Audi Q2: The youthful small-scale SUV

A small Audi SUV has been a long-time coming, but did anyone really expect it to look like this? Audi’s design is characterised as “same design different length” — to the point where even trained car designers struggle to tell apart an A4, A6 and A8 unless they’re up close and looking at the badge on the back.

But there’ll be no mistaking a Q2 for anything but, as Audi has played the fashion card here. The German maker’s first small crossover — which will compete with the likes of Mini’s Countryman and high-spec version of cars like the Mazda CX-3 — is a small car; not as big as a BMW X1 or Mercedes GLA, so potentially less useful if you’re in the family way (go see Q3, Q5 or Q7 in that case).

Audi Q2 preview: Youthful design

The front of the Q2 is flat and upright. And the signature 6-point full depth grille has morphed in shape. It’s still drops the full depth of the fascia, and the four rings mean it could be nothing but an Audi, yet the overall grille form is now more reminiscent of a Hyundai or Ford.

Pocket-lint

Checking out the side, and there’s a great big shoulder chamfer, as if someone chiselled away a great big chunk of the car just below the window line — but this only runs across the door area — creating some interesting surface intersections as it joins the wings above front and rear wheels.

On the C-Pillar, Audi has chosen to offer a series of variable colour panels it terms the “floating blade”, which blank-out the space between rear door window and windscreen. It reminds us a bit of the Citroen Cactus here, although depending on the colour you pick, it stands out a lot more.

From the rear, someone has clearly been picking around the VW parts bin and stolen the lamps from a Polo. Meanwhile the whole thing rides a good deal higher than a regular car. Just look at the space between the wheels themselves and the wheel-arches, implying there’s space for real suspension travel. And many Q2s will have Quattro (Audi’s four-wheel drive system), so there’s every chance it might actually work off-road. Not that anyone will dare drive it there.

All told, the Q2’s design is a shock to the senses, because we’ve become so used to Audi same again. While we were genuinely disappointed with some of the detail resolution, which we find messy and most un-Audi like, overall the Q2 is a refreshing, characterful change.

Audi Q2 preview: Not messing up the formula

The company knows its customers well, though, so inside it hasn’t messed with a winning formula. That means you get a dashboard that looks like the A3’s — well, the air-vents don’t work the same way, the screen doesn’t retract, and the door furniture is a bit cheap — with the high quality screen and plastics present and correct, the buttons that click and clack just so, MMI and Virtual Cockpit show up once again to make for a tech-suite that’s vying for the crown of best in the business.

Pocket-lint

Just a shame that the satnav and Virtual Cockpit cluster display are likely to be optional on most models. A 5.8-inch display is standard, 8.4-inch optional. In fact, the Audi models on the Geneva Motor Show floor had so many options on them that Audi struggled to list them all on the boards next to the cars.

The tech story doesn’t stop there. Besides launching the Q2 to a backdrop of cringy hashtags (we’re looking at you #untaggable) and describing the Q2 as the “ultimate digital device” Audi did launch some genuinely useful tech that will come to Q2. Principal is the myAudi destination function, where you can send the car info from within any app, an integrated mobile SIM with a flat-rate charge structure. Perhaps even more importantly that comes with twice-yearly OTA updates, meaning your 5-year-old Q2 might be able to get refreshed screen graphics and some of the things Audi is yet to dream up, come 2021.

The engine range is familiar too: 1.6 and 2.0 TDi diesel, and 1.4 and 2.0 TSi petrol. Expect a hybrid and an S (if not RS) to make it along to the range in time — meaning you can have your Q2 served in eco to rip-snorting flavours).

First Impressions

Starting at 22k when it goes on sale this summer (first deliveries in November), if you want the full Audi experience you’ll probably struggle to get out of the showroom for less than 28k. Good news is that if you’re happy to spend big to get a premium item but want it in a small package, the Q2 offers more big-car features than any other small crossover — offering lots of semi-autonomous driving technologies, head-up displays and the aforementioned Virtual Cockpit.

Colours and trim play a big part in the “yoof” vibe – so reds, oranges, yellows sit alongside silver, white and grey floating blades and lower body clads. And however you choose to dress it, at least no one’s going to mistake it for another type of Audi.