Near Quintessential Sweet Spot

What we like:

Handling

Driver dynamics

Quirky styling

What we dislike:

A little sluggish in city traffic

Could use a USB port

Audi had worked hard to keep the Q2 light-yet-strong. Passenger cell steel is 22% stronger, thanks to a hot forming process, where blanks are heated to over 900 degrees Celsius, and shaped right away at 200 degrees, in a cooled pressing die. The added strength has allowed Audi to thin out some of the Q2’s wall thickness. In all, the car weighs in at just 1,280kg.

The 1.4 litre turbocharged unit features Audi’s Cylinder-on-Demand technology, which reduces fuel usage once you are cruising, by shutting off the fuel supply for cylinders 2 and 3, for loads up to 100Nm, and as a plus, the four-cylinder also coasts, further helping to reduce fuel consumption.

The Q2 gets 150hp on tap, and 250Nm, which happens from an easy 1,500rpm. While we do feel that the car seems to struggle in start-stop style traffic, once on the run, the engine seems to have its sweet spot from between 2,000rpm till 3,500rpm. Mated to a quick-shifting 7-speed dual clutch ‘S tronic’ transmission, acceleration to 100km/h is a respectable 8.5 seconds. Most of this (8.5 seconds) we feel, is taken up at lower speeds; but while on the run, the Q2 actually feels astonishingly quick in acceleration, and you will easily find yourself way ahead of most traffic on the road, with gearing up happening between just 2,000-3,000rpm.

While it does sit at a slightly higher-than-average 1,508mm, the Q2 is also surprisingly sharp in its handling, and its progressive steering helps with a quicker turn-in, and also provides an inherent advantage when parking the car.

There is also very minimal road noise entering the cabin, and suspension travel is sufficient in providing passenger comfort. Even with the relatively short wheelbase, the Q2 feels well sorted, and doesn’t make the car come across as ‘dinky’ as compared to the Mercedes-Benz GLA.

The “non-Sport” Q2 is very much the sweet-spot between the 1.0 and the 1.4 Sport model, offering the smoothness of one more cylinder and more grunt; while trim and equipment may be equivalent to what the 1 litre offers, it is priced at $10K less than its more expensively decked out sibling. And with the VES rating for the 1 litre at C1 (this car is B), the gap in pricing is further narrowed as well. Among the three cars on offer, this to us would be the best buy.

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