Audi Q3 Sportback SUV - Practicality & boot space

Coupe SUVs unashamedly prioritise style over boot space but the Audi Q3 Sportback offers almost all of the usefulness and flexibility of the regular Q3, which is among the class leaders in these respects. For this reason alone, we think the Sportback is one of the coupe SUVs to consider.

Practicality is a Q3 strong point, although visibility isn’t quite as generous as in some of its rivals. With its swooping coupe tail and smaller rear windscreen, the Q3 Sportback has even bigger blind spots, so a reversing camera is likely to be a popular and useful choice.

Audi Q3 Sportback interior space & storage

It may be 28mm lower than the Q3, but the Q3 Sportback is 16mm longer - and the Q3 itself is 97mm longer than its predecessor. The extra length has mainly gone into boot space but the Q3’s size means there’s plenty of room for passengers. Those in the front seats can really stretch out, helped by the extra width of the current Q3 over the car it replaced. Both front seats allow for plenty of adjustment, so you can pump them up to overcome the low default setting.

The rakish shape means that there’s less headroom in the rear seats than in the regular Q3, but Audi has got around that by reclining the seat backs a little more. Provided you’re not over six-foot, you’ll have enough headroom when sitting in the rear seats. Legroom, just like in the standard car, is very impressive, and there’s more than in most other SUVs of this size. The rear seats can move forwards and backwards by up to 130mm - handy if you need to prioritise boot space over passenger space or vice versa.

Boot space

If you think the coupe shape will be bad for boot space, the Audi Q3 Sportback is a pleasant surprise. There’s 530 litres of space available, which is exactly the same as the normal Q3 and it’s made possible thanks to the extra length of the Sportback and a shallower yet longer boot. That compares favourably to the BMW X2’s 470 litres and the Volvo XC40’s 432 litres.

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There is a slight dent to practicality if you choose the Sportback but we doubt it’ll put off many buyers. If you fold the rear seats down, there’s 1,400 litres of boot space; that’s around 125 litres less than the Q3.