New Audi Q5 review

Given Audi’s plan to have a fully electric line-up in just eight years, it’s put a surprising amount of effort into the new Audi Q5. Then again, a light refresh of your global bestseller would have been more than a little risky.

So what’s changed? Well, the big headline is that the Q5 is the first SUV to sit on Audi’s Premium Platform Combustion (PPC) underpinnings, which debuted on the Audi A5 last year. The underpinnings are not entirely new, but some major upgrades were needed to accommodate the brand’s latest fuel-saving mild-hybrid technology.

There’s also fresh infotainment tech, a completely new interior design and some rather fancy headlights that can display customisable patterns. And you can, as before, choose between the regular SUV version and a sleeker Sportback that has a hint of coupé about its rear end.

Audi Q5 video reveal

The competition in the upmarket family SUV class is pretty intense, and if you’re looking at the Q5 you might also be considering the BMW X3, Lexus NX and Mercedes GLC.

In this review we’ll tell you how the latest Audi Q5 compares against its key rivals for driving manners, practicality, interior quality and more.

The Audi Q5 line-up is pretty simple at the moment because there’s just one petrol and one diesel engine to choose between. Both are 2.0-litres, both have 201bhp, both have four-wheel drive and both offer very similar performance (0-60mph takes around seven seconds).

Both also have some pretty canny mild-hybrid technology. Usually with this sort of tech there’s a tiny battery that provides a minuscule amount of assistance when you’re pulling away, but here the battery is a respectable size (1.7kWh) and gives enough oomph, through something Audi calls a powertrain generator, to drive the car along on its own.

Granted, that mostly happens at low speeds, for a short time and when you’re super gentle with the accelerator pedal – but it does make the Q5 something of a halfway house between a regular mild-hybrid (i.e. the BMW X3) and a full hybrid SUV, such as the Lexus NX 350h.

A plug-in hybrid (PHEV) version will be joining the Q5 range in the summer and that’s worth waiting for if you’re a company car driver paying BIK tax who isn’t ready to go fully electric. If you are prepared to consider an electric car and want an Audi, check out the similar-sized Audi Q6 e-tron.

Alternatively, if you want a petrol SUV that’s properly rapid, there’s the SQ5 version. We haven’t tried it yet, but its 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine pumps out 362bhp and can launch it to 62mph from a standstill in just 4.5 seconds.

We haven’t tested the diesel (TDI) yet either, but you’ll need to do a huge number of miles to earn back the price premium in fuel savings. The diesel’s extra pulling power should help make it a more capable tow car though – even though both engines have an official trailer weight limit of 2400kg.

The petrol is smooth, punchy and suits the Q5 really well. It's not the quietest engine when you work it hard, but the noise it makes is quite tuneful and even a little sporty. It also dovetails well with the seven-speed (S tronic) automatic gearbox, which shifts smoothly when you’re on the move.

The Q5 is available with air suspension – something that’s common in high-end luxury SUVs but pretty rare in the family SUV class. Yes, it costs extra but it delivers a really smooth, controlled ride – even with 21in alloys fitted, the biggest available on the Q5.

We can’t say for sure if it’s worth stumping up for because we haven’t tried the "sports" suspension you get as standard on S line and Edition 1 versions, or the "comfort" set-up fitted to entry-level Sport models (which are not available with the air suspension).

The air suspension helps in other ways too: if you switch to Dynamic mode, it stiffens up to make the Q5 feel more alert and agile.

Don’t expect to relish every winding country lane (the petrol Porsche Macan is a little more playful when you drive it hard) but the Q5 is seriously competent and confidence-inspiring. There’s loads of grip, surprisingly little body lean and the steering is super-accurate by family SUV standards.

We do prefer the more natural weighting of the steering in Comfort mode (in Dynamic it’s rather gloopy) but thankfully you can select this and keep the suspension in its stiffest setting.

In fact, our only slight complaint concerns the amount of road noise that makes its way inside the Q5 at motorway speeds, although we suspect this will be less of a problem if you stick with smaller 19in or 20in wheels.

"With the previous-generation Q5, the only way you could get air suspension was by going for hugely pricey Vorsprung trim. I think it’s great you can now add it as an option to cheaper trims." – Will Nightingale, Reviews Editor

A few years ago Audi made the best interiors in the business. No question. The previous-generation Q5 was a prime example, with superb build quality and lavish, upmarket materials everywhere you looked or touched. In short, it put rivals such as the BMW X3 and Mercedes GLC to shame.

Sadly, that’s no longer the case. There are still some soft-touch materials inside the new Q5, but also plenty of hard plastics, and some bits, including the trim on the face of the dashboard, feel rather wobbly. In short, interior quality is no longer a reason to choose the Q5 over a number of other family SUVs.

