Ford Endura vs Audi RS Q8

What's the difference?

As much as I loved the Territory I have to say Ford’s Endura is a worthy replacement. This is an easy and enjoyable to drive, spacious, fuel efficient, safe SUV that’s great value with its big features list, long warranty and low servicing costs.

The sweet spot is the entry grade Trend as it get most of the equipment you'll find on the others, without paying more for bigger wheels or a sunroof.

The Audi RS Q8 Performance is a lot - of everything. It offers lots of power, lots of performance, lots of space and lots of luxury. But it’s also a lot of money, and at more than $250k it’s not going to be on everyone’s shopping list. It’s a very niche proposition for a small group of buyers. For those select few, those who want a lot of everything and who crave the ultimate of whatever product they’re buying, then the RS Q8 Performance is going to be a very tempting proposition - even if they never set any lap record in it.

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

Is seems there’s not a single photo out there of the Endura that actually shows this SUV as it truly looks when seeing it with your own eyes.

Profile images make it look like an SUV version of a Ford Mondeo, while front-on shots make it look big and tall like a Ford Escape on steroids. Watching the video that goes with this story will probably give you the most truthful view short of seeing one on the road for yourself.

It’s a good-looking SUV with tough styling at the front with a giant version of the grille worn by the whole Ford car family, to the more delicately designed tailgate.

There are three grades in the Endura range – the entry level Trend, the sporty mid-spec ST-Line and the Titanium at the top.

The ST-Line is the most recognisable thanks to its body kit, blacked out mesh grille and black roof rails. You can spot a Titanium by its sunroof and its bright-finish 20-inch alloy wheels.

So, what are the Endura’s dimensions? Well, at just over 4.8m long, almost 2.2m wide (including the wing mirrors) and a bit more than 1.7m tall the Endura is almost the same size as the beloved Territory, even the wheelbases are within 6.0mm of each other with the new SUV’s being 2.8m long.

Talking of the Territory, if you’re familiar with that Aussie SUV’s insides then you’ll feel at home in the cabin of the Endura because of the way the display is integrated into the dash.

Have a look at the interior images – how much does that look like the screen in the Territory? I’m not a big fan of the air vents either side of the screen, but the dash and the centre console are otherwise beautifully symmetrical in their placement of buttons and dials.

There are high-quality feeling materials in most places. Yes, there are some hard plastics such as on the glove box lid, but there are soft-touch plastics on the dash and also on the rear window sills where many carmakers seem to use what feels like recycled takeaway containers thinking you might not notice.

Oh, and then there’s the gear shifter, or as Ford calls it the ‘E-Shifter’. It’s a rotary dial for the automatic transmission, rather than a lever. It looks a bit alien but it feels like a premium piece of equipment.

The interior of the three grades are almost identical with all of them coming with the chrome effect trim lining the centre console and the glossy black plastic around the cupholders up front. The ST-Line has aluminium-face pedals and a perforated leather-wrapped steering wheel, while the Titanium gets illuminated metal front door scuff plates.

Really, the main difference to the interiors are the seats – the Trend has cloth upholstery, the ST-Line has a suede-like material with leather accents and the Titanium has part leather perforated seats. All upholstery is black.

As for paint colours, there are 10 to choose from including 'Agate Black', 'Blue Metallic', 'Baltic Sea Green', 'Burgundy Velvet', 'Ingot Silver', 'Oxford White', 'Ruby Red' and 'Stone Grey'.

We don’t refer to ‘facelifted’ cars for no reason, the RS Q8 Performance has a number of visual changes.

These include a new Audi ‘singleframe grille’ and new front bumper design, with a new Matt Carbon trim package available to highlight that.

There’s also a new rear bumper design as well as new digital daytime running lights at the front and digital OLED lights at the rear.

The unique forged alloy wheels are another design change, but also bring a functional element. Measuring 23 inches they do a good job of filling out the wheel arches and give the RS Q8 Performance a purposeful stance and good proportions. But they are also 5kg lighter per wheel than the 22-inch rims on the RS Q8, saving unsprung weight to help the ride and handling.

Inside, Audi hasn’t made any dramatic changes to the design, which is fine because the brand does some of the best cabins on the market in terms of look and feel.

What is new is an aluminium inlay and an optional RS interior design package which provides a unique finish to the seats, with contrasting stitching, for an additional $4100.

The Endura is longer than a Hyundai Santa Fe and shorter than a Mazda CX-8. The thing is both of those SUVs have seven seats, while the Endura has five. The only seven-seater SUV in Ford’s range is the Everest, which is a big off-roader.

