Volvo XC90 vs Audi RS Q3

What's the difference?

The XC90 Recharge makes a lot of sense for a family with a couple of kids, who live and spend most of their time in the city and surrounding suburbs.

You’ll need access to a power point for charging and you’ll have to do it regularly to get the best out of this SUV, but in return you’ll get effortless and efficient driving, along with the practicality and prestige which comes with any XC90. 

The Audi RS Q3 Sportback edition 10 years is dynamically brilliant, beautifully finished and surprisingly civilised on day-to-day duty. A polished compact performance package that even in this special 'get-it-while-you-can' guise offers compelling value relative to its direct competitors.

Cars are like dogs in that a year for them ages them more than one for us. So, this current-generation XC90 which came out in 2015 is getting on in age. Still, the XC90 is a design lesson in how to defy the aging process because the styling even now it appears modern and beautiful. It’s also big, tough, and prestigious looking which is how the flagship SUV in a premium brand should be.

The Thunder Grey paint my test car wore (see the images) is an optional hue, and it suited the battleship size and personality of the XC90. The enormous 22-inch five -spoke Black Diamond Cut alloy wheels were standard and filled up those giant arches nicely.

Maybe it’s the minimalist styling which has kept the XC90 looking cutting edge, because even the interior looks like the inside of a very expensive psychiatrist’s office with those leather seats and the brushed aluminium trim.

The vertical display is still impressive even in 2021, and while fully digital instrument clusters are in everything these days the XC90’s has a prestigious look and matches the rest of the cabin in its colours and fonts.

As for the XC90’s dimensions, it’s 4953mm long, 2008mm wide with the mirrors folded and 1776mm tall to the top of its shark fin antenna.

There's a lot going on with the RS Q3's exterior design; a mix of jagged lights, hard character lines, broad haunches and multiple vents surrounding the brand's signature, six-sided grille up front.

The big 21-inch rims fill the arches nicely and the rear features a deep diffuser with fat exhaust finishers poking out either side.

It's a purposeful, macho look and the Sportback edition 10 years is defined by a black package which adds gloss black to the side window trim, front spoiler blade, side blades, rear diffuser and exterior mirrors.

The limited edition is available in two colours, 'Chronos Grey metallic', which is unique to this model and 'Dew Silver matte' which will now be added to the broader RS Q3 colour palette.

Premium performance feels like the dominant theme inside with a typically Audi tech-focused approach including high-quality brushed metal elements, matt carbon inserts and quilted leather trim on the heavily bolstered front seats.

A meticulous attention to detail is obvious and the bottom line is it's all about the driver. A grippy, flat-bottom, leather-trimmed steering wheel looks as good as it feels, sleek screens enhance the racy vibe and the mix of physical and digital controls is sensible.

Clever interior packaging means the XC90 Recharge is more practical than many large SUVs. There are flashes of utilitarian brilliance everywhere from the children’s booster seat which pops out of the centre of the second row (see the images) to the way the XC90 can crouch down like an elephant to make it easier to load stuff into the boot.

The XC90 Recharge is a seven-seater, and like all SUVs with third rows those seats in the very back only offer enough room for kids. The second row is spacious even for me at 191cm tall with plenty of leg- and headroom. Up front as you’d expect has good head-, elbow- and shoulder room.

Cabin storage is good with two cup holders in each row (the third also has containers under the armrests) and there are large door pockets, a decent sized centre console box and a net pocket in the front passenger footwell.

The cargo capacity with all seats being used is 291 litres and with the third row folded flat you’ll have 651 litres of boot space.

Storage for the charging cable could be better. The cable comes in a stylish canvas bag that sits in the boot, but other plug-in hybrids I’ve driven do a better job of providing a storage box for the cable that’s out of the way of your regular cargo.  

The gesture control tailgate works with a foot swish under the rear of the car and the proximity key means you can lock and unlock the vehicle by touching the door handle.

The cargo area is filled with hooks for bags and a lift-up divider to hold items in place.

Four-zone climate control, four USB ports (two in the front and two in the second row) dark tinted rear windows and sun blinds top off what is a very practical, family SUV.

My family is small – there’s just three of us – and so the XC90 was more than what we needed. That said, we found a way to fill it with holiday gear, shopping, even a mini trampoline.

