These days, thanks to lightweighting and packaging schemes, most new cars come equipped with four tires. A smaller number come with five (the fifth being the spare), and an even smaller number come with three because they’re weird. Audi, of all manufacturers, has apparently decided three tires isn’t weird enough, and just unveiled a car that includes eight tires. It’s called the Q8 e-tron edition Dakar [Ed Note: lowercase e-tron and edition is correct!], and its bountiful load of rubber only scratches the surface of its glorious strangeness.
Sure, not all eight of these tires come mounted on the vehicle, but that’s only the tip of the weirdness. After all, there’s already a different Audi called the Q8, which very much isn’t electric. Oh, and the Q8 e-tron edition Dakar is a performance model of sorts, but not the top performance model, as it boasts two motors and 402 horsepower to the SQ8 e-tron Quattro’s three electric motors and 496 horsepower. It’s a bit strange that Audi decided not to use the top-spec tri-motor layout for limited-slip rear-differential simulation in the Dakar, but this is an uncharacteristically weird car for the staid German marque, and it’s all in the name of cashing in on rally cred.
Yep, like the Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally, the Audi Q8 e-tron edition Dakar is a rally-inspired crossover, this time drawing inspiration from the RS Q e-tron Dakar rally car. Sure, the naming scheme Audi’s devised feels about as painful as jumping into a cactus, but the RS Q e-tron is a wicked bit of kit, even if two of three cars retired from last year’s Dakar rally. Plus, Audi has a rich rallying history in general, and any chance to break it out is a good one.
As far as functional tweaks go, this mud-friendly electric crossover sports a 1.2-inch hike in ride height over standard Q8 e-tron models, but only below 53 mph. Once that threshold is crossed, the suspension automatically lowers by 0.6 inches, dropping a further 0.67 inches at 62 mph and another half-inch at 75 mph in the pursuit of stability and aerodynamic efficiency. Given that logic, you probably wouldn’t want to go blasting across the desert in a Q8 e-tron edition Dakar, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have some light off-road fun at lower speeds.
In contrast with the Mustang Mach-E Rally crossover, Audi specs substantially more serious rubber than Ford. Sure, the first set of tires on the Q8 e-tron edition Dakar is standard summer fare, but the second is a set of General Grabber AT3s like you’d find on the Isuzu D-Max pickup truck and the previous-generation Ford Ranger Raptor. We’re talking about a serious all-terrain tire with sidewall lugs, chunky tread blocks and all. Yep, that ought to do the trick over the rough stuff, and it suggests the Q8 e-tron edition Dakar can handle more than just packed-dirt fire trails.
As far as other weirdness goes, there are a handful of items to note. Customers have the choice of three colors, and one of them is beige. Beige! That’s a brave move for an automaker that’s historically embraced silver as the traditional choice. Just 99 examples will come in black with a unique stealth livery package, but every unit gets a surprisingly light-duty roof basket that’s only rated for 88 pounds. Oh, and then there’s the price. At first, the Q8 e-tron edition Dakar is only going on sale in Europe, and in Germany, its price tag starts at roughly 120,000 Euros. That’s an awful lot of money, but this is an awfully neat car. Fingers crossed it does well, as Audi A-to-C-segment electric car boss Fermín Soneira Santos said in a media statement, “I sincerely hope that the Q8 e-tron edition Dakar will be a success. If so, it will probably not be the last of its kind.” We certainly wouldn’t say no to more rally-inspired Audis.
(Photo credits: Audi)
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I replaced my brakes recently and realized that the 19″ wheels on my suv are about the largest and heaviest wheel I can handle with my puffy hands. Handle in the sense of lifting and wiggling till I match the studs to slide the wheel in. Above that, it’s a call to AAA.
The last time I had to replace brakes was on my CRX with 15″ aftermarket wheels. A different story…
Every time I see setups similar to the above I get a little tickly tickle. They look good, they look brave, what is not said is that they are destined to remain on that roof and look good.
Yeah SUV wheels are getting so heavy, I decided to weigh my 21″ wheel with RFT tire and it was 80lbs. I dread wheel changes twice a year.
So that Q8e tray prolly can’t support much else. If the rack system in general is only rated to 88lbs then that seems low, don’t know why the tray itself would be rated less than the system. Getting a 60-80lb wheel off of it is no easy task.
I just have 17″ wheels on my Accord. I helped my nephew with a tire change on his car not long ago and he’s got 15″ factory rims. His was so much lighter.
Well like you said they’re “freaking” tires so maybe they’re just procreating in shipment. Sort of like breeding coat hangers, you have a couple of them in your closet and all of a sudden it’s 2-4-8-16-32-64 etc.