If you don’t need the extra row, then you may see it as a bonus because not having folding seats back there means you’ve got decent boot space – 602 litres up to the cargo cover.

Legroom is also good in the back. I’m 191cm tall and have about 40mm of space between my knees and the seat back, while headroom even in the Titanium with its panoramic sun roof is ample.

As for storage in the cabin, there are four cupholders - two in the front and two in the back. A bottle holder in each door (which are on the small side), there’s a big centre console bin under the armrest, a storage tray under the dash, another one in front of the shifter and a covered dash-top area.

All Enduras come standard with two USB ports, three 12-volt outlets and a 230-volt outlet.

While it’s easy to get swept up in the power and speed of the RS Q8 Performance, it’s important to remember that it’s an SUV and it needs to offer ‘utility’ as well as ‘sports’. 

With that in mind, the front seat occupants are well looked after with supportive and comfortable sports seats, with a good amount of small item storage spaces. 

The rear seats are surprisingly comfortable, despite the sloping roofline of this ‘coupe-style’ SUV. Audi has cut recesses into the ceiling to create more headroom, so it will be fine for anyone under six-foot tall. Despite there being five seat belts, this is realistically more of a four-seater for adults, although three smaller kids could squeeze across the back.

There’s also a pair of cupholders, two USB-C ports, a 12-volt outlet and your own climate controls for the rear passengers.

As for the boot, again it loses some volume because it’s not a wagon-style SUV, but there’s still a decent, square floor space with a claimed 605 litres of capacity.

So, overall the Q8 obviously isn’t the most practical version of an SUV, but it does well given its focus on style.

Audi updated the Q8 range earlier this year, with refreshed looks after seven years on sale and a plug-in hybrid powertrain to cater for new demand.

A new RS Q8 is coming later in the year, but the RS Q8 Performance has arrived first to make a bigger impact. It naturally gets a performance boost, but there are some other extras beyond more kilowatts.

These include RS ceramic brakes, lightweight 23-inch forged alloy wheels, Pirelli P-Zero tyres, unique aluminium inlays and a special RS layout for the digital instrument display.

Which is good, because the RS Q8 Performance costs nearly $25k more than the ‘standard’ RS Q8, priced from $255,800 plus on-road costs.

Luckily for a car costing a quarter of a million bucks, there’s also plenty of luxuries too, including Nappa leather upholstery, four-zone climate control and a 17-speaker 730-watt Bang & Olufsen sound system, amongst others.

When you compare it to its rivals on performance terms, in particular the Urus and Cayenne Turbo, the $250k asking price doesn’t exactly look ‘cheap’ but it is good value in comparison.

The Audi is a touch pricier than the BMW X6 M Performance at $250,900, but quite a bit more affordable than the Mercedes-AMG GLE63 S Coupe at $268,900.

The Endura has a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine making 140kW of power and 400Nm of torque. That torque peak comes in low at 2000rpm which is where it’s most useful for towing and accelerating off the line.

Braked towing capacity for the Endura is 2000kg.

All Enduras have an eight-speed automatic and you can choose between front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive.

This is the latest iteration of Audi’s twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 petrol engine - and it’s a beauty.

While this engine is used in a variety of models, for the RS Q8 Performance Audi has taken power to 471kW with 850Nm of torque, which, as mentioned earlier, makes it the most powerful internal combustion engine Audi has ever offered in a production car.

That’s also a big boost over the previous RS Q8, which managed 441kW/800Nm, and is only just shy of the 485kW/850Nm offered by its ‘cousin’, the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT.

Audi claims that the RS Q8 Performance will launch 0-100km/h in just 3.6 seconds and keep going to an electronically limited top speed of 250km/h. We tried to test the acceleration time on a closed circuit, but driving into a very strong headwind the big SUV could manage only 4.4 seconds - which is still a very quick time given its size and luxury.

The engine is paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission and Audi’s trademark quattro all-wheel-drive system to help smoothly transmit so much power to the road.

The diesel engine and the eight-speed auto transmission make an efficient team with claimed fuel economy for the front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive being the same at 6.7L/100km over a combination of open and urban roads.

The launch saw me drive the Endura in Trend FWD, ST-Line AWD and Titanium AWD and the trip computers were reporting a couple of litres more than this, but this would certainly be because of the winding, hilly country roads, and the driver.

The Endura has a 64-litre fuel tank.

