Audi Sq8 E-Tron vs BYD Atto 2

What's the difference?

There’s not doubt large, luxury SUVs like the SQ8 have a lot to gain from electrification in terms of refinement, performance and running costs. The flip-side is the extra mass of the batteries and other electrical gear but, in this case at least, there might be a silver lining there in the way the hulking SUV manages to force the air suspension into agreeable submission.

For our money, the station-wagon variant is the one to buy. It’s cheaper to begin with and with its greater luggage capacity, it simply makes more sense. Which is not to say the Sportback version is compromised in luxury, safety or performance terms, but if practicality doesn’t figure highly in any purchasing decision involving an SUV, then we sense a great disturbance in the force.

Regardless of what’s powering the SQ8, the driving experience is vintage Audi and that’s a good thing, and even that massive kerb mass can’t blunt the sort of chassis dynamics and feedback we’ve come to expect from the brand.

Some buyers will possibly baulk at the projected range and the Audi’s appetite for electrons, but when lined up side-by-side with its major competition, the SQ8 is every chance to emerge as the one to buy. We’ll need a proper comparison for that, of course, but the Audi should be on any short-list of big, deluxe, electric SUVs.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with accommodation and meals provided.

The BYD Atto 2 isn't just the cheapest electric SUV in Australia, it's also one that doesn't feel all that cheap, which is a hell of a magic trick. If it's easy, comfortable city motoring you're after, the Atto 2 delivers in spades. But if your blood type is high octane, there are better driving EVs out there.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with meals provided.

Note: The author, Andrew Chesterton, is a co-owner of Smart As Media, a content agency and media distribution service with a number automotive brands among its clients. When producing content for CarsGuide, he does so in accordance with the CarsGuide Editorial Guidelines and Code of Ethics, and the views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.

Stylistically, the big news is that the SQ8 is the second model to take up Audi’s latest exterior design language. That includes the two-dimensional Audi grille logo as well as a 'singleframe' (Audi’s own word) light bar that links the matrix headlights.

The SQ8 also gets Audi’s Sport Package as part of the price of admission, and that includes black roof rails and other touches.

Of more technical interest is the way the front of the car has been designed to aid air flow around the front wheels. Controllable flaps in the front fascia as well as underbody winglets keep the air flowing around the wheels without contributing to excess aerodynamic drag at speed.

In an engineering sense, the big news is the adoption of a three-motor layout. While some manufacturers are yet to see the value in this, having a motor on each of the rear wheels means there’s no longer a need for a rear differential.

I think it’s a sharp-looking thing, this Atto 2. Kudos to BYD for not making the design look like it’s trying too hard, or like the Atto 2 is something it isn’t. It’s just smooth, sensible small SUV with styling that looks like it will age gracefully.

I like the chunky black moulding which makes it look a bit tougher than it is, plus the LED DRLs and swept back (and spoiler-equipped) roofline add a bit of visual drama.

Inside, BYD has made two pretty good choices. The first is that the cabin feels toned down from the one in the Atto 3 (which is all chunky wheel-style controls and vents). 

This one feels far more sedate and conventional in its design, which I think is a win.

The other good decision is to equip the Atto 2 with soft plastics, rather than hard scratchy ones, in places like the door panels. In some cheaper cars, you feel your elbows constantly rubbing against cheap-feeling plastics, but that’s not the case here.

Too much stuff is still controlled through that central screen, and BYD has an awkward way of shortcutting functions. They call it a three-finger swipe, meaning that if you run three fingers across the screen horizontally you can adjust the climate-control’s fan speed, while swiping horizontally adjusts temp, but it feels like a weird movement.

There’s absolutely no question Audi knows a thing or two about cabin layouts and ergonomics. Like other contemporary Audis, this one features the fully customisable Virtual Cockpit with a huge range of possible displays and layouts. And again, as usual, it all works seamlessly and efficiently.

The head-up display is amazingly clear and the twin touchscreens divide the car’s tasks logically. Yes, there’s a lot going on, but compare the way the Audi applies logic to the menu strategy to the scatter-gun approach of many others, and you can see that plenty of thought has gone into this stuff.

Also, it goes without saying, of course, that there are multiple charging points as well as plenty of connectivity with good wireless connections available. That includes wireless phone changing.

The front seats are sporty but not too firm, even if they do give you a bit of a squeeze thanks to high bolsters and lots of contouring. The rear seat is likewise firm initially and is really best for two backsides thanks to the sculpting of the rear bench.

That said, it will accept a centre passenger, but that seat will be the last one occupied. Rear legroom – important in a car like this - is good, there’s enough room for your feet under the front seats and headroom, even in the allegedly racier looking Sportback, is ample if not huge.