It must be said that Audi is by no means the only premium brand reducing the quality of its interiors (have a quick poke around inside the latest X3 and you’ll realise that). Nevertheless, if you want a family SUV that feels more upmarket inside then take a look at the Lexus NX or the petrol Porsche Macan.

More positively, the driving position is tough to fault. The Q5 isn’t an enormous SUV but you still feel higher up than most other cars on the road. The seat – which is super comfy and supportive – lines up neatly with the steering wheel and pedals, and our testers had no problem seeing the digital driver's display (or Virtual Cockpit in Audi speak) behind the steering wheel.

It’s a pity Audi has ditched the physical air-conditioning controls that featured in the previous Q5 because you now have to press small icons on the main infotainment touchscreen (or use the voice-control function) to adjust the interior temperature. It’s the same story in the X3, but the NX has good old-fashioned – and much less distracting – physical dials for the job.

On the subject of the touchscreen, it measures 14.5in and is curved towards the driver to make the right-hand side easier to see and reach. We have no complaints about the menus system or arrangement of icons, and there’s rarely more than a slight delay between you pressing the screen and what you’ve asked for happening.

If you go for range-topping Edition 1 trim, there’s another smaller (10.9in) touchscreen on the passenger side of the dashboard. It allows whoever’s riding shotgun to entertain themself while you’re driving, playing DJ, or watching Netflix or YouTube. Thanks to polarising tech, the driver can't see what's on that second screen.

"I think it’s a pity Audi has ditched physical buttons and knobs for controlling the air-conditioning – although it’s far from the only manufacturer guilty of this." – Will Nightingale, Reviews Editor

When a new model is launched, it’s a pretty safe bet it will be bigger than the car it replaces – and sure enough the Audi Q5 has grown in stature. Only by a very small amount though – it’s 35mm longer and the distance between its front and rear wheel has been stretched by just 9mm.

So, it's not noticeably roomier inside. There’s enough leg room in the back to cater for a couple of six-footers (even when similarly tall folk are sitting in the front) and head room is decent too, especially in the SUV version. It’s a little tighter in the Sportback.

S line and Edition 1 versions have sliding rear seats – a handy feature you don’t get on the BMW X3 or Lexus NX – and you can recline the backrest by a few degrees for a slightly more laidback seating position.

Fitting three adults in the back of the Q5 is a bit of a squeeze, though, due to a chunky hump in the floor that whoever’s sitting in the middle is forced to straddle. Note that, unlike the Audi Q7, the Q5 doesn't come as a seven-seater.

With the rear seats slid as far back as they go, boot space is roughly on the par with the X3. There’s officially 520 litres of luggage space below the load cover in the boxier SUV version and the Sportback sacrifices just five litres of space. However, the Sportback version has less space above the removable load cover (as you'd expect from its sleeker silhouette). The load cover can be stowed under the boot floor when not in use.

The back seats split 40/20/40 and you can drop the seatbacks by pulling handles on the walls of the boot. You also get a powered tailgate on all versions of the Q5.

"I’m just over six feet tall and found the rear head room absolutely fine – even in the Sportback version." – Will Nightingale, Reviews Editor

The Audi Q5 is a fairly big SUV with a posh badge on its nose so it’s hardly going to be a cheap choice. It’s priced in line with the rival BMW X3 but is actually a slightly cheaper option than the Mercedes GLC.

You’ll pay a chunky premium for the sleeker-looking Sportback version, and given that it's less practical it’s hard to recommend unless you really love the looks.

The Q5's mild-hybrid tech means fuel economy is better than you might expect. The TFSI petrol can officially do more than 40mpg (as long as you steer clear of big wheels). That’s a bit better than the GLC 300, although still nowhere near as frugal as the full hybrid Lexus NX 350h.

The diesel version of the Q5 gets fairly close to the NX though (up to 47.1mpg) but it also pushes the price up quite a bit. It’s probably only worth considering if your annual mileage is astronomically high.

Entry-level Sport trim comes with most of the kit you’ll probably want, including three-zone climate control, adaptive cruise control, heated front seats and a 360-degree parking camera.

Audi reckons around half of all buyers will upgrade to S line trim. The main reason  is probably the bigger (20in) alloys and sportier bodykit it brings, but it also adds sliding rear seats and tinted rear windows, plus it’s the cheapest trim available with the excellent air suspension.

Edition 1 trim adds plenty of desirable extras, including a second infotainment touchscreen for the front passenger, electric front seats, bigger 21in alloys, matrix LED headlights and some extra active safety aids. There’s a big price premium, though, so Audi expects only 20% of buyers to go for this range-topper.

On the subject of safety, there’s currently no Euro NCAP safety rating for the new Q5. There was for the previous-generation model, which isn’t drastically different underneath, but that rating was from so long ago, at a time when safety standards were much lower, that it’s now expired.

"I can’t see a financial reason for choosing the diesel version. You’d have to do so many miles to earn back the extra cost in fuel savings." – Will Nightingale, Reviews Editor

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