2025 Audi Q4 Review: A best-seller in Europe, but can this prestige mid-size SUV win Aussie hearts?

Audi Q4, you’re late. There the hell you been?

The German brand’s first full electric small/medium SUV has sold in Europe since 2021, but only now belatedly lands on Aussie shores.

The delay makes sense. Audi Australia held for this updated MY25 version with larger battery, greater EV range, fresh styling, re-tuned suspension and faster (175kW) DC charging.

And, you’d imagine, greater acceptance of full EVs in our marketplace.

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Ahead of its launch, Audi chopped a few grand off the Q4’s price, so two single motor rear drive versions, the SUV 45 e-tron and Sportback 45 e-tron, land under the Luxury Car Tax (LCT) threshold and are therefore eligible for fringe benefit tax (FBT) exemption with a novated lease.

Priced from $84,900 before on-roads, it compares favourably to a slightly larger BMW iX3 RWD ($91,000). It’s on par with a Mercedes EQA 250+ ($85,800), but costlier than a Polestar 4 ($78,500), the smaller Volvo XC40 Pure Electric ($76,990), and BMW iX1 ($80,600).

Then there’s that pesky all-conquering Tesla Model Y, beside which all medium electric SUVs must be judged.

Its RWD version starts from $63,400 – $20k beneath the Audi Q4 – but as we know, the established Germans don’t consider the American upstart as anything like a true prestige rival.

Overseas sales bode well for Audi. In 2024 the Q4 was the UK’s second best-selling EV (behind the Model Y), and in Germany it was their most popular prestige EV, trumping the BMW iX1 and Mercedes-Benz EQA.

Audi needs a solid-selling EV for it to sit at the top table of premium brands. BMW’s iX1 and i4, and Volvo’s EX30, all netted over 2000 Australian sales last year.

We sampled the Q4 range across Adelaide’s pleasant mix of hills, country and city streets.

2025 Audi Q4 price and equipment

The 45 e-tron SUV ($84,900) and Sportback ($86,500) use the same single rear motor, offering 210kW and 545Nm, launching it to 100km/h in 6.7 seconds. Fun fact, it’s only the second ever rear-wheel-drive Audi sold in Australia, after the R8 supercar.

The 55 e-tron SUV ($105,900) and Sportback ($107,500) offer a combined 250kW, while it torque’s 134Nm from the front motor, joining 545Nm at the rear. It manages 100km/h in 5.4 seconds.

Built on a 400V architecture, both use an 82kWh battery (77kWh useable), and share a 28-minute charge time from 10-80 per cent at a DC charger.

The 45 e-tron SUV’s WLTP range is 524km, while the slippier Sportback offers 540km. The heavier 55 quattro variants manage 488km and 503km respectively.

Early Q4 buyers score a free basic single-phase home charger plus installation, which give 0-500km range in roughly 12 hours. Audi also throws in a one-year Chargefox subscription.

A six-year service plan’s a very reasonable $2050 all-in.

Key specification for the Q4 45 SUV includes 19-inch alloys, LED headlights and daytime running lights, aluminium roof rails, electric tailgate with gesture control and smart key.

Inside is leatherette upholstery, heated front seats, electric driver’s seat, tri-zone climate control, ambient lighting, 10.25-inch Audi virtual cockpit, 11.6-inch infotainment, embedded navigation and wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto.

Safety includes auto emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, rear cross traffic assist, exit warning, front and rear sensors, rear camera, blind spot warning and lane departure warning.

The 45 Sportback version adds exterior S line styling and 20-inch alloys while ditching the roof rails and adding a spoiler.

The 55 SUV and Sportback score the S line kit with 20-inch alloys (21-inch Sportback), Matrix LED headlights and LED tail lights. Inside are electric sport seats (memory for driver), flat top and bottom steering wheel, Audi’s fancier virtual cockpit plus, a 360-degree camera, park assist and active lane assist.

Some options and packs are available, with most noteworthy the Premium Plus for 55 e-tron models. For $4700 it adds privacy glass, SONOS audio, black exterior style pack and augmented reality head-up display.

2025 Audi Q4: What we think

In the metal the Q4’s an attractive goldilocks-sized SUV, fringing the small to medium SUV segment. In the Audi line-up, it’s dimensions are between the Q3 and Q5 combustion models, as if the name hadn’t already given that away.

