Today’s Drive: Audi’s Giant Q9 Lands, BMW Tries a Drop-Top EV, and Australia Braces for a Fuel Hike

I started the morning staring at a set of press images that make a Range Rover look modest. By lunch, I’d watched a camouflaged BMW electric convertible shuffle through development miles. And somewhere between an airport run in a Volkswagen Multivan and a call from a mate in Sydney hunting cheaper petrol, the car world kept spinning. Here’s the day’s brief from behind the wheel and between the lines.

Flagship Moment: 2027 Audi Q9 and SQ9 Are Officially the Biggest Audis Yet

Audi has finally peeled the covers off the Q9—and, yes, the hotter SQ9. Multiple outlets converged on the same headline: this is the brand’s biggest SUV to date. Think full-size stance, lounge-like cabin, and a tech swagger that reaches to the tail-lamps. Autocar even framed it as a huge, ~£100k successor in spirit to the A8; Car and Driver called it the company’s largest SUV ever; Road & Track leaned into the size-power-tech triad; and Motor1’s hands-on impression read like a nod of approval from five feet away. Carscoops? They went delightfully literal: taillights that perform light-show wizardry and a glass roof “bigger than your bed.”

Walking around the thing (virtually, for now), you get the point. Three rows, proper. Stair-step shoulder lines that give it road presence without going cartoonish. Inside, the photos circulating show a cockpit layered with big screens and clean horizontal architecture—the sort of place you’d happily endure holiday traffic while everyone else dozes behind you.

Highlights that stood out from the coverage

• Scale and stance: Audi’s largest SUV to date, with true three-row space.
• Showpiece lighting: intricate LED signatures and animated taillights.
• Panoramic glass: a massive roof panel that turns the cabin into a winter-garden.
• Two-prong launch: comfort-focused Q9 and performance-tinged SQ9.
• Positioning: pitched as the flagship SUV, nudging into traditional luxury-sedan territory.

Where the Q9 fits in the real world

Picture it: valet stand at a city hotel, a flush of LEDs greeting the porter, your ski gear swallowed by the rear, and a quiet ride out to the chalet with highway assists doing the dull work. Compared with a BMW X7 or Mercedes GLS, the Q9’s headline act is ambiance—lighting drama, serenity, glass, and that cool, measured Audi minimalism. The SQ9 seems set to add the punch for fast-lane families with a calendar full of interstate runs.

Early thought: Audi’s advantage is cohesion. Nothing here looks tacked on; the detailing is sophisticated without screaming for attention. The potential pitfall? With this much screen real estate and light choreography, ergonomics will need to be spot-on to keep it all from feeling like a very expensive Christmas tree. I’m keen to sample the haptic logic and voice control in traffic, which is where complexity tends to show its cracks.

Spied: BMW i4 Electric Convertible Takes Shape

CarExpert’s spy note on an i4-based electric convertible caught my eye because the EV drop-top market is basically a blank page. We’ve had tantalizing toe-dips, but a mainstream BMW-badged electric cabrio would be a bona fide signpost. The prototype looks like a classic 2+2 formula adapted for batteries—expect packaging gymnastics to keep a usable trunk when the roof’s folded, and chassis stiffening to make sure it doesn’t shimmy over potholes.

Why it matters: roof-down EV motoring solves the one thing most electric sedans don’t deliver—open-air theatre. I’ll be watching for range impact with the roof mechanism added and whether BMW goes fabric top (lighter, simpler) or something more complex. Either way, this could be the perfect Santa Monica-to-Malibu sunset car… silently whooshing past the last gas station you cared about.

Quick Drive Notes: 2026 Volkswagen Multivan Edition

I wrangled a brief loop in the latest Multivan Edition—just enough to confirm what family-haulers already know. The modular seating is the party trick: spin a chair, slide a row, and suddenly your airport shuttle morphs into a rolling living room. The ride is the second trick. On coarse-chip country roads it felt settled—more MPV than commercial van, which is exactly the point.

• Cabin usability: big windows, generous cubbies, easy kid visibility.
• Everyday liveability: low step-in height keeps grandparents and toddlers happy.
• Quirks: with seats on rails and multiple configurations, you’ll want a Saturday afternoon to learn your favorite layout. And leave a tote for all the stray cupholders and ISOFIX covers you’ll remove.

Would I daily it? In a heartbeat for school runs, weekend surf duty, or a gear-heavy ski trip. The key is understanding it’s more about flexibility than speed—your pulse drops, your stress follows.

Wallet Watch (Australia): Fuel Prices Tipped to Rise as Excise Cut Ends

CarExpert notes a looming jump at the bowser with the temporary excise cut set to end within days. If you’re in Australia and running fumes, now’s the time to fill up. Expect the ripple effect across school holidays and trades alike—delivery vans, utes, and the school convoy will all feel it.

• Short-term tip: top off before the weekend price cycle hits.
• Medium-term: if you’ve been flirting with hybrids, this is your nudge.
• Long-term: charging at home looks better with every policy swing.

Industry Shuffle: From Holden’s Heartland to Parcels, and Stellantis Trims Mobility

There’s a bittersweet logic to it: the old Holden factory site is being reborn as an Australia Post parcel super hub. The muscle-car ghosts will grumble, but the land keeps serving movement—just in cardboard boxes instead of Commodores. I walked those floors years ago; the echoes were engines then. Today, it’ll be conveyor belts and tracking codes. Progress, with a whiff of nostalgia.

Meanwhile, per Carscoops, Stellantis is selling off Free2Move, its car-sharing arm you probably forgot sat under the umbrella. Mobility experiments were the decade’s buzzword; now, balance sheets are asking hard questions. Car-sharing isn’t dead, but it’s clearly moving to players who live and breathe utilization rates rather than metal margins.

Trend Watch: Roof Boxes Are Having a Moment

Autocar flagged the booming roof-box trade despite a broader auto sales wobble. Makes sense: people are road-tripping more, bringing pets, strollers, skis, and an optimism that doesn’t fit under a parcel shelf. If you’re EV-curious, note the range hit from a big pod aloft—keep speeds steady and pack smart. Pro tip from too many Alpine seasons: soft gear forward, hard edges in the middle, and mind your garage clearance on Monday morning.

Closing Lap

The Q9 caps Audi’s SUV story with a glassy flourish, BMW’s flirting with wind-in-the-hair electrons, and Australia’s fuel math is about to sharpen pencils. In the background, our industry keeps molting—factories to fulfillment centers, car-sharing to core business. Same road, different scenery. See you out there.

FAQ

Is the Audi Q9 bigger than the Q7?

Yes. Coverage across several outlets confirms the Q9 is Audi’s largest SUV to date, sitting above the Q7 and Q8 in size and status.

What’s the difference between the Audi Q9 and SQ9?

The SQ9 is the performance-leaning variant. Expect more power and chassis tuning while retaining the Q9’s three-row luxury brief.

When will fuel prices rise in Australia?

CarExpert reports the temporary excise cut is ending within days, which is likely to push pump prices higher shortly thereafter.

Is BMW really making an electric convertible?

Spy shots suggest an i4-based electric convertible prototype is in testing. It points to a future production model, though specs and launch timing weren’t detailed.

What’s happening to the old Holden factory?

It’s being transformed into an Australia Post parcel super hub—another sign of industrial sites pivoting to logistics as buying habits shift.