Audi Q5
International Launch
Los Cabos, Mexico
From 2009 to 2015 the Audi Q5 was the sales leader in the prestige SUV segment in Australia. Demand has barely abated this year despite its replacement being revealed, driven and confirmed on sale here in the third quarter of 2017. Overall, more than 23,000 Q5s have driven out of Audi dealerships in Australia and our first drive of the new generation suggests that popularity will continue.
It sounds like a cliché but the new Audi Q5 SUV prestige SUV is a real good-news bad-news story.
The good news is that it’s an appreciable improvement over the current vehicle. The bad news is you’ve got nearly 12 months to wait before it arrives in Australia.
But that’s the conundrum of the modern, global motoring industry; send the media off overseas — in this case Los Cabos, Mexico — to drive the replacement of a car that is still a popular seller, risking a decision from at least some buyers to hold off their purchase.
Or look elsewhere. After all it’s not like the Q5 doesn’t have serious competition from BMW (X3 and X4), Mercedes-Benz (GLC and GLC Coupe) and the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque non-identical twins … to name a few.
Los Cabos, on the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula, is more significant in this case than simply being a luxury venue for a car launch.
That’s because this second-generation Q5 is being manufactured in Mexico at a new greenfield factory. Our cars, when they arrive in Q3 2017, will come from south of the border rather than Germany. The Q5 will also continue to be built in China, but that’s for domestic consumption only.
Audi is making all sorts of assurances about build quality from its new plant, which of course it would do. The pre-production cars offered up to the media displayed no issues or seemed anything other than well built, which is what you would expect.
We’ve detailed the Australian specification — at least what we know so far — of the new Q5 here and even drove a pre-production prototype here.
The 2.0-litre turbo-diesel and turbo-petrol (TDI and TFSI) arrive first, promising improved fuel economy and performance and a significant kick up in equipment but hopefully not price. The 3.0-litre TDI V6 comes in 2018. A 3.0 TFSI is yet to be confirmed, an SQ 5 will happen and an RS Q5 is a chance.
Both fours use seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch gearboxes and the fuel-saving quattro ultra all-wheel drive system that only connects the prop shaft when required.
Air suspension with adaptive dampers is another new optional feature that will come to Australia. Underneath it all, the new Q5 rolls on Audi’s MLBevo architecture (longitudinal engine rather than transverse), which also brings with it a new multi-link suspension design, improved torsional rigidity and as much as a 65kg weight reduction
Equipment-wise expect Q5 big ticket items to include Matrix LED headlights, adaptive cruise control with stop & go, pre-sense with pedestrian warning, side assist with rear cross traffic alert, a powered tailgate, MMI navigation smartphone interface with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and. And that’s just a taste, as Audi is hinting the new Q5 could be offered in multiple trim lines as well as familiar option packs such as S line and Technik.
So there’s plenty that’s new, which is fair enough considering the current car is eight years old and this one has been under development for five years. Yet, the new Q5 is evolutionary in its presentation. The cab-back profile is familiar, albeit more squared off and technical, with that large single frame grille making quite a statement.
It looks better in three dimensions in the metal than two dimensions on-screen.
It’s also slightly longer (34mm) than its predecessor at 4663mm, with more space released inside. Combine that with the expected quality of Audi interior design and outstanding features like virtual cockpit – which will be available in Australia – and this is an unsurprisingly pleasant place to be.
Around the driver, the centre stack and console the influence of the latest A4 is obvious; there is less clutter thanks to the virtual cockpit, a head-up display, higher-placed media screen, the latest MMI controller and finger touchpad. However, we say that after only sampling the most luxurious cockpit. What the base specification with traditional instrument panel is like is something we must wait to find out.
But no need to wait to deliver the verdict on rear-seat space. Six-footer behind six-footer there is heaps of toe, leg and kneeroom. And the nature of SUV design being what it is, there is no worries about headroom. However, the transmission tunnel remains a notable intrusion, so the centre-rear passenger draws the short straw.
The rear seat can slide and tilt and folds 40:20:40, opening boot space up from 610 litres to 1550 litres.
And so, to the driving… and a declaration. These are brief impressions only. Thanks to a late departing Qantas flight from Melbourne and a missed connection in Los Angeles, your correspondent was too late to participate in the full 320km drive program and had to make do with brief sampling of the 2.0 and 3.0 TDI. It was the best that could be done in the circumstances.
Having said that, there was enough there to reconfirm that like other MLBevo models that have come before the new Q5 – A4, A5 and Q7 – it makes good driving progress from its predecessor.
Put it this way, driving the Q5 is to understand what overwhelming competence is all about. It does nothing poorly, and it does nothing brilliantly, but it does everything well.
Both test vehicles came with adaptive air suspension and rode on 19- (2.0) and 20-inch (3.0) rubber respectively, so the drive experience in a passive Q5 on Australian roads may not be quite so positive, especially as the Mexican tarmac was mostly smooth.
But the cars could only deal with the challenges in front of them and they handled them well.
The 140kW/347Nm 2.0 is the strong, quiet type with little if any evidence of lag. It gels well with the S tronic, which displayed none of the indecision dual-clutch manuals can be known for when low speeds and sudden throttle inputs are combined.
It was a similar story with the 210kW/620Nm 3.0, albeit with that much stronger responses, especially when the ‘drive select’ controller was switched to dynamic mode. An orthodox eight-speed auto and permanently split quattro system dictated by its greater torque output did nothing to dilute the drive experience. We even managed to sample a sand track without drama, utilising the ability of the air springs to raise ride height as high as 223mm.
The swap between different suspension modes was obvious in both cars when the switch was made from comfort to dynamic; the 2.0 went from a bit blowsy to well controlled, while the 3.0 went from well controlled to firm, with some sharp inputs on the rare corrugations. Electric-assist electro-mechanical steering in both cars lacked any real sense of communication, but accuracy was fine.
Where the Q5 was classiest on-road was in terms of refinement. Both test vehicles displayed exemplary levels of cabin quietness, with little noise input from tyre, road, engine or wind.
Consider all that and there’s no doubt the new Q5 will be a serious player in the prestige SUV segment when it arrives late in 2017.
But can you wait that long?
Audi Q5 2.0 TDI S Tronic pricing and specifications:
Price: $65,000 (estimated)
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Outputs: 140kW/347Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch
Fuel: 5.3-5.5L/100km (approx)
CO2: 139-145g/km (approx)
Safety rating: TBC
Audi Q5 3.0 TDI pricing and specifications:
Price: $80,000 (estimated)
Engine: 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel
Outputs: 210kW/620Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: N/A
CO2: N/A
Safety rating: TBC
Also consider:
>> BMW X3 (from $62,200)
>> Land Rover Discovery Sport (from $53,300)
>> Mercedes-Benz GLC (from $65,990)