When Audi first unveiled its production Q5 at the 2008 Beijing auto show and later that year at the LA auto show there were only
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
four compact luxury crossover SUVs to potentially compete against, but in less than a year when this smaller Q-ship hit the North American market it was up against six rivals. Now, half a dozen years and one facelift into its first generation the popular four-ringed model faces 10 compact premium challengers, three of which are entirely new this year. To say the compact luxury CUV segment is growing is a major understatement, it’s bursting at the seams. This makes the Q5’s success all the more impressive.
Last year it was by far the most successful, selling 7,862 units in Canada compared to 6,557 for the next closest competitor, Acura’s RDX, 5,599 for the third placed Mercedes’ GLK, and 5,219 for BMW’s fourth ranked X3, while the rest of its opponents were much farther down the sales chart. It’s been the number one
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
seller in its segment for the last three years, and it doesn’t appear like 2015 will prove any different as it remains in first place with 3,825 units down the road during the first six months of the year.
Obviously Canadians like the Q5 a lot, and after my recent drive in the latest 2015 model with its ultra-thrifty yet progressively powerful 3.0-litre TDI turbo-diesel under hood I can appreciate why its fans are so loyal. No, it’s not the quickest or the best handler (Audi offers the SQ5 for this challenge), nor is its interior the most upscale or feature set the richest, but it does everything asked of it so well that it might just qualify for the best all-rounder. It doesn’t hurt that it’s one of the most attractive SUVs in its class either.
Classic
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
Audi design cues abound, particularly the large trapezoidal grille with chrome surround and bright metal waterfall strakes, redesigned for the 2013 model year along with nicely detailed HID projector headlamps wrapped in signature LEDs, a set of oval fog lamps within gloss black frames just below, the latter matching a glossy black bumper cap that cuts across the grille. The rest of the redesign remained nice and tidy, following Audi tradition, the tall roofline highlighted by bright aluminum rails in my tester, bookending a massive optional panoramic sunroof. The compact SUV also gained tasteful splashes of chrome detailing front to back, the rear end capped off with a discrete rooftop spoiler while
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
a gorgeous set of sharply angled LED taillights pull eyeballs from passersby. Audi finished off the redesign with slim rear reflectors wrapping around the bumper and a nice set of chrome tailpipes integrated into the lower valance. A simple yet elegant set of 18-inch five-spoke alloy wheels on 235/60 R18 all-season tires round out the Q5 TDI package, nice to look at and particularly easy to clean. There’s nothing sensational about the Q5’s design, it’s just the usual pleasingly understated elegance we expect from Audi, a key reason the brand has become so popular over the last decade.
Another strong selling point is the German brand’s interiors. Ingolstadt follows the same rules inside as out; good, clean design that’s not overdone, plus high-quality materials put together very well. The only non soft-touch surfaces are the lower instrument
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
panel, lower door panels, lower centre console sides and surprisingly the glove box door. Everything else is made from some of the nicest pliable synthetics offered in the class, other than, of course, the attractively patterned aluminum trim that graced my tester’s dash ahead of the front passenger, down each side of the lower console, and along the upper door panels. Extensive use of decorative aluminum is an Audi trademark and therefore can be found elsewhere in the cabin too, specifically around the primary gauges, vents, infotainment screen, and all of the switchgear, which is beautifully detailed plus ideally damped with evenly spaced buttons and very little side-to-side wiggle.
The tachometer and speedometer are highly legible analog dials with a useful multi-information screen positioned in between, accessible via steering spoke-mounted
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
buttons and scrolling controls. The prerequisite infotainment system is smaller than average, but I for one don’t mind because some of the large screens in today’s cars can cause sensory overload while driving, and besides this display’s resolution is very high and Audi’s MMI system organization, graphics and lower console-mounted controller are extremely good, especially from a functionality point of view. The audio system is excellent and benefits from a CD or optional DVD player, rare these days, allowing higher fidelity sound than most of us can achieve on our smartphones or personal players. The majority of audio controls are integrated within the MMI with a rotating volume dial positioned on the lower console next to the larger MMI controller, both easy to reach without taking eyes from the road.
The
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
base front seats are wonderfully comfortable and supportive in all the right ways. They seem designed for all body types, as there’s not too much lateral support to make them uncomfortable for larger folks yet my relatively small frame wasn’t sliding around disconcertingly. Likewise, the rear seating area is accommodating for three abreast, while there’s plenty of legroom and more than enough headroom, shoulder room, and hip room for adults. A centre armrest incorporates two cupholders and rear seat heating controls are situated on the back portion of the front console, although outboard rear seat heaters are optional.
