Audi Q3 (2025 - ) review

The Q3 walks a narrow tightrope, given it’s built on the same bits as the VW Tiguan and Cupra Terramar but needs to convince you it’s worth the extra money to buy, finance or lease. Brand image might be enough to swing it but there are lots of very strong rivals, not least from Mercedes, BMW, Volvo and other equally prestigious brands. At a more practical level the Q3 line-up includes a range of petrol engines likely to appeal to private buyers and the essential hybrid with the favourable CO2 numbers to score favourable Benefit In Kind rates if you’re buying as a company car. If you cover big mileages and want to maximise your mpg there’s still a diesel option as well. While there are at least entry models of both SUV and Sportback ducking (just) under the £40,000 threshold for the ‘expensive car’ VED/tax rates most Q3s will be over that by the time you add the kit you want to live up to the premium image.

Like many premium manufacturers Audi often suffers in reliability surveys, perhaps in part down to the expectation and also for the cost of repairs when they are required. While a new model, the Q3 is built on proven bits shared within the wider VW group, so we’d hope that helps its case. If the standard three-year warranty sounds mean you can extend it at extra cost to four or five years.

Audi has always pushed hard with lighting technology, and the new Q3 has the option of an innovative Digital Matrix LED system capable of beaming messages onto the road in front of you to alert you to hazards, illuminate the adjacent lane if you indicate your intention to move into it or even warn you visually if you’re too close to the edge of the road. We didn’t get long enough with it to call it on whether it’s genuinely useful or just a bit of a gimmick, and it’s only available on the fanciest trim level. Elsewhere there is lots of clever tech to keep you safe, though the driver distraction system was confused by the low autumnal sunlight we were driving in and kept shouting at us for not having eyes on the road even when we very much did. Which was annoying, ditto that you have to pay extra for the Driver Assist Pack with the genuinely useful stuff like blind spot and rear cross traffic alerts.

The new Q3 is longer and lower than its predecessor, and better looking for that. It’s also got decent legroom in the back, though the hump in the floor robs foot space for anyone sitting in the middle. Rear headroom is better in the squarer SUV than it is the Sportback, so if your family are heading into lanky teenager territory that’s probably the safer bet. The boot is also a more useful shape, both versions getting a variable height floor for maximum flexibility. On the road the new Q3 is a much more engaging drive than its predecessor, with sharper steering and – where equipped – a very clever suspension system with three settings according to which driving mode you’ve selected. This was on all the cars we tried and, predictably, was most comfortable in the all-round Balanced setting. Which is the one you’ll probably leave it in from that point forward. We’ll report back on the standard version when we’ve had a chance to drive it. Refinement is generally good, though we did suffer quite a bit of road noise and low-speed jitters on the bigger 20-inch wheels. Obviously, these look cool but we’d be tempted to go with one of the smaller options in the name of comfort.

While stylish and well put together the all-black interiors of the cars we drove felt a bit gloomy in the overcast Scottish weather we tested them in. It comes to something when an equivalent Skoda feels snazzier but such is the way of it these days! Onboard tech has taken a big step forward, meanwhile, with a new paired screen arrangement for the digital instruments in front of the driver and the central one controlling infotainment and all the rest. Having maps in the driver display frees up the main screen for other stuff and looks good, though the graphics seem a little cheaper than equivalent systems in BMWs and Mercedes when in the standard mode and, overall it feels a little two steps forward, one-step back. Three cheers for the retention of physical controls for volume and other essentials, though we’ll reserve judgement on Audi’s reinvention of traditional column stalks with complex looking control ‘pods’ for things like wipers, indicators, lights and the rest. They provide a bit of a talking point and are actually reasonably easy to get your head around, but we’ll need a bit more time with them to decide if they’re an actual benefit or in fact a solution in search of a problem! Worth noting that the optional Sound & Vision pack with the head-up display, SONOS speakers and various ‘in car office’ features is free on hybrid versions.

No shortage of options when it comes to how you want your new Q3 to be powered, with the choice of three petrols, a diesel and a full plug-in hybrid. We tried all of them and, in ascending order, the basic petrol and diesel versions feel somewhat gutless and get a bit noisy out of town, the more powerful all-wheel drive quattro-branded petrols meanwhile expensive to buy and run but rather more satisfying if you drive faster roads and motorways. The e-Hybrid adds 10 per cent to the cost of the vehicle but has an impressively big battery so could potentially do all your regular drives in electric mode if you have facility to charge at home overnight. It’s also the most powerful and fastest by some measure, but is only front-wheel drive and that extra grunt can overwhelm the front tyres when you’re pulling away in a hurry. Sure, the safety systems intervene before it becomes a problem but not before a little scrabble of wheelspin, especially on wet roads.