Audi Q8 e-tron off-road tests reveal impressive performance despite mild road-going manners

The Audi Q8 e-tron may not claim to be an off-road-ready electric SUV, like Tesla's Cybertruck, but it apparently shares some of that legendary Audi quattro DNA that made history in so many rally events just 40 years ago. The dual-motor, 402-HP electric drive train that is capable of rocketing the Audi Q8 e-tron to 60 mph (ca. 97 km/h) in as little as 5.4 seconds clearly comes in handy when going off-road, according to a recent test by Driving Sports TV on YouTube.

Despite decidedly falling in the luxury road-going cross-over category, the Audi Q8 e-tron seems to not mind being off-road. The review saw the Q8 e-tron put through its paces in a number of off-road scenarios, including a test of the traction control on a bumpy gravel section, a brief hill climb on some loose forest floor, and a mild trail with some alternating bumps to test the brake-based traction control. In a surprising turn of events, the Audi left a rather positive impression, despite its moderate ground clearance and road biases.

The only area where the Audi struggled was the hill climb, where it was necessary for the presenter to hold a bit of momentum up the hill instead of crawling up, relying on the brake-based torque vectoring to put power down. Aside from that small blunder, though, the Audi Q8 e-tron performed admirably, conquering the other tests that resulted in wheels lifting off the ground.

One thing that stood out while driving the EV across uneven logs and deep ditches was just how smoothly the Audi A8 e-tron powered through many of the obstacles, making it a capable and comfortable electric crossover, even on rougher roads.

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