Drive Observer Real Facts. Uncanny Opinions.
Column

Audi's New Flagship Has a V8. Everybody Recants Now.

Audi's first-ever SQ9 is a three-row family SUV with a twin turbo V8, a locking rear differential and wider tires at the back than at the front. Every man who read the eight-cylinder engine its last rites has some explaining to do.

Column July 29, 2026
Hank Whitaker
Hank Whitaker Performance & Combustion

Audi just debuted the first-ever SQ9, a three-row SUV. The engine in it has eight cylinders. Not a battery. Not a hybrid with an apology bolted to it. A revised twin turbo V8, which Audi rates at 591 hp (441 kW).

So I want it in writing. For years the keynote stages and the men in fleece vests told us the big engine was finished, inevitable, arithmetic. Audi put a whole model line behind the opposite. Every one of them recants. Out loud.

Audi did not drop a V8 into an old sled. It rebuilt the driveline around the rear axle. A clutch that Audi says can send almost all available torque rearward. A locking rear differential. Tires wider at the back than the front. Read that again. Nobody puts fat rubber on the back of a family truck by accident. You do that because you expect it to rotate.

Audi claims 0-60 mph in 3.8 seconds and calls every number in the release preliminary and subject to change. Nobody here has driven one. The hardware is not an opinion.

My son Brian is 31. He leases a crossover with a CVT and collects my grandchildren from school in it, which I have learned to describe calmly. He will not buy an SQ9. Diane, through the closed garage door, notes that I am not buying one either. Fine. They were still wrong.

Hands-free highway driving is standard on the SQ9, which Audi classifies as SAE Level 2 partial automated driving on approved highway segments, driver responsible at all times. A steering-column camera watches your eyes. I own a cheaper version. Both hands.

You know one of these men. He told you at a dinner table that the big motor was done. Go find him. Make him say it out loud, in front of his children. I was wrong about the V8. You will not do it. I know you will not. Do it anyway.

The VerdictAudi debuted the first-ever SQ9 on July 28, 2026, a three-row full-size SUV and the performance halo for the new Q9 flagship family. Audi rates its revised 4.0-liter twin turbo V8 at 591 hp (441 kW) and 590 lb.-ft., through an eight-speed Tiptronic, with 0-60 mph in 3.8 seconds. Audi claims that makes it the quickest accelerating three-row SUV to 60 mph in its class, a claim Audi footnotes as based on manufacturers' data available at time of publication with the class defined as the 2027 BMW X7 M60i, the 2027 Mercedes-Benz GLS 580 and the 2026 Range Rover SE LWB V8. The drivetrain is new: rear-biased quattro, an electromechanical clutch that Audi says can send almost all available torque rearward, an electronically controlled rear-axle differential lock, brake torque vectoring, standard rear-axle steering and standard adaptive air suspension. Tires are staggered, wider at the rear than the front. Audi's hands-free adaptive cruise assist plus is standard on SQ9 and is classified as SAE Level 2 partial automated driving on approved highway segments, with the driver responsible at all times. Order books opened in July 2026 and deliveries begin in the fourth quarter of 2026. Pricing starts at $118,000 for the SQ9, base MSRP, excluding destination, taxes, title, other options and dealer charges. Audi states that the information and vehicle specifications in the release are preliminary and subject to change. Nobody at this desk has driven an SQ9.

Editorial disclosure: Audi had a two-horse trailer and a chestnut gelding named Dover delivered to the Drive Observer lot for an afternoon, along with a groom in a blazer, a bale of timothy hay and a hand-lettered card reading 'for the tow rating.' The horse was collected at five. The hay was not. Per our strict ethical policy, we do not let this influence our coverage.