Snug but spacious enough, the RS Q3 Sportback's driver and front passenger are provided with plenty of breathing room without upsetting the intimate, performance car feel. Just be prepared for a bit of head-ducking physical origami when folding yourself into either of the heavily bolstered front seats.

Storage includes door bins with room for bottles, two generous cupholders in the centre console, a lidded tray in front of the gearshift (which doubles as the wireless device charging bay), a storage compartment and owners manual holder under the front seats, a modest glove box and an adjustable front centre armrest with storage compartment.

Given this car measures just over 4.5m end-to-end, a close to 2.7m wheelbase is significant  and rear room is generous given the Q3's overall footprint. Plenty of head and legroom (for me at 183cm) with enough width for three adults on short journeys. A trio of up to teenage kids will be fine.

The back seat is able to slide for extra legroom (and slightly less boot space), while backrest angle is also adjustable.

Storage runs to small bins in the doors, a fold-down centre armrest (with two pop-up cupholders) and storage nets on the back of the front seats. Directional and temperature control in the rear for the ventilation system is a big plus.

Power and connectivity options run to a 12V outlet and two USB sockets in the front (Type A and C), another two Type C sockets in the back and a second 12-volt jack in the boot.

Speaking of which, cargo volume with all seats up is a handy 530 litres, enough to swallow CarsGuide's three-piece luggage set or large pram (the latter with room to spare) and 1400 litres with the 40/20/40 split-folding rear seat lowered.

The loading lip is low, a stainless steel sill protector helps minimise scuffs and scratches and the hands-free power tailgate is welcome.

If you're keen to hook up the boat or horse float the RS Q3 is able to tow a braked trailer up to 1900kg (750kg unbraked), but don't bother looking for a spare of any description, a repair/inflator kit is your only option. Boo...

The Audi RS Q3 Sportback edition 10 years is priced at $102,900, before on-road costs, which is a $3800 premium over the standard issue version.

For those extra dollars the car is upgraded with specific 21-inch black alloy rims, black badging and brake calipers as well as (three-stage heated) 'RS' Nappa leather-trimmed sports front seats with contrast 'Copper Honeycomb' stitching.

The fancy stitching extends to the Alcantara-trimmed steering wheel and gear lever, the RS floor mats also feature copper highlights and the door downlighting projects a unique rhombus design.

At that money the RS Q3 lines up against BMW's firecracker X3 M40i ($126,800), the ferocious Mercedes-AMG GLA45 S ($121,900) with the Jaguar E-Pace 300 Sport AWD ($84,500) the only other similarly pitched compact performance SUV within $20K of the Audi.

And as well as the performance and safety tech covered later in the review, the RS Q3's standard features list includes, three-zone climate control, adaptive cruise control, keyless entry and start, Nappa leather trim, ambient lighting (with 30 colour choices), an RS sport contour leather-trimmed steering wheel, 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, 10.1-inch multimedia display (with text and voice control), (wired) Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, sat nav and wireless device charging.

There's also a Bang & Olufsen '3D Sound System' (15-speaker with 680-watt, 16-channel amp), digital radio, 21-inch alloys, electronically-controlled adaptive dampers, auto Matrix LED headlights (with RS-specific darkened trim) and a hands-free power tailgate. And it's worth noting metallic and pearl effect paint finishes are offered at no extra cost.

Pretty impressive. Especially when you consider even this special edition RS Q3 is $20,000 cheaper than its primary BMW and Merc-AMG rivals.

The XC90 Recharge (Volvo calls it this, so for simplicity let's do it, too) is an all-wheel drive SUV with a 2.0-litre four-cylinder supercharged and turbo-charged engine, producing 246kW and 440Nm, plus an electric motor which adds 65kW and 240Nm.

Shifting gears is an eight-speed automatic and acceleration is rapid at 5.5 seconds for the 0-100km/h sprint.

All XC90s have a 2400kg braked towing capacity.

The 11.6kWh lithium ion battery is located under the floor in a tunnel which runs down the centre of the car covered by the centre console and hump in the footwell of the second row.

If you didn’t realise, this is the type of hybrid you need to plug into a power source to charge the batteries. A power point is fine but a wall unit is faster.  If you don’t plug in, the battery will only get tiny whiff of charge from the regenerative braking and that won’t be enough to put a tiny dent in your fuel consumption.

