Audi Q2 interior, tech and practicality

With its eye-catching round air vents and wide dashboard strake, the Q2 almost feels like an SUV version of the Audi TT. Almost. Of course, the Q2 has a higher driving position than the TT, and more interior space.

But, like the TT, the Q2 now features Audi’s Virtual Cockpit digital instrument cluster as standard. We’ll touch on it more below, but it really modernises the interior. Previously, it was an optional extra, so many used Q2s don’t have it. The analogue dials are easy to read and have an information screen between them, but they don’t have the wow factor of the digital dials.

We love the solid feel of the Q2’s cabin. The main touchpoints are made from quality materials – there’s soft leather on the steering wheel, cool metal air vents and durable switchgear – and everything feels well screwed together. Venture to the less-used parts of the interior and you’ll find cheaper-feeling materials, which is to be expected at this end of the market. The Q2 certainly feels more premium inside than many less expensive rivals.

Audi’s smallest SUV doesn’t really have the high driving position you might expect from a crossover, so you don’t get a particularly commanding view of the road ahead. As is often the case, the Q2’s thick rear pillars and fairly narrow rear windscreen reduce visibility out the back, so it’s a good job that all cars get at least reversing sensors as standard.

Kicking things off is Technik trim. Its 16-inch alloy wheels may look a bit like sofa castors, but it gets a powered tailgate, air conditioning, cruise control and a screen with DAB radio and phone connectivity.

Sport trim gives you wheels that are an inch bigger and sports seats, while the hot-looking S Line trim adds a sporty body kit, bigger wheels again, upgraded headlights and part-leather upholstery.

Above that is Black Edition (bet you can’t guess what colour the wheels and trim are…) and top-spec Vorsprung, which is rare and expensive. Audi threw the kitchen sink at the Vorsprung trim, but very few buyers opted for a Q2 that cost more than considerably more upmarket SUVs.

Find a car with the Comfort & Sound pack and you’ll also get heated front seats, front parking sensors and a reversing camera.

Despite appearances, the Q2’s 8.3-inch screen doesn’t fold down – instead it’s always perched on top of the dash like a little billboard. Its prominence and lack of immediately obvious shortcut buttons may make you think it’s a touchscreen, but poking it won’t do anything – except get greasy fingerprints on the glass.

You control it via the voice control button on the steering wheel, or by using the dial just ahead of the gearlever. The dial twists and tilts, giving you full control without needing to take your eyes off the road for too long. It’s an intuitive system once you’ve remembered where the buttons are, but it’s a bit of a pain to use the dial for inputting postcodes and addresses into the sat nav.

The Q2 is one of the older cars in Audi’s current lineup, so it misses out on the brand’s latest infotainment system. Its graphics and response times are merely okay and the nav display could be clearer – these are all improved in more recent Audi models. However, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are included as standard, so you can use your phone’s apps on the car’s screen instead of using Audi’s built-in system, if you prefer.

The Q2’s older software is most noticeable if you buy a car with Audi’s digital instrument cluster. This looks much crisper and more modern in comparison, and it’s one of the best digital instrument clusters on the market. It’s really configurable and doesn’t throw too much information at you at once, and you can have a nearly full-width sat nav display to make it super easy to work out where you’re heading.

It’s worth hunting out a car with the Comfort & Sound pack if you’re a committed audiophile. As well as the equipment listed above, this pack also includes a Sonos sound system.

Four six-foot-tall adults will be pretty happy with the amount of space they get in the Audi Q2. Headroom is fine if not class-leading, legroom is good and elbow room is decent as well. It’ll be a squeeze to fit three adults across the rear bench, as the middle seat is raised, narrow and sits above a chunky transmission tunnel that means whoever’s sat there has next to no legroom.

Rear-seat passengers don’t get much equipment, either. Sure, there are door pockets and chrome trim, but the Q2 misses out on seatback pockets, a central armrest and USB chargers.

It shouldn’t be too hard to get children in and out through the rear doors, and the Isofix child-seat points are easily found – you don’t need to faff around with zips or folding the seat forwards to find the points.

Open the powered tailgate – standard across the range – and the Q2 offers up to 405 litres of boot space. That’s about middle of the pack for the small SUV class, and is about 20 litres up on the A3 hatchback.

The tail-lights barely intrude on the boot opening, so you’ve got a wide, square space to load bulky items into. Two-wheel-drive cars get an adjustable boot floor, which can be raised to create a long, flat load area when the rear seats are down. Having the boot floor raised also gets rid of the load lip, making it easy to haul your shopping in if you don’t need the full boot capacity. There are a couple of hooks and tie-down points.

Drop the 60:40 folding seats and you get 1,050 litres of luggage space provided you’re happy to load to the roof.