The 2025 Audi RS Q8 Performance Review is a practical, sensible, and responsible family SUV, but what if the school run feels incomplete without a sonic boom? What if you want something with five seats, space for your dog, and the ability to out-drag a Ferrari? This… is the 2025 Audi RS Q8, and it’s about as “responsible” as a fireworks display in a library, so today I’m going to test it and see just how fast it is.
Let’s start with the basics. The base price is $136,200. My tester featured optional carbon ceramic brakes, complemented by red calipers and a sports exhaust system. It also had night vision for $2,500, a Bang and Olufsen sound system for $4,900, the Executive package for $2,850, the Matte Carbon Package for $7,100, and a ton of other goodies. Add it all up and you’ll need a total of $162,490.
Exterior
That’s a lot of money for something that, at first glance, looks… like a Q8 that’s had a few protein shakes. Look closer, though, and you spot the RS details, the gaping black honeycomb grille, which could swallow a passing cyclist. The swollen arches, like the car’s been stung by a very angry bee, and these 23-inch wheels — because apparently 22s are for peasants. They are wearing Pirelli P Zero 295/35ZR-23 tires for maximum stickiness. Stopping comes by way of standard carbon-ceramic brakes that measure a whopping 17.3 inches up front and 14.6 inches out back. Finally, at the back, twin oval tailpipes the size of drainpipes.
What’s New For 2025
Gone is the standard RS Q8, and in its place is the new 631-hp Performance trim. The Performance model not only offers more horsepower, but it also comes with a mechanical center differential, a specially tuned exhaust system, and a unique suspension that uses electric motors to help stabilize the RS Q8 in corners.
Under The Hood
It has a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8, but it now makes 631 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque. Not only is that 40 horses and 37 pound-feet more than it made last year, but this makes the RS Q8 Performance the most powerful combustion-engine RS model to date. Audi reckons the Performance will reach 60 mph in 3.4 seconds, but we know it’s faster than that. It will do the quarter mile in 11.5 seconds. Top speed? An Autobahn-devouring 190 mph, that’s faster than most Ferraris from a decade ago.
Suspension
The rest of the RS Q8’s mechanical bits are an unapologetic festival of glorious, Germanic overkill. That mechanical center differential lurks underneath, so if the front wheels start to slip, it can shove up to 70 percent of its power forward. If the rear gets twitchy, it’ll sling 85 percent back there instead. Then there’s the air suspension, which can raise or lower itself by 3.5 inches, which is perfect for everything from conquering gravel tracks to simply looking taller in traffic. There’s also rear-axle steering, gently pivoting the back wheels 1.5 degrees at high speed or up to 5 degrees in the opposite direction at parking speeds.
Driving
I approached this thing with a degree of skepticism. Big SUVs aren’t supposed to dance; they’re supposed to lumber, wallow, and make you seasick. But Audi has fiddled with the suspension, rear-axle steering, and that clever all-wheel-drive system in such a way that the RS Q8 doesn’t so much corner as detonate its way around bends.
The standard air suspension can raise itself for a bit of off-roading (which, let’s be honest, nobody in their right mind will ever attempt) or hunker down into “angry cheetah” mode. Rear-wheel steering means this bus actually pivots like a hot hatch, and the massive carbon-ceramic brakes could stop continental drift if required.
The quattro all-wheel-drive system just digs in, sending power to whichever tire isn’t having a nervous breakdown, while the active anti-roll system keeps everything flat enough to serve cocktails on. You’ll forget it weighs almost 5,500 lbs. It corners like it’s half that. It’s as if physics took one look at the RS Q8 and decided to go lie down.
Find an open stretch of road, select ‘RS Mode’, and brace yourself. The RSQ8 Performance transforms. The steering weights up, the suspension hunkers down, and the engine note goes from a growl to a full-blown roar. Stamp on the accelerator, and the world goes blurry. You don’t accelerate in this car; you are launched. It’s a violent, relentless shove in the back that pins you to the seat with the kind of force usually reserved for fighter pilots. The numbers on the speedometer climb with an almost indecent haste, as if the car itself is trying to outrun its own shadow.
And the sound. Oh, the sound in RS Mode, the V8 clears its throat and bellows like an opera singer falling down a lift shaft. Pops, bangs, and snarls on overrun make you giggle like a schoolboy. It is utterly childish, utterly unnecessary, and utterly brilliant.
Interior
Inside, Audi has pulled off something rather clever. They’ve managed to create a cabin that’s part German efficiency, part night-club lounge. The seats are quilted leather thrones — heated, cooled, massaging, and probably capable of filing your taxes if you press enough buttons. The dashboard is a shrine to glass screens. You get three of them: one for the instruments, one for infotainment, and one just to control the climate.
Normally, I’d complain about too many screens. But in the RS Q8, it feels… fitting. Like piloting a spacecraft. And unlike a Tesla, it all actually works. The haptic feedback is solid, the menus are logical, and the Bang & Olufsen sound system will happily melt your eardrums if the V8 soundtrack isn’t enough.
In the back, you’ve got room for three adult humans and a boot big enough to hide a small horse. This is, after all, an SUV; you can pick up the kids from school in it, though they’ll probably need neck braces after the first launch control demonstration.
Materials are sumptuous — Alcantara here, carbon fiber there, and leather everywhere else. My tester had the RS Design package, which comes in red or gray and adds subtle contrast in either color, including stitching in the patterned seats. An Executive package adds heated rear seats, a head-up display, and soft-close doors, while the Luxury package brings massaging front seats and a faux suede headliner.
Cargo Space
The trunk has 30.5 cubic feet of cargo space behind the second row of seats, which expands to a maximum of 60.0 with the seats folded flat. You can tow 7,700 pounds, or as Audi calls it, “a medium yacht.”
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Verdict
The 2025 RS Q8 costs as much as a small house. It weighs as much as a small house. And it goes like a house… fired from a railgun. It’s not delicate. It’s not dainty. And no one needs one, but that’s the thing, cars like this aren’t about need, they’re about want. So if you want a car that can carry five people, a week’s luggage, and still leave supercars weeping in its wake — then this is it. The Audi RS Q8. The family SUV… for families who are in a bit of a hurry.
2025 Audi RSQ8 Performance Numbers
BASE PRICE: $136,200
PRICE AS TESTED: $162,490
VEHICLE LAYOUT: Front-engine, all-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door SUV
ENGINE: 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged DOHC 32-valve V-8
POWER: 631 hp @ 6000 rpm
TORQUE: 627 lb-ft @ 2000 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 8-speed automatic with manual shifting mode
CURB WEIGHT: 5,467 lbs
0-60 MPH: 3.4 seconds
TOP SPEED: 190 mph
BRAKES FRONT: 17.3-in
BRAKES REAR: 14.6-in
WHEELS: 23-inch Y-Spoke forged with matte black finish
TIRES: Pirelli P Zero 295/35ZR-23
EPA CITY/HWY/COMBINED: 14/20/16 mpg
OUR OBSERVED: 14.1 mpg
CARGO SPACE: 30.5 ft³, 60.7 ft³ with seat area
PROS: Incredible chassis, devastatingly quick, handles like a sports car, beautiful interior.
CONS: Small cupholders
2025 Audi RS Q8 Performance Review