Around the same time Honda released the first gen Insight which was basically similar to the EV1 in appearance, made of Aluminum and not rudely yanked from customers and smashed.
My 2000 still is getting 70mpg average with many drives over 80mpg. No rust to be seen.
A few times a year someone will mistakenly think I have an EV1. Usually old guys.
Such as missed opportunity. The forced crushing feeds my conspiracy theory thoughts about not allowing efficient cars to be released back then.
This had me for a while. Audi is DESPERATELY in need of a mojo injection. A lot of their lineup outside of the R8 and A7 is incredibly staid when it comes to styling. In my area a white over black Q3 or Q5 is basically an upper middle class CRV. They are absolutely everywhere and they’re almost indistinguishable from each other.
Their performance models are just dull too outside of the RS6 Avant. All of the S models are very tame compared to their German rivals and the RS line is a bit of a mixed bag. I want to love the RS3 because on paper it’s basically the sporty compact to rule them all but the styling is an abomination and apparently it’s only fun at 10/10ths…and the higher end stuff with that 2.9 liter turbo/electrified V6 is going to be un-ownable once the warranty is up.
Despite all this Audi has serious motorsports history. Obviously they’re most famous for rallying and the Quattro all wheel drive system but they had a ridiculous run at Le Mans in the 2000s with the R8 LMP car and later on with the R10, R15, and R18 diesels. They have a lot of history to lean on and draw from.
…and yet we get a $120,000 blobby EV crossover that doesn’t even have the most power in the lineup. Really? That’s what y’all have? The R8 is dying for…this?! This is where you’re going to try to play up your racing history? Man how times have changed…Audi was incredibly influential to me becoming an enthusiast and I’ve literally been around Audis my whole life.
But I legitimately wonder if they’re in trouble. Their sales have been lagging, none of their current offerings are really class leading, and they’re just not pushing the envelope in any real ways. I’m really not sure if there’s any one I’d pick over its current BMW equivalent to be honest and the long term ownership possibilities remain daunting. VAG has really been shitting the bed outside of the unstoppable force that is Porsche and they needed to get their act together yesterday…
They were really hoping Ken Block was going to help build enthusiasm for the e-tron side.
They had Janelle Monae do an ad campaign for the E Trons as well. They really want to make E Tron happen but as of right now it’s just not going to happen. I think they’d be wise to update the styling of some of their more milquetoast models and offer some traditional hybrids and PHEVs.
And give their enthusiast models some damn edge already. I get that we’re extremely low on the list of priorities but as I lamented in my original comment, their performance models are just way too tame for what they’re supposed to be.
When I was a teenager in the 2000s the S4 was a raucous V8 powered manual monster that made its way into video games, the first gen R8 debuted, they put a damn Lamborghini V10 in the RS6…and even though it was just a gussied up Golf the TT at least offered bleeding edge styling and enough performance to have fun with.
They used to be something I aspired to. Now? Meh. I could go out and buy a new S3, S4, or S5 right now if I really wanted to and yet I feel nothing whenever I encounter them in the wild. Honestly the only Audi I’d genuinely think about right now is an A7…or if I had fuck you money an RS6 Avant.
But none of their somewhat attainable fun cars move the needle an inch….at least for me. I’m hoping the new A5/S5 can bring a little flair but I’m not holding my breath. I feel like I’m trying to have an intervention with Audi lol. Listen…I love you, but you have a problem and you need to change.
The RS e-tron GT is seriously cool, and has the performance to boot, although it is pretty much a more affordable Porsche Taycan Turbo. A coworker has one with the carbon-ceramic brakes which alone cost more than my sports car. Apparently everyone who is wealthy but not Uber-rich just leases these things. What’s $1200 a month when you’ve already got a house and a healthy investment portfolio?
He had an RS7 before and that one was quite good looking as well.
I can’t imagine choosing an RS E Tron over a Taycan personally…and even if it’s cheaper it’s not like it’s that much of a difference to the sorts of people who can actually afford them.
I much prefer the Taycan myself, especially in wagon form. This guy is a die-hard Audi guy, so that’s the direction he went. But to my point, $30k price difference is nothing to sneeze at for people on the lower end who can afford these things, and also I don’t think carbon ceramic brakes are available on the Taycan models that are in the same price bracket. If the $30k didn’t matter, no one would buy the GTS instead of Turbo.
Where’s muh rally edition S4/S5.
Be still, my heart….
So, 8 tires but 4 rims? That’s not very convenient.
And they show it with a spare on the roof. So by my maths, shouldn’t it have 10 tires if it came with spares?
Or are the other 3 mounted, but buckled into the passenger seats?
since it’s an Audi, they should probably include other spare parts as well 😛
Even though it is electric, for some reason, it needs a timing chain from the 4.2 L in order to run.