Audi Q8 review - Practicality, comfort and boot space

The Q8 only comes in the one body style, and only as a five-seater. That rakish rear hatch rules out the possibility of an extra third row of seats, even for kids.

You have to climb up into the Q8 which can be a bit of a stretch, and although you ride marginally lower than in the Q7, the view out of the front is pretty much as good. Rear visibility is a little less impressive, but there are lots of parking assistance sensors and systems available to help with that.

A vast range of driver sizes can be accommodated thanks to lots of adjustment in the seats and steering column, and there’s loads of storage around the cabin thanks to a big centre console bin, large glovebox and door bins.

Size

The Q8 measures up at 4,986mm long, 1,705mm tall and 1,995mm wide, so it takes up a chunk of space on the road. The Q7 is a little bit longer at 5,052mm, narrower at 1,968mm and taller at 1,740mm, but there’s not really much in it as you can see. The BMW X6 is 4,909mm long, 1,989mm wide and 1,702 tall. 

Leg room, head room & passenger space

Fortunately, the swoopy roofline doesn’t impinge much on passenger space, as it only dives significantly downwards aft of the rear seats. That means there’s a decent amount of headroom, and the broad width of the car means there’s lots of elbow and shoulder room too. The Q8’s long wheelbase ensures that rear seat passengers aren’t hard done by for legroom either, even if there are tall passengers up front with the seats pushed right back.

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Boot

There’s a big boot lurking beneath the Q8’s tailgate, and at 605 litres its volume is a little larger than the boot in the rival BMW X6. It can’t match the luggage capacity of its seven-seater stablemate the Audi Q7 though – it’s way ahead with 770 litres of space.

The Q8’s aggressively sloping tailgate does have quite an impact on the practicality, too, as it means you may struggle to fit large boxy items such as washing machines or furniture. Even bicycles might be a problem, and it’s a long way up to the roof if you need to put them on a rack.