Given the Q2 isn’t that much smaller than the Audi Q3, you’d be forgiven for wondering if the product planners didn’t miss a trick in making it even more compact.
Fact is, that gap in the range was left for the Audi Q1, a tiny crossover that never came to fruition, but it’s worth remembering that its Volkswagen Group MQB A1 platform determines its size.
Similar hardware is also found beneath the Seat Ateca, Skoda Karoq and Volkswagen T-Roc, while the Q3 has the girthier MQB A2 underpinnings, shared with the larger, seven-seater Seat Tarraco, previous-generation Skoda Kodiaq and Tiguan Allspace, respectively.
The car’s distinguishing styling features are many and — back in 2016, at least — were a surprise from a firm so used to playing it safe with evolutionary updates. Within today’s Audi range, the Q2’s looking older, let it’s also one of the least fussily styled models presently wearing the four-ringed logo.
When new, the Q2’s single-frame radiator grille looked especially dominant compared with Audi’s other smaller models, being octagonal rather than hexagonal in form.
Its flanks are slightly concave, decorated by a chamfered shoulderline, the rearmost haunches emphasised on those with the contrasting C-pillar blade. The roofline is more hatchback than estate-like, complemented by the rear screen’s rake, oversized tail lights and plenty of surface interplay on the tailgate.
You can decide for yourself if what results is a good-looking car — but it’s clearly trying to be one.
Mounted transversely and driving the front wheels of all current Q2s, older models with the Quattro name use a clutch-based four-wheel drive system, capable of sending up to 50% of the torque rearwards.
Quattro-badged Q2s also feature a more sophisticated independent multi-link rear suspension arrangement, while front drivers are fitted with a torsion beam back axle.
All Q2s benefit from a progressive-rate electromechanical power steering system whose directness increases with steering angle, while adaptive dampers are optionally available, allowing the driver to soften or firm up the ride as desired.
