The New Audi RS Q8 Has A Heap More Power

Audi, it would seem, has gone slightly power-mad. Just a week after revealing its most powerful production car ever, the electric 912bhp RS E-Tron GT Performance, it’s showed off an updated version of the Audi RS Q8, and it too packs an enormous punch.

Like the E-Tron GT, it now gets a Performance version. Its 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 produces 631bhp and 627lb ft of torque. That makes it the most potent internal combustion Audi ever, eclipsing any version of the now-deceased R8 supercar.

This propels the vast SUV to 62mph in 3.6 seconds and onto a maximum of 174mph. Some of this is achieved through a new, lighter exhaust system with reduced back pressure, which also uncorks some rumblier V8 noises.

That’s the new range-topper, but there remains a ‘regular’ RS Q8, which still makes do with just 592bhp and 590lb ft. This one will only hit 62mph in 3.8 seconds, and is pathetically strangled by an electronic 155mph speed limiter. Slowcoach.

Both cars get an eight-speed auto ’box, and the four-wheel drive system has a default 40:60 front/rear split. It can, however, send up to 85 per cent of power to the back, which sounds entertaining. Adaptive air suspension, active roll stabilisation and all-wheel steer are standard fit on both versions.

Plump for the Performance (which Audi still insists on spelling with a lower-case ‘p’, for… reasons), and you get standard ceramic brakes, which themselves play host to some massive numbers: 370mm discs at the back and vast 440mm items at the front, with 10(!)-piston calipers up front too.

You can also order a set of optional forged 23-inch wheels for the Performance, which shave a total of around 20kg off the car’s unsprung weight. If you want to earn your RS Q8 Performance spotter’s badge, look out for those plus the matte carbon mirror caps and front lip spoiler, and the matte grey rear diffuser.

Pricing for the facelifted RS Q8 will be announced in July, ahead of customer deliveries in September.