The panoramic sunroof means there’s plenty of light to counter the dark interior colours, and the only real surprise is the amount of hard plastic on the upper part of the door trims, just below the glass. Given the acres of much plusher trim farther down the door, this seems a bit odd.

The other comment we’d make is that the SUV body simply makes more sense in terms of load carrying (569 litres plays 528) and makes more of the SUV’s claim to practicality.

The Sportback is also a bit of an acquired taste and while it’s not the first SUV-coupe mash-up we’ve seen, to many eyes, the combination never looks right. Coupe on stilts? Surely, not for everyone.

On that subject of practicality, the SQ8 bucks the trend in EVs by being able to tow up to 1800kg with a braked trailer. The factory towing pack is a $2180 option.

The Atto 2 measures 4310mm in length, 1830mm in width and 1675mm in height and it rides on a 2620mm wheelbase. It also sits on BYD’s fully-flat EV platform, which helps to maximise space in the back seat.

I’m 175cm tall and could get comfortable behind my own driving position, with enough knee and headroom to ensure I didn’t feel cramped.

There are two ISOFIX attachment points, one in each window seat in the back as well as USB-A and -C connection points.

Boot space is a not cavernous, but also not tiny, 380L with the rear seats in place, growing to 1320L with the rear pews folded flat. Both models also offer a V2L (Vehicle to Load) connection, too, so you can power up household devices.

This thing really is cheap. The BYD Atto 2 arrives with a two-model range kicking off with the Dynamic, at $31,990, before on-road costs, before stepping up to the Premium at $35,990 BOC. They both get the same motor and battery, by the way, so the extra money comes down to extra kit.

The Dynamic rides on 16-inch alloys wrapped in cheaper Westlake rubber, scores LED headlights and DRLs and gets rain-sensing wipers and heated wing mirrors. Inside, there’s a 10.1-inch central touchscreen, an 8.8-inch driver display, synthetic leather seats with manual adjustment up front and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto linked to a four-speaker stereo.

The Premium rides on 17-inch alloys wearing better Hankook rubber, and there’s a panoramic glass roof with a shade and roof racks. Inside, the central screen grows to 12.8 inches, and there’s an eight-speaker stereo and a wireless charge pad. Your seats are now electronically adjusted and heated and cooled. Plus there’s some extra safety stuff, but we’ll cover that off in a second.

While many electric all-wheel-drive vehicles use a motor on each axle, the Audi electric 'Quattro' system here arguably goes one better with a total of three motors.

The front axle features the traditional single motor while the rear axle has two; effectively a motor on each rear wheel.

When they all chime in, they bestow the e-tron with a maximum of 370kW of power and an astonishing 973Nm of torque; more than enough to get the 2.6-tonne e-tron moving.

Enough, in fact to get the car from rest to 100km/h in a claimed 4.5 seconds and on to an electronically limited top speed of 210km/h.

A single-speed reduction transmission is fitted and drive is constantly sent to all four wheels via an electric version of Audi’s famed Quattro all-wheel-drive layout.

Suspension is by adaptive air springs and there’s adjustable (via the steering wheel paddles) regenerative braking.

Both Atto 2 models share the same powertrain - a front-mounted electric motor producing 130kW/290Nm which is sent to the front tyres. It feels fairly sedate, even under flat-footed acceleration, though BYD reckons you can knock off the sprint to 100km/h in 7.9 seconds.

Moving this much weight at such velocities and for such distances requires a big battery. In fact, Audi claims the SQ8’s battery, at 114kWh is the biggest in the business.

But, again, it needs to be, especially with the claimed energy consumption of a hefty 28.8kWh per 100km for the SUV version and 28.0kWh per 100km for the slightly slipperier Sportback.

That gives a theoretical range of 417km for the SUV and 430 for the Sportback, both of which are numbers some potential buyers won’t consider sufficient.

But those same people should consider the fact that in a mix of winding country roads and some freeway running, we were able to beat those consumption claims, recording closer to 26 or 27kWh per 100km which, if nothing else, suggests the published range figures might be somewhat closer to reality than the EV (or any other segment of the car industry) market typically gets.

The standard charger runs at 11kW but on a 10-amp household socket, home charging will be limited to 7.2kW, although an optional 22kW charger ($6900) is also available from Audi.

The DC charging is the highlight, however, and the SQ8 can cope with charging speeds of up to 170kWh, meaning it can theoretically get from 10 per cent to 80 per cent charged in about 31 minutes on a commercial charging station with enough grunt.

