"Excuse Me Mate, Know the Way to the Dakar?"
Top Gear|July 2022
Audi's RS Q e-tron was designed to monster the desert... time to venture outside its comfort zone
By Ollie Marriage
"Excuse Me Mate, Know the Way to the Dakar?"

A tape measure. I knew I’d forgotten something. Budduso is like any other Mediterranean hill town, impossibly ancient and solid, tall houses crowding over narrow cobbled streets, leaning over to keep an eye on the world below. I might be able to get the shuttered windows to open a crack today, given what I’m bringing here in an hour or two. As long as it fits. Because tough though it is, it’s going to come off second best in a scrap with Budduso. Hence the gap checking tape measure. Whoops.

I settle for stopping the Fiat Tipo renter between stone and concrete walls and getting out to guess if something over two feet wider will fit. All too often the answer is no. Oh well, should make for a challenge. And reversing is going to be such a doddle...

I drive the few miles back to Loelle. No need to navigate as rising above the cork trees and olive groves of Sardinia’s lofty inland plateau is a billowing orange dust cloud. Its cause, its centre, is the car I’ve come here to drive: Audi’s RS Q e-tron Dakar machine. It’s not really a car is it? The high front makes it look like it’s in a constant hover, a spaceship vibe that the gulping roof vent and central fin do nothing to diminish.

And then there’s the Star Trek noises. Frantic whining, squealing, wailing – it sounds like it’s in pain. It probably is given how Carlos Sainz Sr is thrashing it around right now.

Bu hikaye Top Gear dergisinin July 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

Bu hikaye Top Gear dergisinin July 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

TOP GEAR DERGISINDEN DAHA FAZLA HIKAYETümünü görüntüle
ELECTROMECHANIC
BBC Top Gear UK

ELECTROMECHANIC

Meet the electric restomod that you can create at home it's so easy you can do the conversion in a day, apparently

time-read
5 dak  |
January 2025
ALL THE SMALL THINGS
BBC Top Gear UK

ALL THE SMALL THINGS

Word is there's no such thing as a decent, small, simple, reasonably priced car these days. Allow TopGear to investigate

time-read
5 dak  |
January 2025
VOLKSWAGEN ID.BUZZ 7-SEAT
BBC Top Gear UK

VOLKSWAGEN ID.BUZZ 7-SEAT

Volkswagen’s new seven seater ID.Buzz is now the family mover it always should have been

time-read
2 dak  |
January 2025
BMW M5
BBC Top Gear UK

BMW M5

TO THE POINT: THE NEW BMW M5 IS AN excellent car. It's very fast, confident, endlessly configurable and now offers a not inconsequential 40ish miles of electric-only running for happy tax returns.

time-read
2 dak  |
January 2025
VAUXHALL GRANDLAND vs FORD EXPLORER
BBC Top Gear UK

VAUXHALL GRANDLAND vs FORD EXPLORER

These two brands have been the 'pile it high, sell it cheap' kings of the UK market for decades, but their new core models take a very different tack...

time-read
7 dak  |
January 2025
CAR OF THE YEAR - 5 STAR
BBC Top Gear UK

CAR OF THE YEAR - 5 STAR

Yep, Renault's retro-chic new supermini with an optional wicker baguette holder Scoops the grand prix...

time-read
5 dak  |
January 2025
MEANWHILE... IN THE FUTURE
BBC Top Gear UK

MEANWHILE... IN THE FUTURE

Catching rockets with chopsticks isn't the only autonomous tech going on in Elon Musk's world...

time-read
3 dak  |
January 2025
KING OF THE HILLS
BBC Top Gear UK

KING OF THE HILLS

You wait for one 800+bhp super GT, then two rock up at once. It's the Aston/Ferrari showdown we've all been waiting for...

time-read
8 dak  |
January 2025
PACKAGE
BBC Top Gear UK

PACKAGE

What better way to test the Hyundai Santa Fe's SUV-ness than hand delivering TopGear magazine to each and every subscriber in... New Zealand?

time-read
10 dak  |
January 2025
MYTH BUSTER
BBC Top Gear UK

MYTH BUSTER

\"THE GOLF GTI WAS THE OG HOT HATCH\"

time-read
2 dak  |
January 2025