Audi Q8 RS Q8 review
Revised look and more power for Audi’s flagship SUV
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Revised look and more power for Audi’s flagship SUV
Additional desirability – and cost – for the excellent Enyaq SUV
Facelift has made a good car better – but it’s not quite the best
Wild-looking crossover with PHEV heart
Mid-range SUV is good, but not quite up there with the best in class
Highly recommended premium estate
Impressive hybrids, dowdy interior.
Good, but not enough to topple the best SUV rivals
Brings Scandi values for a competition-busting price tag
Innovative, sustainable and comfortable
Swift, smooth, refined, with the heart of an off-roader
Merc's bestseller goes big on plug-in power
We have a highly-experienced team of car reviewers who attend all new car launches, then test the cars in real-world situations with a view to how they will work for you.
It's a fundemental reason for reading a review: should you buy this car. Our overall star rating in conjunction with the review verdict should leave you in no doubt whether we recommend this car or not. We work on the principle that if a car is good without being excellent in any significant way, it gets three stars. If it's very good, it gets four – and anything above that means it's excellent and highly recommended.
We constantly review our star ratings, and they are a good way of comparing rivals – as well as seeing how highly we rate the car in question. Importantly, the overall star rating is not an average of the section ratings (below), but our view on how fit the car is for purpose in overall terms.
This is a short summary telling you what’s hot or not about any given car, in context with its rivals and most importantly, whether we recommend it or not. It’s something we apply to all reviewing, be it an all-new supercar, a family SUV, a new city car, or an update to a review that’s been live for years.
We test cars where you’re likely to drive them. In the main it’s on public highways in the UK, but often we go further afield to attend international launch events to provide you with reviews that are timely as well as content-rich.
On top of that if it’s a car you may like to drive on a racetrack, or one that’s likely to be taken off-roading, we’ll do that too. We want Parkers to be your one-stop shop for anything you need to know about a new or used car. This is a verdict that you can trust.
Our team of expert reviewers has more than 100 years of car reviewing experience across many publications to call upon, and we make a concerted effort to ensure ratings we award are verdicts the entire team can get behind. We hold regular meetings to discuss the pros and cons of each car we rate to produce the most comprehensive, reliable car review available – and one that you can trust when entering the car buying process.
Each and every car review you read goes through the same rigorous editing process, not only in search of errors but also to fact check, hone, update and improve where necessary.
All car reviews are designed to test the cars in the following areas:
The most important areas covered include how much room there is for the driver, passengers and their oddments. Also, we show you how big the boot and internal storage areas are and car’s dimensions so you can see if it fits in your garage.
We also review the safety of the car, so show crash test results (where applicable). We also give an evaluation of the safety and driver-assistance systems, information on Isofix and I-Size child seat mounting points, and point out any other worthy systems which may affect the car's ability to avoid accidents as well as how they handle crashes.
We check the car's comfort levels in terms of ride quality, noise, seat bolstering and adjustability of driving position, and then test them on a variety of journeys. The car is thoroughly reviewed from the driver's perspective, so we look at its driving position, visibility and how the equipment works. The equipment on each trim level is assessed, plus a guide to the optional extras on offer and whether they offer value for money. Also, we take a close look at cabin finishing and materials, availability and performance of multimedia tech such as infotainment touchscreens.
We analyse the fuel economy and miles per pound that each major model delivers, private and company car tax, resale values, warranty and servicing packages. In addition, we look at the car's emissions (if it's not electric or fuel cell), and report how they fare for CO2 output, NOx and particulates.
If there are any known reliability issues or recalls or prevalent tales of woe from our contacts in the trade, we'll share them here, as well as report on our findings from thousands of owners’ reviews.
It's here we talk about a car's performance. It's not just about how fast they are, but how we rate the engines and gearboxes available in the range and whether they are all fit for purpose. Points are scored not only for outright excitement, but for smoothness, ease-of-use and the breadth of the line-up.
Handling is also important, and fully explored here - not just how fast a car will go around corners, but whether it delivers a blend of cornering performance, low-speed manoeuvrability, braking and towing capacity where relevant.