News Coming soon: updated Audi Q2

In the otherwise sober and sensible Audi range the Q2 has always stood out as something a little fresher and more youthful, appropriate to its positioning as a car for younger buyers and stylish rivals like the Renault Captur, Peugeot 2008 and its Volkswagen T-Cross relation.

In marketing terms this updated model is a facelift, meaning the usual nips and tucks to the looks with fresh bumpers front and rear (including new trim elements), new LED headlights and a lowered grille with three slim-line vents above it on higher trim levels to draw a visual link to bigger, more prestigious relatives like the RS Q8. Technology like fancy Matrix headlights for the range topping Vorsprung edition has also trickled down from more senior models while new wheels and colours also help set this updated car apart from the current one.

Other ‘big car’ tech also coming includes the full 12.3-inch ‘Virtual Cockpit’ for Sport, S line and Black Edition models and a host of connected functionality for the infotainment, including traffic, weather, fuel pricing and Google-based mapping. The Vorsprung edition gets all the tech and driver assistance available for the new Q2, combining multi-mode sports suspension, a rear-view camera, automated parking, blindspot monitoring, alerts for traffic crossing behind you when reversing out of parking spaces and Audi’s ‘pre sense’ collision prevention/mitigation system. Vorsprung also scores you the most sophisticated active cruise control, which can maintain your speed on the motorway while speeding up and slowing down to hold position in heavy traffic. It can even keep you in lane with steering inputs and can automatically adjust your pre-set speed according changing limits.

At launch the revised Q2 will be available with the 150 horsepower 1.5-litre petrol engine familiar from various other Volkswagen family vehicles. It comes with a six-speed manual or seven-speed automatic. Additional engines will follow, including revised diesels with improved emissions control and the option on some models of an upgraded Quattro all-wheel drive system.

Orders open in October, with the first models reaching customers soon after.