A ghost in the machine

WITH 441kW of power and 800Nm of torque on tap from a twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre petrol V8 engine, the recently introduced Audi RSQ8 is hardly what we'd call under-powered.

In fact, it’s enough oomph to shunt this two-tonner behemoth from a standstill to 100km/h in 3.8 seconds and on to a top speed of 306km/h if you tick the right options boxes. It’s so much power in fact, that our test unit could not seem to contain it, shutting itself down on several occasions, going into a "Safe CP" mode during our evaluation period (more on this later).

Remember the Audi RS6 Avant? That was the car you had to buy if you needed loads of space and you wanted to travel very quickly with lots of grip; to give you a confidence-inspiring drive no matter the weather.

Now, because SUVs are trending, the RSQ8 is basically the new RS6 Avant. Audi still build the RS6 Avant, and we'll test that soon, but for all essential purposes, this RSQ8 does everything the wagon does and more. In fact, the RSQ8 set a production car lap record at the Nurburgring when it was launched a few years ago. You know you're getting something special with the RSQ8 because for so many years the RS6 Avant has dominated this space for Audi and now they've taken everything they've learned from their sedans and estates and they're plugging that knowledge into the SUVs. Some will argue that the Audi RSQ8 is a Lamborghini Urus in disguise and while they might share components, they are very differently strung in terms of how they deliver their performance.

Our RSQ8 test unit arrived in Dragon Orange with a high-end leather interior and hundreds of thousands of rands of options fitted to it, including carbon packs to elevate its presence on the road even further.

It commanded attention in the suburbs and it made just the right amount of noise to please the ear without becoming tiresome with crackles and pops. On day one of my test, I left the car in its standard Comfort setting in the Drive Select menu and it had more than enough engagement factor. It was comfy and cosseting inside and the updated MMI system with CarPlay ensured the cabin was a pleasant place to be. There's a host of comfort features in the car such as voice control and multi-stage seat adjustment, but as mentioned earlier the car is about performance so I was really looking forward to day two of the test drive.

I saved the Dynamic mode for day two for our test drive around Hartbeespoort Dam and the Cradle of Humankind. I took the R512 and turned on to our test route but pulled over to take a few pictures of the car.

I jumped back into the RSQ8, fired it up and then dialled it up to Dynamic mode in the Drive Select programme and pulled onto the road. I hadn't even given it the full beans for 10 seconds when the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree and then switched itself off (it has the virtual cockpit system).

The central MMI screens also reset and the engine felt as though it went into a limp mode with a slight misfire (more like cylinder de-activation at times). In the instrument cluster, the car read Safe CP. I pulled over, switched the car off for 10 minutes and then fired it up again to see if things would be different and the gremlin seemed to have disappeared; however, once I selected Dynamic mode again and gave it some acceleration, the car said no-go and threw up a Safe CP warning again. I called it quits and nursed the RSQ8 back home and contacted Audi to fetch it as it was not a happy car. In fact, the car did the strangest thing, where the front passenger seat started to adjust itself while I was driving, which gave me one heck of a fright.

So while we didn't get to put the RSQ8 through its paces just yet, our first encounter with the car and the ghost in its machine proved exciting, perhaps for different reasons. Audi is investigating the vehicle and will let us know what happened once a diagnostic assessment is complete.