If you want to see a nicely finished cargo compartment just open the back hatch of a Q5, all trim levels featuring a powered liftgate to make this process easy and hands-free. The bumper protector is so beautifully detailed in bright metal that it probably
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
needs protection itself, whereas the cargo floor is made up of a strong folding square section that can be flipped upwards or completely taken out to expose a small, hidden compartment that also can be removed when getting at the spare tire. The Q5 allows a sizable 824 litres (29.1 cubic feet) of luggage capacity behind its rear seats, and if more is needed these fold down in the most convenient 40/20/40 process, allowing any number of passenger/cargo configurations plus a total of 1,560 litres (55.1 cubic feet) of volume when all three are folded flat. The seats are easy to lower too, with levers on the cargo wall and another set underneath each outboard seat cushion, and when putting them back into their upright positions a tug on those seat levers pops them right up so they can be easily pushed back into place.
All of this is very good, but the Q5’s fabulous ride and oh so quiet interior really sets
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
it apart from rivals. I’d say it’s the ultimate highway cruiser amongst its compact peers, yet its dynamic suspension is equally adept to tackling high-speed curves or zipping in and out of traffic within busy urban sprawl. With or without the Drive Select system set to its sportiest Dynamic mode (Comfort and Auto modes are also available), which incidentally adjusts throttle response, transmission shift points and steering assist for optimal performance, the optional 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 engine’s 240 horsepower and shockingly strong 428 lb-ft of torque combine with a quick-shifting eight-speed Tiptronic automatic transmission to make it feel like a rocket immediately off the line, while acceleration is smooth and linear as it breaks through the 100 km/h barrier in just 6.7 seconds.
It
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
brakes just as effectively thanks to large vented four-wheel discs at each corner, enhanced with ABS, electronic brake-force distribution and emergency brake assist, although these binders aren’t regenerative as with some of the Q5’s competitors, arguably improving feel but not enhancing fuel economy. This said any new vehicle that doesn’t include an auto start-stop system seems downright antiquated these days, but Audi is way too advanced to miss this eco friendly technology. Auto start-stop not only saves fuel, but as a frequent pedestrian in my city’s downtown core I appreciate inhaling fewer toxic emissions from otherwise idling cars.
Audi
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
takes this a step further, incidentally, offering a Q5 Hybrid that not only includes the auto start-stop system as well as regenerative brakes, but also a powerful electric-gasoline hybrid system for lowering emissions further while delivering some of the best urban fuel economy in the compact luxury CUV segment at 9.8 L/100km, while its highway and combined ratings aren’t too bad either at 7.9 and 8.9. The Q5 TDI delivers the best highway and combined ratings amongst the Q5’s four available powertrains, however, at 7.5 and 8.8 L/100km respectively, while its city rating is only a fraction higher than the hybrid’s at 10.0 L/100km. The Q5’s base 220 horsepower 2.0 TFSI engine and eight-speed automatic combination, which incidentally zips to 100km/h in a mere 7.1 seconds, delivers a claimed 12.0 city, 8.0 highway and 10.2 combined rating, incidentally, whereas the thirstiest option is Audi’s 272 horsepower 3.0 TFSI that’s good for a 6.2-second sprint to 100km/h uses an estimated 13.2 L/100km in the city, 9.2 on the highway and 11.4 combined. There’s always a price for power.
Your
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
engine choice will be affected by how you want to dress up your Q5, or vice versa. The base engine is available across the entire line of trim levels including Komfort, Progressiv and Technik, while the Hybrid model only comes with one single Hybrid trim. The 3.0 TFSI can’t be had with base Komfort trim, same as the 3.0 TDI, both of these only available in Progressiv and Technik guise. All get Quattro all-wheel drive as standard, a good thing in Canada’s generally colder climate zones, especially considering Q5 buyers are more often than not avid users of the outdoors come summer or winter.
Nothing makes this last point more apparent than a winter’s drive up to the parking lots of my city’s local ski hills, which are filled with Q5s. The aforementioned flexible rear seating makes the Q5 especially handy for laying skis down the middle while rear passengers are more comfortably seated to each side, optional
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
rear seat heaters ablaze. You couldn’t do that with the old Q5’s 60/40 layout, which is still how the majority of its competitors are configured.
