2019 Audi Q5 vs 2021

What's the difference?

The Q5 50 TDI is good value, it’s practical and the 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 makes it the choice for those that need to tow, or who just want a tough, quick-accelerating, medium-sized luxury SUV. Small families will find the Q5 50 TDI a willing and helpful weapon in the suburban warfare that is daily life.

Audi has worked largely behind the scenes to tweak and change just little details for its facelifted Q5. Ultimately though, these all add up for a significantly more appealing mid-size luxury SUV, even against tough segment competition.

The brand has managed to add some vital tech enhancements, improve value, and breathe life back into its key family tourer which previously looked a little in danger of being left behind.

Our pick of the range is the Sport for having the most impressive equipment at a very reasonable price.

The Q5 is arguably the best looking of the all Qs – not too big or too small, it appears to be the most perfectly proportioned of Audi’s SUVs. More of a dimensions type? The Q5 measures 4663mm end to end, 1893mm across and 1659mm tall.

Picking a 50 TDI from lower grades is tricky because the 40 TDI and 45 TFSI come with almost identical exterior features, and also the grey and matt aluminium silver grille.

The Q5 50 TDI isn’t as blingy as the Benz GLC or as sporty-styled as the BMW X3, but it has a solid, confident look and I adore the so-called Tornado Line, which twists itself over the wheel arches and traces an edge right around the car, through the tailgate and bonnet.

The cockpit is typically Audi: stylish and modern, but also restrained. While I admire the simplicity and quality of the build, with its outstanding fit and finish, I think Audi needs to make its cabins dazzle more. This isn’t just a Q5 thing, it’s across the board. 

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the updated Q5's design is how closely you have to look to see what's changed. I know Audi's design language tends to move at a glacial pace, but it is unfortunate timing for the Q5 that it misses out on some of the more fun and radical design choices made with more recently launched Audi SUVs, such as the Q3 and Q8.

Regardless, the brand has revised the grille across all grades, tweaked some little features in the face to make it a bit more angular, added some contrast in the alloy wheel designs, and removed the chintzier plastic cladding from the base model.

They're all subtle changes, but welcome ones that help the Q5 sync up with the rest of the brand's line-up once more. The Q5 is a conservative choice, perhaps for those looking to fly under the radar compared to the shouty chrome of the GLC or exaggerated features of the BMW X3.

Round the back this latest Q5 update gets even more subtle, with the most notable feature being a highlight bar across the bootlid. The rear light clusters are now LED across the range, and have been slightly re-worked, and the lower splitter has a more modern design.

Put simply, if you liked the Q5 before, you'll like it even more now. I hardly think its new look is revolutionary enough to capture a new audience in quite the same way as its smaller Q3 sibling or even the new A1 hatch.

The changes to the Q5's interior design are small but significant, and really help to modernise the space. The standard 10.1-inch multimedia screen pairs nicely with the virtual dash cluster now standard across the range, and the dreadful software from the previous car has been replaced by the slick operating system from more recent Audis.

As things are now easier to use via the touchscreen, the Q5's once-busy centre console has been tidied up. The odd touchpad and dial set-up have been removed and replaced by a pared-back design with useful little storage cutaways.

It certainly looks as high-tech as Audi's "progress through technology" tagline would suggest. Other improvements include improved 'leather accented trim' on the seats, and a revised console box with a slide-away wireless phone-charging bay, a nice touch.

The two cars we tested showed off the choices of interior highlight trim: our diesel car had an open-pore wood look, and the petrol car had a textured aluminium finish. Both felt and looked great.

The Q5's overall interior design is showing its age a bit, with the rest of the quite upright dash remaining the same as it was when this generation launched in 2017. Apart from those nice highlight trims, it's a bit of a single-colour treatment. At least it has all of the comfort touches you might expect from a car in this segment. It's not even to say that Audi has done a poor job of this update, quite the opposite, it's more a credit to the strong design language found on the interiors of its new-generation vehicles that the Q5 misses out on this time around.

The previous Audi I reviewed was an Audi A3 35 TFSI Sedan and while I loved the look of that little four-door saloon, I deemed the car too small for somebody my size, or anyone with the demands of a young family.

Yep, at CarsGuide we test the cars in the real world with our families, which means one week you’re in a small A3 35 TFSI Sedan and the next it’s a Q5 50 TDI. Moving from one to the other immediately highlights what’s been missing.

Just installing a child seat can tell you a lot about practicality. In the A3 Sedan I had to kneel on the side of the road to install the child seat, but I hardly had to bend at all to put it into the 50 TDI. The tall back door openings, the seating height, the top-tether hook, which is accessed from the kick-open tailgate, all made life easy.

