IT isn’t difficult to see why Audi’s sales record has remained strong in the last decade.
In that time its familiar-but-popular A-badged cars, from the A1 to the A8, have been joined by Q-badged variants which offer everything you’d expect of the marque albeit in a loftier package.
The Q7 was the first to take the fight to cars like the BMW X5 and Range Rover but it’s now joined by the striking, all-new Q8 and smaller versions including the Q5, Q3 and this, the Q2, which completes the line-up.
Although the Q2 is the baby of the range, don’t think that means you get less kit because it’s jam-packed with all the electronic aids its bigger stablemates have.
Looks wise, I’ve never been a big fan of the Q2 but it’s very much spec-dependent. Red doesn’t show it in its best light, but more typically Audi colours - silver, black and white - are the pick of the bunch through my eyes.
Settle inside and it’s not hard to see why Audis are loved by their owners - the interior is second to none and it will surely be a major factor in why people flock to the brand.
There’s soft-to-the-touch leather covering most surfaces and even when that stops, there’s no scratchy plastics which immediately cheapen rivals’ interiors.
A signature flat-bottom steering wheel looks and feels just right and our car - which is fitted with Audi’s optional S-Tronic semi-automatic gearbox - has fitted paddleshifts.
The gearbox is a good one, and a suitable match for its petrol-powered 1.4-litre turbocharged engine which combines a decent turn of pace - 150bhp - with more than respectable fuel economy.
The Q2 is never going to win any awards for being the most involving to drive but that’s not what this car is about. What it is is a perfect companion on a daily drive which shows its Jack-of-all-trades capabilities no matter what you throw at it.
Audi have been dominant in the compact SUV sector and if the Q2 is anything to go by will take some beating.