My tester was fitted out in the 3.0 TDI’s base Progressiv trim, which was hardly basic despite being this engine’s entry-level model. All of the exterior details I mentioned in the beginning of this review are included in the entry 3.0 TDI (many pulled up from the base 2.0 TFSI Komfort model), as are the gorgeous aluminum inlays I previously described, plus the full-colour driver information system and powered tailgate. Additional standard items with the diesel include proximity access with pushbutton ignition, an electromechanical parking brake, aluminum trimmed doorsills, leather upholstery, powered heatable front seats with four-way powered
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
lumbar and memory settings for the driver, a tilt and telescopic leather-clad four-spoke multifunction steering wheel, Bluetooth, cruise control, 10-speaker audio with satellite radio and speed-dependent volume control, tri-zone automatic climate control, an electric auxiliary air heater, automatic light-sensing headlamps, rain-sensing wipers, an auto-dimming rearview mirror with integrated compass, heated and powered side mirrors with automatic anti-glare, an immobilizer, alarm system, and much more.
My tester also came with a $2,800 Navigation package that upgrades the infotainment system with GPS navigation, voice activation and a rearview camera, the latter something that should really be part of the base package. A DVD player replaces the CD player while front sensors are added to the standard rear sensors for more help while parking. The panoramic sunroof I mentioned before added another $2,000 to the bottom line
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
(although if you try to build the Q5 in the brand’s retail website this feature and a couple of others are strangely missing).
A dual screen rear seat entertainment system can also be had for $2,000, but I’d be more inclined to spend $2,200 on the Sport package that adds unique 19-inch rims on 235/55R19 all-season rubber, special S line bumpers and trim, S line doorsills, sport seats with powered front passenger lumbar, shift paddles on the back of a sportier three-spoke flat-bottomed steering wheel, and a black headliner instead of light grey.
Over and above the $500 heatable rear seats I mentioned earlier, the 3.0 TDI’s standalone options list includes fine grain ash natural brown inlays at $500, a remote garage door opener at
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
$200, factory installed ski bag for $250, rear side airbags for $500, adaptive cornering headlights for $300, tire pressure monitoring (standard with most competitors and even lesser mainstream models) for $350, and 19-inch wheels and tires for $2,200.
You could have a lot of fun figuring out just which Q5 model works best for you and then configuring it with the exact set of features to suit your style, wants and needs, but even the base 2.0 TFSI Komfort provides more than enough to satisfy the majority of luxury compact crossover buyers for its $42,600 price tag. Of course you’ll need to add $2,095 for freight and pre-delivery prep to this figure, plus all the usual taxes, but if you want to have the towing (2,000 kilos or 4,400 lbs
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
with the tow package), range (764 km/475 miles city and 988 km/614 miles highway) and efficiency benefits (reread above) of my 3.0 TDI tester you’ll need to add another $7,300 for a total of $49,900 before freight.
Upgrade to 3.0 TDI Technik trim and the price will be $54,000 for its unique 18-inch wheels and previous options now made standard such as adaptive headlights, the garage door opener, rear seat heaters, panoramic sunroof, and Audi side assist that monitors both sides and behind the Q5 for safe lane changing, whereas the options list grows to include heated and ventilated front seats with Milano leather upholstery throughout for $1,900, a Bang & Olufsen stereo upgrade for $1,000, rear window sunshades for $300, adaptive cruise control for $1,000, an automatic damping suspension with Dynamic, Comfort and Auto
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
modes for $850, 20-inch rims for $1,000, a Black Optics package with glossy black grille surround, window trim and roof rails for $700, an Off-Road package with the S line sport seats, the three-spoke steering wheel and black headliner from the Sport package (that’s alternatively still available), plus off-road designed bumpers and special 19-inch off-road designed wheels for $3,500. And that’s just for the 3.0 TDI. Remember there are three additional engine choices that affect the Q5’s standard and available features, so go ahead and configure to your heart’s content.
I really like the way Audi built my 3.0 TDI Progressiv tester, although I’d no doubt be just as positive about a Q5 with any of its engine choices, trim levels or assortment of options. True, it’s missing some of the latest electronic safety gear some of rivals offer, particularly active lane keeping technology and a 360-degree parking monitor, but such features are only offered on competitors’ top-line models and therefore don’t reflect what the majority of Q5 owners are buying. More important is its Top Safety Pick+ rating from the IIHS, the highest possible ranking. Audi certainly offers up a lot of reasons to seriously consider its best-selling Q5. Small wonder this superb all-rounder sells so well.
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