And yes, the kick-open tailgate is brilliant, and it can even be opened without having to unlock the rest of the car. The standard proximity key is also a Godsend. Then then there’s the load-height-lowering function, which comes with the optional air suspension and can make the Q5 50 TDI effectively kneel down for you, to make getting bags into the boot easier.

The cargo capacity of our 50 TDI was 550-610 litres – the reason for that range is because of the optional sliding second row.

There are only two rows of seating in a Q5 – this is a five-seater car only. If you need a third row you’ll have to step up to the Q7 to get seven seats.

Second-row room is excellent. Even at 191cm tall I can sit behind my driving position with about 50mm between my knees and the seatback, while headroom is great, too. Back passengers have air vents and climate control, two cupholders and big door pockets, while up front there’s a decent sized bin under the centre armrest and a deep storage area by the driver’s right leg – I could fit my shoe in it. Don’t ask.

Along with Qi wireless phone charger, you’ll find two USB ports and a 12V outlet up front, and two charging USB ports and 12V outlet in the second row.

While the Q5 remains dimensionally identical to its predecessor, practicality has improved for this update, especially with the extra space afforded for front passengers. Small but useful storage cutaways for wallets, phones and keys now appear down the centre console, and the storage box with variable-height lid is nice and deep. The wireless phone-charger is a very nice addition, and it can either cover up the front two cupholders for a flush look, or slide away under the console lid if you need to make use of them.

The bottle holders are large, too, and there are even bigger ones with decent trenches in the door pockets.

The tri-zone climate unit is no-nonsense and practical but minimalist dials still appear near the shift-lever for volume and fine-tuning control.

The seats are quite adjustable, as is the steering column, but this is a true SUV at heart, so don't expect to find the sportiest seating position, as these have a high base and the tall dash precludes most from sitting lower to the floor.

In the back seat I had enough room for my 182cm height, but I was honestly expecting a little more from such a large SUV. There's room for my knees and head, but I'll also note the seat trim felt like it could do with more padding in the base. I wasn't as comfortable here as I was in a relatively recent test of the Mercedes-Benz GLC 300e, which has softer, more luxurious 'Artico' leather-appointed trim, too. Worth considering.

Rear passengers benefit from a light and airy space thanks to the panoramic sunroof in the Sport grade which we were able to test, and the Q5 continues to offer a very welcome third climate zone with adjustable vents and controls for rear passengers. There are also two USB-A ports and a 12v outlet, for a versatile set of charging options.

Storage-wise, rear passengers get large bottle holders in the doors and flimsy nets on the backs of the front seats, and there's also a drop-down armrest with two smaller bottle-holders.

Another consideration here is the optionally available 'Comfort package' which puts the second row on rails and allows passengers to further adjust the angle of the seat back. This option ($1300 for 40 TDI or $1690 for 45 TFSI) also includes an electric steering column.

Boot space for the Q5 range comes in at 520 litres which is on-par for this luxury mid-size segment, if a little smaller than its key rivals. For reference it easily consumed our CarsGuide demo travel cases with plenty of space to spare. The Q5 also has a collection of elastic nets to go with its multitude of tie-down points.

The addition of a motorised tailgate as standard is a very welcome addition, and the two Q5 Sports we tested had space-saver spares with an inflator kit under the boot floor.

Would you believe me if I told you the new Q5 was a value buy despite a price-hike for this year?

Yes, it's a luxury SUV, but with a boost in equipment and price-tags across the range that range from slightly to significantly below its key rivals, the Q5 impresses from the get-go.

The entry-level variant is now simply called the Q5 (it used to be called the 'Design'). It's available with a choice of either a 2.0-litre diesel (40 TDI) or a 2.0-litre petrol (45 TFSI) engine, and equipment levels have been most significantly boosted here.

Now standard are 19-inch alloy wheels (up from 18s), full paint finish (the brand has elected to dump the plastic-guard look from the previous iteration), LED headlights and taillights (no more xenons!), a new 10.1-inch multimedia touchscreen with overhauled software (can't be thankful enough for this one), Audi's signature 'Virtual Cockpit' instrument cluster with further customisable features, wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android auto connectivity, a wireless charging bay, auto dimming rear vision mirror, upgraded 'leather appointed' seat trim, and a powered tailgate.

Very nice and almost everything you need, really. The cost? $68,900 before on-roads (MSRP) for the diesel or $69,600 for the petrol. No context for that? All you need to know is it undercuts its two arch-rivals, the entry-level versions of the BMW X3 and Mercedes-Benz GLC.

