So I’ve had my Q5 for a little while now. It’s a Q5 Sportback 45 TFSI quattro. My thoughts are as follows:
- It is VERY thirsty. Spending £80 a week in petrol.
- It is a boring car to drive. The Q3 felt more dynamic.
- The steering is almost completely devoid of feeling; there is no sense of connection to the car and what it is doing.
- It is too big for cramped car parks in the UK. Getting in and out of bays is difficult, even with the sensors and camera.
- The power behind the accelerator and the strength of the brakes makes low speed manoeuvres (such as 3 point turn) difficult, and kangarooie.
- The power, grip and torque is very impressive. Putting your foot down to go from sat 20 to 70 is pretty cool.
- The car is in its element cruising long distances. It makes light work of long motorway journeys and is like travelling on an aeroplane first class.
- It looks very big from the outside, but pretty ordinary on the inside. Spacious, but not massive, and certainly not cramped.
- The stuck on iPad simply doesn’t look as good as a built in MMI of the newer design e.g. Q3, Q8 etc.
- The Sport trim is a bit cheap aesthetically speaking but robust and hard wearing which is ideal for a family car.
- The standard suspension is great for bumps, pot holes, which you don’t particularly notice.
- It misses some safety features like lane keep assist, blind spot monitoring which are standard on an entry level Q3.
- The seats are a bit hard and uncomfortable, although that feeling lessens as you wear it in.
- The floor is too high up making it feel like your knees are lifted right up to where the steering wheel sits.
- The engine is very quiet and rarely sounds strained.
- The arm rest does not have a latch as a cost saving measure.
- There are few ways to play music. Only through phone.
- The speed limiter is very effective. It has a 1mph margin of error if you catch it by surprise by going down a hill. Lessor marques’ speed limiters effectively stop working completely when going down hills.
- The wheels are huge.
- You can’t fit a roof box on the Sportback model despite it having roof bars.
- The car doesn’t look very ‘modern’ on the inside, but is a nice place to be.
- The boot is massive, even on the Sportback model.
- Once your eyes are used to the Sportback model, seeing the normal SUV shape is quite jarring as it looks very boxy and boring looking.
- Despite the sloping roof, the Sportback doesn’t feel remotely like a ‘coupé’.
- The 12 inch high def Virtual Cockpit is the best in the business, it looks the bees knees and is functionally fantastic.
Anyway, would love to hear your thoughts.
- It is VERY thirsty. Spending £80 a week in petrol.
- It is a boring car to drive. The Q3 felt more dynamic.
- The steering is almost completely devoid of feeling; there is no sense of connection to the car and what it is doing.
- It is too big for cramped car parks in the UK. Getting in and out of bays is difficult, even with the sensors and camera.
- The power behind the accelerator and the strength of the brakes makes low speed manoeuvres (such as 3 point turn) difficult, and kangarooie.
- The power, grip and torque is very impressive. Putting your foot down to go from sat 20 to 70 is pretty cool.
- The car is in its element cruising long distances. It makes light work of long motorway journeys and is like travelling on an aeroplane first class.
- It looks very big from the outside, but pretty ordinary on the inside. Spacious, but not massive, and certainly not cramped.
- The stuck on iPad simply doesn’t look as good as a built in MMI of the newer design e.g. Q3, Q8 etc.
- The Sport trim is a bit cheap aesthetically speaking but robust and hard wearing which is ideal for a family car.
- The standard suspension is great for bumps, pot holes, which you don’t particularly notice.
- It misses some safety features like lane keep assist, blind spot monitoring which are standard on an entry level Q3.
- The seats are a bit hard and uncomfortable, although that feeling lessens as you wear it in.
- The floor is too high up making it feel like your knees are lifted right up to where the steering wheel sits.
- The engine is very quiet and rarely sounds strained.
- The arm rest does not have a latch as a cost saving measure.
- There are few ways to play music. Only through phone.
- The speed limiter is very effective. It has a 1mph margin of error if you catch it by surprise by going down a hill. Lessor marques’ speed limiters effectively stop working completely when going down hills.
- The wheels are huge.
- You can’t fit a roof box on the Sportback model despite it having roof bars.
- The car doesn’t look very ‘modern’ on the inside, but is a nice place to be.
- The boot is massive, even on the Sportback model.
- Once your eyes are used to the Sportback model, seeing the normal SUV shape is quite jarring as it looks very boxy and boring looking.
- Despite the sloping roof, the Sportback doesn’t feel remotely like a ‘coupé’.
- The 12 inch high def Virtual Cockpit is the best in the business, it looks the bees knees and is functionally fantastic.
Anyway, would love to hear your thoughts.
Especially the 1st gen Q7 platform version - unusually for Audi who are normally very good at new tech there is a overriding sensation of something escaping from R&D before it was finished.
