michaelvpham

TL;DR I want to take my 2023 SQ8 on a 4 to 6-week national parks road trip. My biggest fear is the SQ8 throwing a tantrum on winding mountain roads or in the middle of a desert. The trip disruption, towing to the nearest dealer, and waiting for parts worry me. Should I be concerned about taking the SQ8 on this long trip with over 3000 miles of driving on pavement and dirt roads?


I got laid off after 7 years. I am not sad about this. I want to take the rest of the year off to travel and do my bucket list. While I wish I could work for another 5 years, I am burned out and mentally tired with a 50—60-hour work week. I am looking at this separation as a blessing event. Now, I have all the time in the world to reset mentally and physically before I go back to the corporate world near the end of the year.

I am from LA, Ca. I have been dreaming of visiting national parks for the past 10 years. Now is the time. I have been planning for the past few weeks on this trip in June (kids still in school.) I want to take my 2023 SQ8 on a 4 to 6-week national park road trip in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Arizona. During this trip, I will do lots of tent camping, some hotels, and a few Airbnbs. SQ8 is my dream car. I took it to Zion and Valley of Fire last January for 10 days. That was an awesome trip.

Should I be concerned about taking the SQ8 on a +6 week trip with over 3000 miles of driving? My biggest fear is the SQ8 throwing a tantrum on winding mountain roads or in the middle of a desert. The trip disruption, towing to the nearest dealer, and waiting for parts worry me. This is my first very long road trip. My SQ8 has been solid so far. I purchased it last May, and it currently only has 7000 miles. There were some nerve-racking moments in the past when my dashboard lit up with errors on freeways. I pulled it over and shut down the car, and it seemed to recover back to normal.

My wife wants me to rent a 4Runner or Land Cruiser for this trip. I could do that, but I love driving the SQ8 and photographing it.

Can you offer your advice or opinions? GTG, or what recommendations do you have for me before and during the trip?

Sharing some pictures in my past trips

ThomasWShea

the plus is, you don't have the bum BSG/alternator since you have an SQ8, so no worries on that front.

superswiss

So this is not specifically for the SQ8, but I wouldn't have any concern going on a long road trip with pretty much any modern car. I've done this twice fresh from the factory. I did European Delivery with my last two cars. First my 2013 RS5 and then again with my 2019 C63S Coupe. First trip was one month crisscrossing through Europe driving a little over 4000 miles, and the second one was for 2 months and driving almost 7000 miles. Best trips ever. Both cars were broken in in about a week and I then enjoyed blasting around the German Autobahn.

Never a concern that the cars would leave me stranded. My C63 kept giving me false oil level warnings throughout the trip, though, so that was a bit annoying, but thankfully the engine had a traditional dipstick and I did stop at two dealerships just to be sure. Even had maintenance performed while passing through Frankfurt at around 3000 miles to replace the rear locking differential fluid as part of the break-in procedures. The oil level warnings were due to a flaky sensor and I just lived with it until the car was in the USA and I had a chance to get it serviced.

I love grand touring. It's why I buy GTs in the first place. Unfortunately, since the pandemic I haven't done one in my own car, but went back to Europe twice in 2022 for a month, and then for 3.5 weeks the second time. Each time did trips in rental cars around 3000 miles. First an Audi A6, which unfortunately bored me to death and for the second one I rented a Golf with a manual transmission for some more fun. Perhaps one thing that might concern some is the lack of a spare tire these days. Not sure if the SQ8 has one. Neither my RS5, nor my C63 had/have one. Never really was a concern. Worst case it might interrupt the trip briefly having to call roadside to get it towed and a new tire installed.

Agent Boost

not a concern for me. drive the car, its a tool meant to get from A to B.

ecloumd

That is the kind of trip that the SQ8 should excel at. Its like asking if you should take a librarian to a swinger party over your **** star GF lol. Get the OBDEleven and you can scan and reset any glitches on the fly.

termite

Change the oil before you go and don’t worry about it. My SQ8 has been faultlessly reliable for 9k miles and I would not hesitate to drive it anywhere. Just make sure you include Mesa Verde in your itinerary.

huntpsu1

+1 with above. The SQ8 excels as a grand tourer, just be a bit easy on spirited driving for fuel costs. The only consideration to renting would be if you want preserve some value from higher mileage on your odometer.

BOASTY

40K+ on my 2020 SQ7 with only typical maintenance needs. As others have stated, this is perfect for the SQ8. You will hate anything that you rent and ruin the driving experience. Take it in to the dealer for a once-over and ensure you have all the latest software updates and enjoy.

angrypengu

Every car breaks down. Hope for the best, plan for the worst. Nothing has changed in this regard. Cars break down.

Mike

Angry, I do agree that all cars break down. It just seems that Audi has gotten ahead of the game ensuring that we have a high certainty of a breakdown of a specific part.
If only they could tell us where and when.