The RS Q3 Sportback is powered by a 2.5-litre in-line five-cylinder intercooled turbo-petrol engine sending drive to all four wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission and Audi's quattro permanent all-wheel drive system based on an electronically-controlled multi-plate clutch pack.

Featuring a cast iron block, alloy head, direct-injection as well as variable intake and exhaust cam adjustment, the (EA855) engine features a special firing order (1-2-4-5-3), the odd number of cylinders producing a signature engine sound and exhaust note reminiscent of the 1980s 'Ur' Quattro.

Peak power is 294kW from 5850-7000rpm and maximum torque is 480Nm delivered across a broad plateau from 1950-5850rpm.

Volvo says that after a combination of urban and open roads the XC 90 Recharge should use 2.1L/100km. That’s incredible - we’re talking about a five-metre long, 2.2-tonne, seven-seat SUV here.

In my testing the fuel economy varied greatly depending on how and where I drove the XC90.

There was a week where I only drove up to 15km a day doing the day care drop-offs, the shopping, popping into work in the CBD, but all within 10km of my home. With 35km of electric range I found that I only had to charge the XC90 every second day to keep it topped up to full and, according to the trip computer, after 55km of travel I was using 1.9L/100km.

I recharged using the outdoor power point in my driveway and using this method would take just less than five hours to fully charge the battery from empty. A wall unit or fast charger will top the battery up much quicker.

The charging cable is long at more than 3m, and the flap on the XC90 is located on the front left wheel guard.

If you don’t have a way of charging the XC90 regularly then fuel consumption will go up, obviously.

This happened when our family took a break down the coast and the holiday house we stayed at didn’t have a power point within reach. So, while we had been charging the car regularly in the week beforehand with a few long trips thrown in on motorways, for the four days we were away I didn’t plug it in at all.

After 598.4km I filled it back to full at the petrol pump with 46.13 litres of premium unleaded. That comes to 7.7L/100km, which is still great fuel economy given that the last 200km would have been without charging.

The lesson is the XC90 Recharge is most fuel efficient on short suburban and city trips with daily or every second-day charging.  

A larger capacity battery would add more range and make this plug-in hybrid SUV better suited to people who live further out of the city and do more motorway miles.

Audi's official fuel economy number for the RS Q3 on the combined cycle is 8.9L/100km, the 2.5-litre turbo-petrol five-cylinder engine emitting 204g/km of CO2 in the process. Stop-start is standard.

We covered city, suburban and some freeway running on test, returning an (indicated) average of 9.6L/100km. And that's pretty good, given we pushed on enthusiastically on a reasonably regular basis.

The fuel tank requires 63 litres of 98 RON premium unleaded to fill it which translates to a theoretical range of just over 700km, shrinking to around 650km based on our real-world number.

We put more than 700km on the clock of the XC90 Recharge during the three weeks it stayed with my family, covering a lot of motorway miles, country roads and a stack of urban usage, too.

Now without sounding like one of the haters who hated on me the last time I test-drove a Volvo hybrid, you will need to charge the XC90 Recharge all the time if you want to get not only the best fuel economy, but also the best performance from the SUV, too.

There’s the extra oomph from the motor, when you have enough charge in the ‘tank’ but also the serene and smooth pleasure of driving in electric mode on city and urban trips.

That tranquil electric driving experience feels kind of at odds with a large SUV at first, but having now tested a few big family plug-in hybrids and EVs I can tell you it’s a more enjoyable one.

Movement is not only smooth, but the electric grunt provides a feeling of control with an instant response which I found reassuring in traffic and at intersections.

The transition from electric motor to petrol engine is almost seamless. Volvo and Toyota are only a couple of the few brands which seemed to have achieved this.

The XC90 is large and that presented a challenge when trying to pilot it into my narrow driveaway and in car parks, but light, accurate steering and excellent visibility with large windows and cameras galore helped there.

The auto parking feature works well even on the higgledy-piggledy streets in my neighbourhood.

Topping off an effortless driving experience is air suspension which provides a cushioned and composed ride, with great body control all while wearing those 22-inch wheels and low-profile rubber.

