurations of the Q8 e-tron and the Q6 e-tron which is the current Audi PPE offering.

So basically, what are you looking for in a future Q8 e-tron built on the PPE platform.

Things that would probably not change across the brand:
113kWh gross/108 kWh useable nickel-manganese-cobalt-aluminum lithium-ion battery
Range 365 miles

 

That range seems more than adequate to me, especially since the charging network is built out more nowadays.

What I would be looking for is better software and hardware. The build quality and quality control has gotten to a.point where we looked at the A6 etron but went with something else for my wife due to all the quality issues.

Better materials and less cheap plastic would be good as well. And no, piano black plastic is not upscale in any way, just stop using it everywhere.

 

So the Q6 e-tron still uses piano black everywhere. In fact there is more in the Q6 than the Q8. Again, maybe @calbear92 can give us a comparison between the Q6 e-tron and the Q8 e-tron if he has time.

I have driven the Q6 e-tron, which was originally sold as "the same interior dimensions of the Q8 e-tron" and found it smaller, especially the luggage space in the back which we use all the time for road tripping (2 adults, 1 teenager, dog). I missed my soft close doors and my particular Q6 that I was driving did not have the massaging/heated/ventilated seats. I DID like the augmented reality HUD. The one I was driving did not have the passenger screen so it had a big black blank in the dashboard.

The most infuriating change that I might get used to if I drove the car for long enough was the center consol arm and hand rest. I love the "gear shift" hand rest. The Q6 e-tron toggle is just not as satisfying an arm placement. But again, maybe you get used to that.

The steering wheel with the capacitive buttons. Again, maybe you get used to them. I did not like them for the week I had the car. I had several accidental touches.

FYSA, the Cayenne has the traditional Porsche/Audi steering wheel with nice buttons and toggles and a palm rest which was deliberately positioned for arm comfort in front of the arm rest.

Cayenne gets all of the nice seats and of course it is a Porsche so you can get 2 or 4 massaging/ventilate/heated seats.

NEGATIVES of the new Porsche:
STILL no dog mode/camping mode
Porsche Automated Drivers Assistance is still VERY basic. Same as the '19 e-tron. Why can't we get lane change assist etc?
$110 K starting price (Let's face it, Audi would want to start top out between $80-$90)
Colors (What happened to all of the outrageous Porsche special colors? They have gone Audi boring grays.)
There is a VERY basic ability to plug a standard 115V anything into an outlet in the trunk. This genuinely needs to be 120V and 240V in 2025.

 

At least in the USA, i'm very curious what 240V equipment are want to be plugging into the trunk of your car?

 

L2 EVSE

 

• Screens/in-car UX:
  • Clean up and make more consistent the customizations per user profile. Clearly display all the settings for that user profile in the MMI. For example, if you have a 'hard' button like the current Q8, tie it a user profile, and clearly display which user profile it's related to.
  • Have connected devices relate to user profile. If I'm the 'active driver', my phone should connect for integration.
  • Add passenger profile settings. When folks of remarkably different sizes and preferences all drive / use the car, things like seat anchor positions, seat settings, etc. are a nice 'luxury touch'.
  • Persist things like air recirculation settings over drives.
• Apps/integration:
  • Have someone who gives a hoot about UX re-do the app and its integration.to car. Up the game from 'maybe it will work if you try 5 times' to 'works every time with clear feedback/progress'.
  • Make the ownership experience for folks with multiple VW group vehicles seamless. All my settings pertinent to a given car should carry over when I add a new car to profile.
  • Make car upgrade super-easy, rather than a multi-hour re-do.
  • Reliable phone-as-key and 'watch-as-key' that don't kill the device battery. Have those tie to profile based on seating position, and 'set the car up' for the driver.
  • Have a more 'natural language' interface with better-working speech recognition and command intent determination.
• Passenger and cargo:
  • Better space utilization, particularly for luggage.
  • A more usable 'basement' and lower cargo floor would really help.
  • Have a more useful frunk
  • Get more 'mobility device friendly' setup for hauling things like wheelchairs and scooters.
  • Re-think packaging for things like the spare and tool set. Current setup is a space hog that could be more useful for luggage.
• Drive/Experience
  • Get efficiency up there to class leading. It would pay dividends in range without going to ever-bigger batteries.
  • Get the 'pogo bouncies' on some roads (e.g. bridges that have 'arched' segments) under better control.
  • Don't mess up the ride, quietness, handling/responsiveness.
  • "Just say NO" to hooptie wheel / tire combinations.

 

You're plugging in your charger into your electric Audi? Is this some infinite power loop?

 

Ha ha...No, but you would be surprised how many times I have run into the random Ioniq 5 or ID4 in Wyoming or SD, at 3% SOC and 50 miles from the nearest DCFC. It would be useful to give them 10 kWh.

 

Great write up. First, as Audi drivers we all know that while the cars are often similar across the brands, they are NOT the same and have different software loadouts, so with that being said, let's look at your list.

Screens/UX: Let's hope that by then the VW/Rivian partnership is paying off. Your persistent settings comment is something you would have hoped would have been fixed by now in our existing cars, Audi simply feels no need. It is crazy.

Apps Integration: It looks like Porsche has finally solved the phone as a key nonsense, but of course that means nothing for us. The other crazy thing about this is that Europe has in and NA does not. I am actually not sure what the issue is.

Passenger and cargo: Cayenne has a great frunk. A "higher" luggage floor though Porsche has responded to this criticism by saying that the reviewers have not been lowering the car to load. But it really does look high.

Drive/Experience: Everything you have said though I would say that with the battery that Porsche has used if we can legit get above 360 miles, I would be happy with that as a road tripper as you would be looking at right around 300 miles of range at 80% SOC. I think that would be my sweet spot. My OG e-tron gets 180 miles on a road trip, so 300 will meet my every use case. I don't tow which the PPE has a 7,700 tow limit which would eat that range.

 

My wish list is pretty simple:

1. No more janky piano black interior, and no giant screens. I want the inside of my Audi to look like a luxury car, not a low rent hotel lobby.
2. No haptic control on the steering wheel. Bring back the scroll wheel that has worked so well for 20 years.
3. Physical buttons and controls for HVAC controls (or at the minimum, permanent fixed screen devoted just for HVAC like on the C8 generation). I don't want HVAC control in the main screen.
4. Integrated software defined architecture so I can control more vehicle functions from the app, and easier over the air updates.
5. No stupid split headlight
6. Normal sunroof... I do not want fixed glass roof that cannot open
7. More interior color choices.
8. Better exterior color choices. We don't need 12 shades of gray-scale colors.