Next up is the Sport. Again, available with a choice of the same 2.0-litre turbo engines, the Sport adds some primo items like 20-inch alloys, a panoramic sunroof, auto dimming wing mirrors, adaptive cruise control (can be had as an option on the base car), blacked-out headlining trim, sport seats, some more advanced safety items, and access to some further option packs.

Again, the Sport undercuts its equivalent badges in the X3 and GLC ranges, wearing MSRPs of $74,900 for the 40 TDI, and $76,600 for the 45 TFSI petrol.

Capping off the range will be the S-Line, which will exclusively be available with a 50 TDI 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6. Again, the S-Line will up the visual ante with the brand's new performance-oriented blacked-out features, Sportier bodykit and honeycomb grille.

It comes standard with 20-inch alloys in a different design, an interior LED lighting package, electrically adjustable steering column, and a head-up display, but otherwise shares its primary equipment with the Sport. The 50 TDI S-Line wears an MSRP of $89,600. Again, this is not at the expensive end of the spectrum for a more performance-oriented mid-sizer from a luxury brand.

The 50 TDI may look just like the lower grades in the Q5 range, but its 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel is what really sets it apart. Its 210kW of power from 3750rpm and 620Nm of torque from 1500rpm not only make it the Q5 with the most grunt, but also the quickest accelerating, with a 0-100km/h time of 5.8s.

That low-end torque makes the 50 TDI the natural choice for those who tow, too. The braked towing capacity is 2000kg.

Shifting gears almost seamlessly is an eight-speed automatic, rather than the seven-speed dual clutch that does the honours in the lower grades.   

As with all Q5s, the 50 TDI is all-wheel drive.

Audi has tweaked the Q5 engine line-up for this facelift, introducing some more high-tech touches.

The base car, and the mid-grade sport have a choice of two engines, the 40 TDI 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo diesel, and the 45 TFSI 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol.

Both have healthy outputs slightly different from their pre-facelift equivalents of 150kW/400Nm for the 40 TDI (slightly down), and 183kW/370Nm for the 45 TFSI (slightly up).

These are also augmented with a new mild hybrid (MHEV) system which consists of a separate 12-volt lithium-ion battery which helps to boost the starter motor. It is "mild" in the truest sense of the word but allows these engines to have smoother start/stop systems and increase the amount of time the car can coast with the engine off when decelerating. The brand claims this system can save up to 0.3L/100km on the combined fuel cycle.

Those looking for a little more in every department will soon also be able to opt for the 50 TDI S-Line, which trades the four-cylinder engine for a 3.0-litre diesel V6 producing 210kW/620Nm. It also ups the MHEV system to 48-volt. I'm sure we'll be able to share more on this variant when it launches later in the year.

All Q5s wear Audi's signature Quattro all-wheel drive branding, and in this case it has a newer version (launched with this car in 2017) called "Ultra Quattro" in which all four wheels are driven by default via twin clutch-packs on each axle. This is in contrast to some "on-demand" systems which only activate the front axle when a loss of traction is detected. Audi says the Q5 will revert to front-drive mode only in the most ideal of circumstances, like when minimal acceleration is applied, or when the car is coasting at higher speeds. This system is also said to "reduce frictional losses" for a further approximate 0.3L/100km reduction in fuel consumption.

The 40 TDI and 45 TFSI engines are both mated to seven-speed dual clutch automatic transmissions, and the Q5 range can tow 2000kg braked regardless of variant.

Audi says that if you’re driving a combination of urban and open roads the 50 TDI will use 6.3L/100km. Our test car wasn’t too far off that claim, with an average of 7.6L/100km, measured from the trip computer.

The day that we shot the video above saw me driving continuously around the same hilly suburb for a couple of hours, and the mileage, according to the trip computer, afterwards was 14.2L/100km.

The Q5 is big and heavy, but these new more efficient engines have helped to trim fuel use across the board.

The 40 TDI diesel engine option has an impressively low official claimed/combined fuel figure of just 5.4L/100km, while the 45 TFSI has a less impressive (but still good, all things considered) official/combined figure of 8.0L/100km.

We won't give an as-tested figure for our launch drive loops as they wouldn't be a fair representation of a week of combined driving, so we'll save a full judgement for later variant reviews.

You'll need to fill the 45 TFSI with mid-grade 95RON unleaded petrol. The petrol engine gets a large 73-litre fuel tank, while either of the diesel engines have 70-litre tank.