It still seems counterintuitive when a high-riding SUV is tuned to perform and handle like a low-slung sports car but here we are. And Audi executes this mystifying transformation as expertly as any carmaker in the automotive world.

Audi says the RS Q3 Sportback will blast from 0-100km/h in 4.5 seconds. Anything under 5.0 seconds is properly fast, and there's nothing quite like the deep-throated bellow of a VW Group in-line five to raise the hairs on the back of your neck.

The RS Q3's sport exhaust system is a dual-branch set-up with exhaust flap control, and people of a certain age will instantly imagine themselves matching it with Ari Vatanen, Walter Röhrl and Michèle Mouton on a suburban special stage behind the wheel of a 1980s Group B Sport Quattro rally car (actually, the school drop off at an infinitely more sensible pace).

The car weighs in at a not insubstantial 1775kg, but 480Nm, available all the way from 1950rpm to 5850rpm, means a near instant surge of fierce acceleration is always lurking under your right foot.

And the VW Group is on the pace when it comes to dual-clutch auto transmissions, from Porsche's 'PDK' and VW's 'DSG' to Lambo's 'DCT' and Audi's 'S tronic'.

The RS Q3's seven-speed unit is quick and positive, the wheel-mounted paddles ramping up the engagement factor.

The variable ratio, electrically-assisted steering is capital G Great. Well weighted and precise with reassuring road feel and the Alcantara trimmed wheel is a nice way to access it all.

Suspension is by struts at the front and multi-links (four) at the rear with adaptive dampers on-board.

Despite running on 21-inch rims, shod with high-performance 255/35 Continental PremiumContact 6 rubber, ride comfort is surprisingly good.

Dial in 'Comfort' mode via the 'Drive Select' system and the impact of even substantial bumps is softened off appreciably.

An ideal set-up would be the first 'RS1' short-cut Drive Select button set for Comfort suspension, with throttle, steering and transmission set to maximum attack and the second 'RS2' mode tweaking the suspension to track-day level, too.

Push on through your favourite set of bends and you can feel the electronic wheel-selective torque control system keeping everything under control. This car puts its power down through sweeping sections with fuss-free authority.

The RS-specific menu in the digital instrument cluster provides extra instrumentation in the shape of a power/torque display, G meter and lap timer. Fun!

The brakes are professional grade with big ventilated rotors all around and aluminium fixed calipers at the front.

But beware, the flip side of the RS Q3's quick steering response is a sizeable 11.8m turning circle. Take your time when parking.

Although the Audi Q3 received a maximum five-star ANCAP score in 2019, the RS Q3 was specifically excluded from the assessment, so it's officially untested.

But the car boasts an extensive active (crash-avoidance) safety suite including, auto emergency braking (AEB) (5.0km/h to 85km/h for pedestrians and cyclists and up to 250km/h for vehicles), adaptive cruise control (with stop-go function and active lane assist), lane change warning and lane departure warning (with lane keeping assist).

There's also 'Attention Assist' (warning tone and visual signal if the system determines the driver's attention may be lapsing), front and rear parking sensors, a reversing camera with 360-degree view, rear cross-traffic alert, tyre pressure monitoring, 'Hill hold assist' and hill descent control.

If, despite all that, a crash is unavoidable there are six airbags on-board (front and side for the driver and front passenger as well as full-length curtains). The RS Q3's showing its (10-year) age here because additional rear side and front centre bags are close to the norm now.

Nice to see a first aid kit and warning triangle included and there are three top tethers and two ISOFIX anchor points for securing baby capsules and child seats across the second row.

The XC90 is covered by a five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty. Two service plans are offered: three years for $1500 and five years for $2500.

Audi Australia covers all the models it sells with a five-year/unlimited km warranty with 24-hour roadside assistance included for the duration. Pretty much cost-of-entry in this part of the market.

Paintwork defects are also covered for five years, and the body is warranted against corrosion (to the point of perforation) for no less than 12 years. Nice.

Service intervals are 12 months/15,000km and capped-price servicing is available, a five-year/75,000km plan for the RS Q3 costing $3580, an annual average of $770. Fairly steep.

An 'Audi Advantage' package is also available, adding an extra two years' worth of warranty, scheduled servicing and roadside assistance (to the end of any existing term) for $3800.