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The germans are usually very good at inventing and selling automotive genres that we didn't know we needed yet we bought by the lot. And the Audi Q2 isn't one of them.

Because the niche to which the Audi Q2 is catering is thinner than the clothing of a summer band that animates the beaches. Which is very wierd, because the Germans are very good at selling cars that we didn't know we needed. Cars like Mercedes CLS, Series 4 GranCoupe, BMW X6, Audi Q7, R Class and other cars that deviate from society more than Diogenes the Cynic. And Audi Q2 is an evolution in the wrong sense of an already existing idea, it is not a new musical genre.

And this happened thanks to the Audi Q3 which was an unexpected success for Audi and/or VW, just as the Q5 was an unexpected success. That is, they expected success, but not at this scale. So they also looked at the moderate success of the A1 and thought "mmmm, how about we take an A1 and give it some taller sneakers on it and sell it for a lot of money?" and then the answer was "yes, let's take an A1 and put some slightly taller sneakers on it and sell it for a lot of money" and that's how the Audi Q2 appeared, which is either a smaller Q3 or a taller A1 , it depends on how you look at it.

Except that the Audi Q2 wasn't the succes which Audi and VW expected. In fact, it was not even a success, which is why in 2022 the decision was made to discontinue it altogether when it meets it's technological end, because it was too expensive to buy again and on the used market the prices are comparable to the Audi Q3 and are not really so far off from the Audi Q5 so you have to ask yourself why buy a Q2?

Especially when you find out that it is built on the same platform as the Golf VII and Cupra Formentor, Skoda Karoq, Octavia III, T-Roc, Jetta and others. It's just that it's more expensive and smaller than all of them, possibly all at once. And you don't want to know how expensive. At the time I wrote this, the most expensive used Q2 on autotrader costs 37,000 pounds, and the next one costs 35,000 pounds. And for that money you get a 1.5 Turbocharged petrol which develops 150 horsepower, an automatic gearbox and a 4×4 system that you will never use on a Q2. But it could be worse, much worse, because I also entered the mobile.de to see how much the most expensive Q2 costs, and it costs 61,350 euros, and the next one costs 57,500 or so euros. Even if it has every single option ticked, paying 61,350 euros for an Audi Q2 says something about you and not necessarily in a good way.

Audi Q2 Engines

Petrol

• 1.0 TFSI EA211 of 115 horsepower – The entry level engine for the entry level VW, which a 30,000 pounds Audi Q2 clearly is, which consistently suffers from oily incontinence. Personally, I wouldn't bother with this engine because you have better options.


• 1.4 TFSI EA211 of 150 horsepower – Such as this excellent 1.4 TFSI at the end of its life. With most of the issues of the past solved and realistically being the last reliable small-class petrol from VW/Audi, this is the most balanced engine for the Q2.


• 1.5 TSI EA211 of 150 horsepower –  I have talked extensively about this engine and unfortunately I cannot recommend it particularly.


• 2.0 TFSI EA888 of 190 horsepower - I can't particularly recommend this either. I mean, the engine is decently reliable (it can only chug oil occasionally), but the problem is that the engine is only available on the SQ2 and costs a billion pounds, which is a bit much for an slightly taller A1. 

Diesel

• 1.6 TDI EA288 of 116 horsepower – I'm not the biggest fan of this engine, but for Q2 and Q3 this engine makes a lot of sense because they share roughly the same market. Wealthy moms who live in a generous house outside the city, who have to take their children to kindergarten and then probably to work (usually they have businesses and others go to work for them) so that short distance from the house to the city is enough for this engine to breathe and not get clogged. If you buy it and plan to drive it soley around town with it however, then it will be strangled as if it were paying for it and it will cause you a whole string of issues, from DPF clogging, dual mass flywheel failing and up to injectors failing.


• 2.0 TDI EA288 of 150 and 190 horsepower – As in the case of the 2.0 TFSI, the Audi Q2 in this trim level is much too expensive, and the 2.0 TDI is not an engine with which you can go from home to the city and back, 2.0 TDI it's a long-distance engine and the Q2 is not a long-distance car. So I will pass on it simply because you don't need this sort of engine for this sort of car.

Audi Q2 Reliability Issues

• The rock hard suspension on the Q2 is a bigger mystery to me than the mystery of What's with Andy?. Maybe for the 200 horsepower SQ2 you do actually need a sportier suspension, but at 116 horspower you won't give it to you at the edge of the bed. In any case, take the car for a drive and see if you get along with the suspension.


• In the sweet VW style, the entry level models are really barrel bottom when it comes to features. And this goes hand in hand with the third issue, namely the high general price of the car, but we have already talked about that.

Audi Q2 Verdict

The important thing is that they tried. But it seems that people who want a supermini cross-over also want it to be cheap, so it seems that the Audi Q3 is the lower limit in terms of dimensions for premium cross-overs. And I'm not saying it, it's not Joe Rogan saying it, but the market is saying it, which is why Q2 was withdrawn and we probably won't see a Q1 very soon. We have Q4 instead. Maybe it will be a moment like the predecessor Audi A2, another experimental car that didn't do too well but paved the way for other more successful models, like the VW Fox.

Which engines do I recommend? For petrol power, clearly 150 horsepower 1.4 TSI, and for diesel the 116 horsepower 1.6 TDI is all the engine you'll ever need.