The 50 TDI is one of those SUVs that feels like an Iron Man suit, in that it goes, turns and stops like you’re wearing it rather than driving it. Truly, it responds that well to whatever you ask of it.

Our test car had the optional adaptive air suspension and I recommend it if the roads you’ll be driving it on are as bad as the potholed streets of Sydney.

While the 50 TDI isn’t an SQ5, the handling is still excellent, with minimal body roll, and the steering is precise and well-weighted.

That 3.0-litre diesel V6 is a gem, providing great acceleration, and is well suited to towing, but if you’re not in the Dynamic drive mode, you’ll find that turbo lag rears its head occasionally. That issue can be solved almost instantly by shifting down a gear, using the steering-wheel paddles.

The V6 diesel is also quite loud from the outside, but you’ll be happy to know the excellent cabin insulation keeps most of the clatter out.

Have you driven a Q5 before? For those who have, there will be no big changes here. For everyone else, it's a big heavy SUV with a 2.0-litre engine. The Q5 has always been inoffensive, but perhaps not a riveting experience behind the wheel when it comes to its lesser-powered variants.

We weren't able to test the go-fast 50 TDI S-Line as part of this launch review, but I can report that both updated 2.0-litre turbo options have both been nicely refined to make this big SUV a comfortable and competent family tourer.

Despite Audi going to lengths to point out aggressive 0-100km/h sprint times for both variants, I just couldn't connect with them in that sporty way. I'm sure they're fast in a straight line, but when you need to ask for torque at freeway speed or are really trying to make the most of a curvy road, it's tough to get over this SUV's bulk.

Both engines are quiet though, and even the non-active suspension tune does a remarkable job of being both comfortable and controlled.

The diesel engine is prone to bouts of lag, and although attempts have been made to reduce the impact of the stop-start system, it can leave you without precious torque at times when starting at the lights or at roundabouts and T-junctions. The petrol alternative is much better in this regard, proving slick and responsive on our test loop.

Once up-and-running the dual-clutch was hard to catch out, with ultra-fast shifts and ratios chosen at appropriate times.

The steering suits this car's character really well. It's quite computer-assisted, but in its default mode is pleasantly light, while sport mode tightens up the ratio to bring enough bite and responsiveness to keep the driver engaged enough.

Sport mode does deserve special mention here, as it's an unsually good one. The tightened-up steering is joined by more aggressive accelerator response, and with the excellent adaptive suspension package, a lower firmer ride.

Speaking of the adaptive suspension, we had the opportunity to test it in the 40 TDI, and while it's an expensive option ($3385, ouch!) it removed the sharper moments from the standard ride, added a dollop of dynamism, and quietened down the cabin even more.

Even the stock suspension plays nicely with this car's all-wheel drive system, which no doubt helps with that sturdy road feel and confident traction.

The sum of these parts makes the updated Q5 perhaps what it should be – a comfortable premium family tourer with a hint of something more thrown in. It sits nicely between its key rivals, with the Mercedes-Benz GLC more to the luxury side, and the BMW X3 offering a bit more of a sporty angle.

Just like the bump in cabin tech, Audi has now made the majority of safety items standard across the Q5 range.

On the active safety front, even the base Q5 gets auto emergency braking which works up to 85km/h and detects cyclists and pedestrians, lane keep assist with lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, driver attention alert, auto high-beams, and an exit warning system.

Adaptive cruise control, a 360-degree camera suite, a more advanced collision avoidance system, and an auto-parking suite are all part of the 'Assistance package' on the base Q5 ($1769 on 40TDI, $2300 on 45 TFSI), but become standard on the mid-grade Sport.

As for the more expected safety items, the Q5 gets the standard suite of electronic assistance items for traction and braking, with eight airbags (dual front, quad side, and dual curtain), and an active bonnet for pedestrian collisions.

The facelifted Q5 will carry over its excellent-at-the-time maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating from 2017.

The Q5 50 TDI is covered by Audi’s three-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty. Servicing is recommended every 12 months/15,000km.

Audi has two servicing plans for the 50 TDI: three-year coverage for $2040 and five-years for $3070.

Audi persists with a three-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, which is well behind the pace given its primary rival Mercedes-Benz is now offering five years, emerging rival Genesis also offers five years, and Japanese alternative Lexus offers four years. Still, many of its other rivals, including BMW and Range Rover, persist with three-year promises, so the brand is hardly alone here.

Audi does score some major points for having more affordable pre-paid service packages. At the time of writing, a five-year service pack for the 40 TDI comes in at $3160 or $632 a year, and a pack for the 45 TFSI comes in at $2720 or $544 a year. Super affordable for a premium brand.