Zurich, Switzerland – Singapore can’t get enough of crossovers: it’s almost as though all manner of crossovers from small to medium to large can do no wrong as far as local buyers are concerned.

If you think about it, this makes some sense since there’s no better way of showing the nosy neighbours and peers you lead an active lifestyle, even though the closest you’re getting to the great outdoors is the office smoking area eight or nine times a day.

Crossovers are a particularly popular flavour, because they ably straddle the line between form and function, versus the decidedly utilitarian off-roaders. In the compact segment, the Q2 crossover fires a compelling salvo since we reckon it’s the first of its ilk.

Moreover, it turns Audi’s other cheek to show us its cheek, which is a marked departure from the serious, executive ‘thinking man’ you’d typically associate with buying its cars, not that there’s anything wrong with one of these ‘thinking men’ buying a Q2 of course...

There’s a noticeably casual, almost MINI vibe to the launch of the Q2 where it’s ‘pal’ and ‘bruh’ versus sir and ma’am. In fact, the product people are dressed-down like it’s casual Friday and it’s almost hard to differentiate them from us scruffy media hacks...

The aesthetics are cleverly curated to appeal to a younger audience and it’s no surprise that even though older folk are quick to lambast millennials, a lot of the new products are still catered to them.

The host of tutti-frutti Q2s are launched against an artfully contrived graffiti backdrop to appeal to millennial rebels without a cause, while the air-hangar venue plays well to the hipster dreamer types.

It’s always easier for a premium brand to make waves downstream than it is for a mass-market marque to make its way up. Well, starting a new brand can help (look at Lexus, less so Infiniti), but for the most part, brands starting from the middle have to overcome strong currents in their slow progress upstream (look at the VW Phaeton) as compared to premium brands like BMW (and the Active/Grand Tourers) or Mercedes (with the A/B/CLA/GLA-classes) coming down. There’s far more to premium luxury than just benchmarking hard features, and infusing cars with that intangible quality is where such higher brands excel.

Audi’s certainly on a roll with its niche-within-niches product roll-out and the Q2 should find many happy owners if the brand can achieve its target price point, which is expected to sit between the A1 and the Q3.

Singapore should get the 1.0 TFSI flavour that we tried, albeit with a 7spd S tronic dual-clutch transmission (instead of the launch event’s 6spd stick-shift). The Q2’s range of three TDI and three TFSI engines will run from this all the way to 2.0-litres.

One of the earlier issues with Audi before was how indistinguishable all its models looked; at least these days, there’s an ‘A’ model look and a ‘Q’ model look, so the Q2 takes its design cues from the Q7 instead of the A1 and fits in quite snugly between that and the Q3.

To our memory though, the Q3 didn’t even seem as spacious inside as the Q2, but having said that, the Q2 is built on the versatile and relatively newer MQB-platform, while the current Q3 rides on the same A5 platform as the Golf Mk V.

Now I’m sure MINI is on the minds of many folks, particularly the Countryman which we feel the Q2 is set against, but have you seen how ‘maxi’ the MINI has become these days?

The Q2 measures in at a compact 4.19m x 1.79m x 1.51m (LxBxH) and boasts short overhangs, but it’s big on features inside – least of all is its 2.6m wheelbase, which translates to adequate room for us four adults and our assortment of bags; there’s even a small space in the middle of the back-row for someone short, so five-up in the Q2 is possible.

The rear seats split-fold three-way and the boot’s 405-litres capacity can be increased to 1050-litres with the back-row folded-flat. True to active-lifestyle-form, the middle seat also provides through-load functionality to load long objects like skis or flat-packed shelves.

Apparently, younger buyers these days aren’t as fussed about how a car drives, as long as it has all the right trim options and whistles. The Q2, as with modern Audis, can generate a WiFi hotspot for accessing the various social media Apps, critical for a generation that only knows one state – connectedness.

There’s also trick ambient lighting (like the MINI) that spans the whole visible light spectrum to suit one’s style or different moods. Apart from that, buyers can tap on Audi’s customisation programmes to personalise the Q2, since it can be individualised to be as routine or as robust as you like!

For a small car, the amount of optional and standard passive and active safety features (such as ‘pre sense’, ‘side assist’, ‘emergency assist’ and ‘adaptive cruise control with Stop&Go’) is impressive, a trickle-down effect from its more luxurious siblings.

In a way, this coddles young drivers who can occupy themselves with more important things than driving or paying attention to the road. The fact that these countermeasures work seamlessly instead of administering a stinging hand-slap should help preserve the the thin-skinned driver’s sense of self-worth, especially among those who take quick umbrage to criticism.

On the move, we received glances from passing MINI drivers – be it for good or for ill, at least folks were checking out the cheeky Q2. We’ve noticed a gradual shift from turbodiesel engines in compact cars to even smaller capacity turbocharged petrol engines, but fret not, since modern tuning endows even this sub-one-litre turbo’d engine with decent enough poke to make brisk progress; on the move, it never feels strained in hustling the manual, 1.2-tonne Q2 around.

The 999cc model doesn’t serve up the same sharp, incisive handling as a MINI, but there’s a good combination of big-car-refinement and easy driving, which includes a progressive steering for agile manoeuvrability in both tight carparks and on the winding roads.

Little effort is required to exploit the Q2 from A-to-B and marginal dirt-paths in-between (The Q2 has decent ground clearance too!), so it’ll appeal to buyers at both ends of the age spectrum.

There are compact crossovers, but none in the premium segment, so priced right, the Q2 will happily tackle fellow European and Japanese contenders alike, especially since many should find this cheeky side of Audi quite appealing. The Q officially starts here…

PHOTOS Audi / David Khoo

Audi Q2 1.0 TFSI
Engine: 999cc, inline3, turbocharged
Power/rpm: 116bhp/5000rpm
Torque/rpm: 200Nm/2000-3500rpm
Transmission: 6spd manual
0-100km/h: 10.7secs
Top speed: 202km/h
Fuel consumption: 4.9l/100km
CO2: 114g/km

This feature first appeared in Top Gear Singapore #53 (August 2016)