After six Audis of my own over the years, I am either fiercely loyal to the brand or simply institutionalised. Probably both.
So, when Audi handed me the keys to the new Q8 Vorsprung, a £100,000-plus luxury SUV complete with a panoramic roof the size of a Chelsea flat and enough technology to make NASA blush, I felt quietly smug. This, surely, was going to be excellent.
And it was.
Mostly.
There was a time when an Audi RS model announced itself with little more than a swollen set of wheel arches and the faint whiff of mischief. Now it arrives armed with a charging cable, a 400-volt electrical system and enough computing power to run a modest space programme.
This is the new Audi RS 5, Audi Sport’s first high-performance plug-in hybrid and it produces a faintly ridiculous 470 kW, or 630 bhp in old money. Which is to say, quite a lot.
There are few things that mark the height of the British summer season quite like the Royal Charity Polo Cup at Guards Polo Club – particularly when HRH The Prince of Wales is playing a few lively chukkas and Audi is co-sponsoring the affair. And as someone whose heart (and garage) has long belonged to Audi, it was rather a full-circle moment.
From Walnut Veneer to Climate Control: My Audi Love Story
It’s universally accepted that supercar ownership remains the stuff of dreams for many and a hard-earned reality for the few. But perhaps the time has come to readdress that narrative? Audi certainly thinks so and their latest RS e-tron GT makes a compelling argument that the supercar moniker is an open definition.
So, we took the eco-friendly electric Audi Q8 e-tron SUV mountain biking in the Surrey Hills. The tracks there are amazing, maintained by hordes of unsung workers who landscape the hills for downhill descents—quite illegally but with great skill. Afterwards, we toured Norwich for a little history and culture. We're not just muscle-bound jocks, you know.
The Audi e-tron GT is a razor-sharp katana on 20-inch wheels, with a hint of Iron Man's mask. Interesting as we first saw this car driven by Tony Stark in Avengers: End Game. The first electric car that achieves supercar beauty. The Vorsprung Durch Technik designers have smashed this out of the park and straight into the future.
Audi’s revised RS5 is a beautiful machine. Purposeful, powerful, brutally efficient and superbly well built.
The Audi S5 Cabriolet arrived at my door in a striking Daytona Grey, that added even more gravitas to this already impressive convertible saloon. It has a soft rounded bonnet with four creases that slope up from the Audi grill and logo, tapering flatly back to the rear. Designed to be discreet and fast, it is the most powerful four seater convertible in the Audi range. It is also a car I know well, having driven the early model in Spain for years, including many summers spent touring around Western Europe.
Audi is offering its customers in Europe and other markets* a retrofit program for cars with EU5 and EU6 diesel engines. A total of up to 850,000 cars worldwide with six-cylinder and eight-cylinder diesel engines (V6/V8 TDI, EU5/EU6) will get new software. This will further improve their emissions in real driving conditions beyond the current legal requirements. The action will take place in close consultation with Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA). In this way, Audi intends to reduce overall emissions, especially in urban areas.
