[TEST DRIVE] Q4 e-tron 40 SUV comes with jaw-dropping features, and price

Q4 e-tron, Audi's first all-electric compact SUV [AUDI KOREA]

JEJU — Audi’s Q4 e-tron 40 SUV comes with a series of jaw-dropping features, but no government subsidy.

Still, Audi believes it can compete with other electric vehicles (EVs) on the market due to the car's competitive edge including its impressive fuel economy.

The Audi Q4 e-tron is the first all-electric compact SUV from the German brand, and was made available in Korea in mid-September.

The Korea JoongAng Daily recently got behind the wheel of the Q4 e-tron to take it for a spin on a 207-kilometer (130-mile) journey on Jeju Island.

The exterior looks very similar to its existing combustion engine cars. Measuring 4,590 millimeters (181 inches) long, 1,865 millimeters wide and 1,620 millimeters tall, the SUV closely resembles its Q3 and Q5 SUVs.

The interior is very simple and spacious, though maybe even too much so. The driver seat area seemed to lack sufficient storage space to stow smartphones or wallets.

Driving was not that strong, but it was smooth. While many EVs from other brands boast dynamic driving with strong acceleration, the Q4 e-tron seemed to offer smoother, soft speed.

The SUV takes some time to get up to speed when pressing the accelerator, which may help prevent some people from getting motion sickness. One of the downsides of EVs is increased car sickness due to their speedy, perhaps jerky, start.

The SUV generates a maximum of 204 horsepower and 31.6 kilograms-meter of torque. It takes 8.5 seconds to reach 100 kilometers per hour from a standstill.

The interior of the Q4 e-tron [AUDI KOREA]

Notably, even when the vehicle ran down a very steep hill, the vehicle felt very stable and safe.

Audi Korea explained that the stability comes as it "placed the battery pack in the center of the car, allowing it to have better balance.” Normally, car batteries are placed in the corners.

Equipped with an 82-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery, the electric vehicle can travel 368 kilometers (230 miles) per charge.

The car's augmented reality (AR) head-up display was particularly comfortable as it offers navigational arrows to assist in driving directions. The size of the arrows gets bigger when the vehicle is getting closer to the point that it has to make a turn. Honestly, with this system, it seems nearly impossible to get lost.

One of the biggest downsides of the vehicle is that buyers won't be able to receive any subsidy from the government, despite the expensive price tag of 59.7 million won ($41,800).

"We fell short of the government's standard in terms of winter mileage," said Park Young-jun, marketing communications director of Audi Korea.

Korea's Environment Ministry tests EVs' mileage two times, once at 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) and again at minus 7 degrees Celsius. In order to qualify for the subsidy, the car's range during the cold weather must be 70 percent of the warmer range.

All electric cars experience some degree of mileage loss in cold weather.

But Audi Korea says people do not have to worry about the mileage as the vehicle has very good fuel efficiency.

During the roughly four-hour test drive, this reporter clocked in with a fuel efficiency of 6.7 kilometers to the kilowatt-hour, significantly higher than the company’s claim of 4.3 kilometers to the kilowatt-hour. This means the vehicle can run a total of 549.4 kilometers on a single charge, based on simple calculations.

Some 7,000 orders have already been made, Audi Korea said.

Audi Korea sold 12,645 vehicles in Korea this year through August, down 14.4 percent on year. It was the No. 3 imported brand, holding 7.17 percent of the market.

Audi said all its new vehicles will be purely electric starting in 2026.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]