Audi Q4 E-tron 50 Sportback Edition 1 2021 UK review

Most elaborate version of Audi’s first foray into the electric family crossover market arrives in UK

The Q4 E-tron SUV first bobbed up as a concept in 2019 and is already well recognised as Audi’s first foray into EVs for ordinary motorists, as is its close relationship under the skin with Volkswagen’s well-received ID 4. Yet despite these everyman connections, it would still be decidedly out of character if Ingolstadt’s purveyor of premium didn’t offer a blingier, go-faster version of its everyman model – especially in the UK, where extras are a way of life and nearly always make a lucrative contribution to a manufacturer’s bottom line.Step forward the Q4 E-tron 50 Sportback Quattro, which comes with fastback styling, four-wheel drive, the bigger of two offered battery packs, two electric motors instead of one (one front, one rear, producing a combined 294bhp) and delivering brisk 0-62mph acceleration of 6.2sec.You can get this package in each of four different trim levels, but our test car came, very sensibly, in the relatively elaborate £57,565 Edition 1 trim that many UK buyers will choose, a step below the ultimate £65,000 Vorsprung.Audi is proud of what it believes are the car’s new, snub-nosed proportions, the short front overhang and long wheelbase enabled by compact motors and the low-mounted battery pack between the front and rear axles.