Sunday Drive by Hormazd Sorabjee: The everyday EV

Peaceful, easy feeling

The first test was of the boot, which is quite generous given the size of the car, and the Q4 swallowed two big bags quite comfortably. The cabin, too, had enough storage and was very practical for long drives.

If you’ve driven a modern Audi before it’s easy to get familiarised with the Q4 e-tron’s cabin, which expectedly is built to a high quality. The all-black interior with lots of piano black finishes and an angular design looks quite contemporary, but the two screens—the central 10.1-inch and the 10.25-inch virtual digital instrument panel—aren’t as up-to-date as those in rival German brands. There’s no big gear lever like in other Audis, just a tiny drive selector button which sits on a floating panel, freeing up space underneath for a big cubby hole.

Car loaded up, Apple Car Play activated, Google Maps pulled up on the main screen and navigation set to my destination, I was all set to go.

Like most EVs, the Q4 was very easy to drive and what Audi has managed to achieve is a very normal driving experience that filters out the artificiality of an EV. This was immediately evident in the way the accelerator pedal has been calibrated; the instant torque from the pair of electric motors is served up in a finely measured manner. So, whilst the Q4 won’t flatten your cheeks every time you stomp the right pedal, it makes up with its relaxed character, which is exactly what you want for everyday driving.

Battery blues

Soon it was time to address the vexing issue of charging. In Clapham, where I was staying, the closest public fast charger was about two miles away. That wasn’t too far, but the thought of downloading an app and figuring out how to use the charger, was a bit daunting. There was another option. Living on the ground floor, with the Q4 parked just outside the window, it was easy to run an extension cable and trickle charge the Q4 overnight with a household plug, which was exactly what I did.

The next day’s drive to Fawsley Hall, a fabulous country house hotel in Northamptonshire, was a mix of motorway and country roads. The Q4 got into its stride and at motorway speeds, wind and road noise were impressively subdued enough to make this possibly the most quiet and refined car in its class.

I arrived at Fawsley Hall completely fresh, relaxed and at peace with the knowledge that there was a fast charger at the hotel grounds waiting for me. That peace of mind was shattered when the DC fast charger kept throwing up an error message and refused to charge the Q4. Luckily, I had insurance in my back pocket, or rather in the compartment under the boot floor, in the form of a 30-foot extension cable I had picked up from Sainsbury’s in anticipation of a situation like this. Hence, plugging into one of Fawsley Hall’s many home sockets was no problem, but it took 15 hours to charge the massive battery to a 100 per cent. Good thing I was at a two-day conference at Fawsley Hall and didn’t need to use the car.

All charged up

The next day I had a date with the brand new Porsche 911 GT3 RS at Silverstone and, whilst I was enjoying the finest internal combustion engine on a race track, the Q4 was happily sipping volts at the rate of 11kW an hour. The Porsche Centre adjacent to the track had a row of AC chargers for guests to use. Perfect!

As it happened, I never used a public charger over three days and 400km, and wherever I charged was free. With zero running costs, this was undoubtedly my cheapest road trip ever!

The views expressed by the columnist are personal

From HT Brunch, December 10, 2022

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