Both models also share the same battery, a 51.1kWh LFP unit, which should unlock a WLTP driving range of 345km. AC charging is pegged at 7.0kW, so a good match for a standard home wallbox, while DC fast charging is 82kW. Using the latter, BYD says you should go from 10 to 80 per cent charged in 38 minutes.

Almost a thousand Newton-metres (not to mention 370kW) infers some pretty serious performance and so it is.

When you press down on the throttle pedal, there’s an instant and somewhat furious response from the driveline. And just as the Audi’s touchscreens have been calibrated to respond on a human scale, so too have the major driving controls.

That said, while there’s more acceleration on tap than most drivers will ever have experienced, the SQ8 doesn’t move forward with quite the irresistible force the bald numbers might suggest.

And that’s purely down to the thing weighing the wrong side of 2.6 tonnes. Sure, Audi claims 4.5 seconds and that seems fairly believable, but it’s not quite as ballistic as some other current EVs.

Still, that’s hardly its mission in life, anyway. Top speed, in the interests of thermal management, has been limited to an entirely understandable – not to mention adequate - 210km/h.

But one thing all that kerb mass has (arguably) done is make the suspension work properly. Speaking purely personally, until I’d sampled the SQ8 over a variety of bitumen joins, potholes of all sizes and even clattering level-crossings, I was yet to drive a passenger car on air suspension that worked as well as the brochure claimed.

Historically, air suspension has been okay on smooth roads and even sometimes bigger lumps and bumps. But it usually fell short of expectations on small amplitude, high frequency stuff that made the suspension judder and stutter. Not this Audi.

Even on the 'Dynamic' setting, the ride never falls beyond plush although you will notice a little more stiffness being dialled into it by the computer.

The best advice is to leave it in the 'Comfort' setting where there’s still lots of roll and pitch control, yet an even higher degree of suppleness that fundamentally refuses to be beaten by a lack of post-Covid road maintenance. And this from a car that rides on 22-inch wheels and tyres.

Perhaps compressed air doesn’t scale in a linear manner, making the addition of a couple of tonnes of sprung mass a positive, rather than a negative.

The other thing Audi has done well to maintain is that almost indefinable corporate steering response.

It’s kind of muted this time around in terms of its ability to talk to you, but there’s still an over-arching Audi-ness to it with an instant pointiness without the frenetic feel often associated with a quick ratio and sticky tyres.

Your drive experience in the Atto 2 very much depends on what you ask of it.

Or to put it another way, the first half of my drive route was a breezy run through the city and suburbs, then onto the freeway, before arriving at our destination. 

It was probably 60 kays or so, and across it all the Atto 2 felt quiet and comfortable, with enough power at its disposal to easily get up to speed and stay there. 

In the second half, though, I hunted down some twisting roads and cracks started to appear. The ride is pretty solid and there isn't huge amounts of body roll during more enthusiastic cornering. 

But the steering is vague and there's plenty of slack – you can turn the wheel a fair bit without eliciting much response from the tyres.

Interestingly, turning the wheel with a bit of aggression also produced a weird sound up front, like you could hear the mechanicals shifting the tyres.

The tyres make a difference, too, with the Premium's more expensive Hankook rubber far happier to hang on without squealing than the Dynamic's Westlake tyres. 

But context is key here. The Atto 2 is an accessible, affordable city-focused EV, and it performs those duties admirably. But if you're sold on a car-driver connection, there isn't much of that on offer here.

The Atto 2 is yet to be assessed by ANCAP but there’s no shortage of stuff. The entry-level car gets six airbags, rear parking sensors and all the usual traction tech. Then there’s active cruise, lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring, cross-traffic alert in both directions - the list goes on. In fact, the only things the Premium adds on top are a 360-degree camera and front parking sensors. 

Audi’s factory warranty is a good, but no longer remarkable five-year/unlimited warranty on most of the SQ8.

The exception is the battery which is covered by a six-year/160,000km warranty. Audi will also come to your home and connect the standard 10-amp charger and there’s an Origin Energy green power offer that comes with it.

Charging is taken care of for the first six years with a Chargefox subscription as well as Audi Connect. You’ll also get six years of free roadside assistance and the first six years of standard servicing are also included.

The SQ8 also makes good on the EV promise of less maintenance with service intervals every two years or 30,000km, whichever comes first.

BYD’s warranty is an okay six years but just 150,000km, which is underwhelming compared to the best in the business. The battery is covered for eight years or 160,000km.

BYD vehicles typically have 12 month, 20,000km service intervals with capped price servicing, but the details are yet to be confirmed for the Atto 2.