It’s by no means an imposing thing, and from some angles appears more wagon-like than SUV, especially the coupe-reared Sportbacks.

Audi Avants are good-looking units, so this jacked-up faux wagon aesthetic works for me. It’s well proportioned with edgy surfaces, and looks every inch the premium product.

It’s roomy inside, feeling similar to a Q5’s spaciousness. There’s the bonus of a flat floor in the rear, plus solid head and leg room to easily accomodate two adults or three kids.

Boot’s good too, with two false floors to hide valuables and your charge cable.

Space-wise there’s 520L in the SUV and 535L in the Sportback, or fold the rear seats and there’s a mighty 1490L and 1460L respectively. Not so great is no spare wheel nor frunk.

It would absolutely work as a decent small family vehicle, but there’s nowhere near the practicality of something like a Tesla Model Y.

But most would be happier with the Q4’s traditional and quite sumptuous cabin. It feels spoil-yourself for the most part, but a few elements let it down.

Leatherette seats feel quality and cosy, but no power seat for the passenger in the 45 feels stingy. The digital driver display and infotainment are top notch, and a smart clip holds your phone upright on a wireless charge pad, preventing it flying around and coming off charge.

Also clever are bottle holders high up in the door at a 45-degree angle. They house one-litre bottles at a brilliantly easily-accessible height, so much so you wonder why we don’t see it more often. Rattling bottles in the centre console or door bases are no more with the Q4.

But the cabin has too many scratchy plastics for the circa $100k asking price, while haptic feedback steering wheel buttons are, like other examples from the Volkswagen Group, unnecessarily fiddly.

The move up into pricier 55 models doesn’t seem necessary, unless you really need extra performance. The dollar jump is too high for a basically similar interior, while the ride quality suffers slightly on the 55’s larger alloys.

If anything, the rear-drive 45 feels more the driver’s car. It’s just as eager from low speeds due to that instant torque hit (545Nm at the back is pretty chunky), and a bit more playful in corners.

Quiet, easy and very traditional Audi-like to drive, it a sumptuous and cosseting unit in town and on highways. Steering is fingertip light, and you can take away the bulk of your braking by using paddle shifters to control three level of regen braking.

If you’re looking for outright driving joy, the Q4 isn’t it. There’s competence and neat balance through corners, but the steering doesn’t communicate much, and like so many EVs, brake feel is missing in action.

Ride’s firm but not overly stiff, boosting its credentials as the everyday family workhorse.

Its 500km+ range from three of the four models does the Q4 no harm at all, as getting above that figure makes range anxiety a tough excuse to make.

Our test actually bettered Audi’s economy figures, returning a hyper-efficient 13.1kWh/100km in the single motor rear-drive 45 Sportback.

Kudos too to the lane keep assist, which can be turned off with a quick stalk button press rather than battling through endless screen menus.

2025 Audi Q4: Verdict

An EV that hardly moves the game along, but nails the fundamentals on range, charge speed, drive experience and cabin practicality. Plus, those Audi rings and mainly class-rich interior add welcome cachet.

The 55 models feel too expensive, making the rear drive 45s the pick, especially if you’re chasing FBT exemption.

Audi needs an EV volume seller, and the Q4 absolutely has the tools and style to steal sales from BMW’s iX1, iX2 and iX3 electrics.

SCORE: 3.5/5

2025 Audi Q4 specifications

Price: From about $95,000 drive-away
Basics: EV, 5 seats, 5 doors, medium SUV, RWD or AWD
Range: 488km – 540km, grade depending (WLTP)
Battery capacity: 77kWh (useable)
Battery warranty: 8 years/160,000km
Energy consumption: 16.9kWh/100km (45 Sportback), 17.4kWh (45 SUV), 13.1kWh/100km (as tested, 45 RWD)
Motors: 1 rear permanent magnet synchronous, (160kW/320Nm) or twin (250kW/ 134Nm front and 545Nm rear).
AC charging: Up to 11kW, Type 2 plug
DC charging: 175kW, CCS combo plug
0-100km/h: 5.4 seconds (55); 6.7 seconds (45)