Unfortunately you don’t get the most powerful production engine without some trade-off, and for the RS Q8 Performance that means significant fuel consumption. The official fuel economy rating is a very thirsty 12.2L/100km, but that's the best-case scenario too. If you partake in some spirited driving that unleashes the full potential of the engine will result in a higher rate of premium unleaded being consumed by the big V8. We saw returns in the high teens across our time, but that was largely open road driving, so we’ll reserve final judgement for an extended test drive across more varied conditions.

Thankfully there’s a fairly large 85L fuel tank, so if you can hit the claimed average you can get a theoretical 696km of range.

There’s lots of good news here. The diesel engine is quiet. The cabin is well insulated. Both of those combined saw me on one occasion press the start button not realising the engine was already running. That was in the FWD Trend grade, too. The ST-Line and Titanium have even better levels of insulation.

Steering is excellent – it’s weighted well, accurate, and it’s easy to turn the steering wheel in car parks or in three-point turns.

The ride is comfortable in all grades, but most of all in the Trend and Titanium, while the ST-Line has firmer sports suspension. But that makes it the most fun to drive in the corners where it handles impressively well for a 4.8m long SUV.

Visibility all-round is also outstanding. The side windows are large, the windscreen feels expansive with pillars that don’t get in the way, the dash is low and you sit quite high. While you are high up, the Endura doesn’t feel like a truck to drive. And that goes for the engine too, I’ve already mentioned how quite it is, but it’s smooth as well.

The engine could do with more grunt, though. There were times climbing hills in the overtaking lane that a bit more oomph would have made me feel a little less concerned that we weren’t going to make it past that semi-trailer before his lane ran out.

That was with two people on board and a couple of bags. The Trend FWD is the lightest at 1976kg while the Titanium AWD is 100kg heavier. That’s pretty heavy. The heaviest Mazda CX-9 (a bigger SUV with seven seats) for example weighs 1924kg. I wonder how the Endura would go fully loaded up with family and holiday gear, plus a boat on the back?

AWD or FWD? Well, they both use the same amount of fuel, so it just comes down to, can you afford it?

The FWD Trend I drove struggled for traction under harder acceleration from a standstill. The AWD ST-Line and Titanium I tested had no issues with traction at all. An AWD Trend is where I’d put my money.

Keep in mind the Endura isn’t an off-roader. The AWD system helps in the wet and on gravel, but its lowish ground clearance will prevent it from climbing anything more adventurous than a gutter. Unladen the AWD Endura’s belly hangs 193mm off the ground, while the FWD’s ground clearance is 186mm.

Obviously the RS Q8 Performance is all about speed, Audi made its intention clear by sending it to the Nurburgring to set a new SUV lap record for an SUV. But the reality is most owners are unlikely to hit the racetrack in the RS Q8, so what’s it like on the road?

In a word? Impressive.

While the engine is undoubtedly the star attraction offering up so much effortless performance, the RS Q8 Performance wouldn’t be so quick around the Nurburgring or as nice to drive on the road without its highly advanced chassis systems.

It has an array of technology to help it handle, it has active air suspension, adaptive dampers, active roll stabilisation and all-wheel steering, which help to make this big SUV handle like a much smaller car.

The suspension does a remarkable job of providing a compliant ride on such large alloy wheels, while also providing responsiveness.

The handling is certainly helped by the all-wheel steering, which gets the rear wheels to turn in the opposite direction to the fronts at low speed (below 50km/h), but in the same direction at high speed (above 80km/h), making the big SUV feels much more direct when changing direction.

As for the overall experience, that’s helped by Audi’s surprising decision to actually remove some of the sound insulation, which allows you to hear the engine even more than you ordinarily would. This really plays to the dynamic nature of the RS Q8 Performance.

The RS Q8 Performance comes stacked with the full suite of active safety features. These include adaptive cruise control, lane change warning, rear cross-traffic alert and surround-view cameras.

ANCAP rated the Q8 as five stars back when it first launched in 2019 and that rating is due to expire at the end of 2025. However, ANCAP states that it only applies to the 3.0-litre Q8 models, not the V8-powered RS variants.

The Endura is covered by Ford’s five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty. Servicing is recommended every 12 months or 15,000km and is capped at $299 for the first four services.

Despite the extra power and fancy new brakes, the RS Q8 Performance costs the same to service as the existing RS Q8.

That means $4690 for Audi’s five-year service plan, and $5720 for the Audi Advantage.

The latter package includes an extra two-year, unlimited kilometre warranty on top of Audi’s five year/unlimited km coverage. It also includes two extra services and two more years of roadside assistance, to keep you covered for seven years total.

That’s good, but it’s still an extra cost when many mainstream brands already offer seven years of coverage as standard.