2020 Audi Q5 vs BMW X3

What's the difference?

The Audi Q5 is a rapid, comfortable, and space-efficient five-seat SUV. It has the safety and standard specification to match it with the big guns in this part of the market, delivered in a handsome, precisely executed package. Better fuel economy and a longer warranty would make a good thing even better.

As much as I love the mental GLC63 - complete with V8 bellow - the X3 M is the one for drivers. While that's a silly thing to say on the surface - what 'driver' is going to buy an SUV? - this is the new reality. We love these things and they're not going away.

While it may not be quite as comfortable as any of its competition or have the V8 cachet of the Jag and the Merc, it still takes the fight to them in what is easily the roomiest and most practical in this niche part of the segment. And it's an enormous amount of fun.

Audi has honed its design game to a fine point over the last decade, making its cars consistently handsome and instantly recognisable, although borderline uniformity in the treatment of key elements will be perplexing for some.

Angry, angular (in this case LED) headlights, sitting either side of the signature ‘single frame’ grille set the tone, with our test example’s ‘Mythos Black’ metallic finish largely absorbing many characteristic details.

These include long strakes on either side of a broad bonnet that closes over the top of (rather than inside) the front guards, and an arrow straight character line running from the rear of the car along the mid-section to the leading edge of the front doors.

The carefully shaped profiles around the front and side (car designers call it surfacing) create a clean, tightly wrapped look. And the Bavarian maker is currently playing a strong hand on wheel design, the optional ‘5-arm off-road’ rims added to the test car (20-inch, as per standard fit) complementing the Q5’s cool personality.

Current Audi SUV design hallmarks are also present and accounted for at the rear, including sharply tapered LED tail-lights, the hatch door covering virtually the full width of the body, and a substantial spoiler continuing the roofline across the top of the back window.

Inside, the cabin displays simplicity, confidence, and restraint worthy of a Bauhaus case study. The sweeping dashboard combines chiselled angles with neatly curved borders, the only hiccup being the 8.3-inch multimedia screen perched above the central air vents, looking uncomfortably like an afterthought.

The ‘Virtual Cockpit’ configurable instrument display places a 12.3-inch digital screen underneath an unassuming binnacle, and seat decoration matches the exterior with long, uncomplicated lines adding just enough visual interest.

The third-generation X3 is by far the best-looking and isn't as badly blighted by BMW's current oversized, hatchback-straining grilles. It's not small, no, but in the flesh, it looks fine.

The usual M accoutrements are present, with new front and rear bumpers, skirts and a whopping set of 21-inch alloys. It looks different and marginally more aggro than the M40i and just enough so a vaguely interested observer will notice.

A quick look at the rest of the similarly-sized hard-and-fast SUVs reveals a similar approach.

The cabin is largely unspectacular, as is the BMW way. The X3's interior pre-dates the current X5, X7 and 3 Series which are rather more attractive and packed with newer tech.

The seats add some serious excitement, they're a proper set of M seats, complete with the slightly naff light-up X3 M logos in the backrest. But it's predictably well-made, is very comfortable and is full of nice materials.

A wheelbase just over 2.8m is in line with the Q5’s mid-size premium SUV competition, the Goldilocks zone for a broad target audience, offering generous room between the axles for decent accommodation with enough left over for useful utility.

The driver and front passenger inhabit a snug environment with a sporty cockpit feel thanks to the dashboard’s angular projection back into the cabin and a broad centre console between the seats. But there’s still more than enough breathing room, and storage is plentiful, including a medium-size lidded box/armrest (with a USB-A port and ‘aux-in’ jack inside), twin cupholders, a slim recess in the console for coins, pens, etc, and a ‘Qi’ wireless charging pad ahead of the gearshift for compatible mobile devices (with a second USB-A input beside it). The glove box is reasonably generous and provides access to a DVD/CD player, two SD (XC) card readers and 10GB flash memory for media storage, while door bins include a recessed section for large bottles.

In the second row, sitting behind the driver’s seat set to my 183cm position, I had plenty of headroom and heaps of legroom, but if you have smaller people in the rear, thanks to the ‘Comfort package’ fitted to our test car, the 40/20/40 split rear seat is able to slide forward (as a whole or in part) to increase boot capacity. Three large adults across the rear will be an uncomfortably tight fit, but two grown-ups with a child or smaller adult in-between will be fine.

There are storage nets on the back of the front seats, two cupholders in the fold-down centre armrest, door pockets (again able to accept large bottles), twin adjustable air vents with climate control, two charge-only USB ports and a 12-volt socket. So, no complaints from back-seaters needing to charge phones or games.

With rear seats upright, maximum cargo volume is 550 litres, which is on par with the BMW X3 and Merc GLC, and more than enough to swallow our three-piece hard suitcase set (35, 68 and 105 litres), or the jumbo size CarsGuide pram.

Fold the back seat flat (via levers in the load space or on the seats themselves) and available space increases to 1550 litres, which is plenty, but around 50 litres less than the BMW and Benz. If load capacity is a key priority you may want to think about the Land Rover Discovery Sport, which tips in with 1698 litres.

There are tie-down points in the cargo floor and a retaining net (with tensioning straps) is standard. Handy, netted storage areas sit behind each rear wheel tub and shopping bag hooks are a practical touch. The standard electric rear tailgate features gesture control (via a sweeping foot action) for hands-free operation.

Maximum towing capacity is 2.0 tonnes for a braked trailer (with 200kg towball weight) and the spare is a collapsible space saver.

This X3, if you need reminding, is bigger than BMW's first SAV (ugh), the X5. That means plenty of room up front, heaps of legroom for most in the back and enough room for five aboard.

Front seat passengers score a pair of cupholders with a cover and the centre rear armrest has two more for a total of four. Add to that bottle holders in each door and your beverage holding capabilities are pretty standard.

The boot starts at an impressive 550 litres, almost tripling to 1600 litres when you drop the 40/20/40 split fold seat. You get a good flat load space when you do that, too.

For $157,900, before on-road costs, you may think this car should be absolutely loaded with stuff. And it is. Whether that's enough is up to you, but the price is about right for its segment.

It's worth remembering we only get the up-spec Competition version, BMW saw no point in offering the 'normal' version nobody was going to buy.

For your cash you get 21-inch alloys, multi-zone climate control, ambient interior lighting, keyless entry and start, active cruise control, electronic damper control, digital instrument cluster (not the new 'Live Cockpit'), sat nav, auto high beam, auto LED headlights, launch control, leather seats and steering wheel, electric front seats, head-up display, auto parking, power everything, auto wipers, huge panorama sunroof and a tyre repair kit.

The big central screen features BMW's iDrive, controlled by either the rotary dial or via touchscreen. It's a belter of a system and I reckon it's still the best, although you have to pay for Apple CarPlay - this remains controversial and I wonder how long the company will persist.

The Q5 45 TFSI is powered by the VW Group (EA888) 2.0-litre, four-cylinder, turbo-petrol engine featuring an iron block and alloy head, direct-injection and variable cam/valve timing on the exhaust and intake sides.

Peak power is 180kW, available from 5000-6500rpm, and maximum torque is 370Nm arriving across a wide plateau from 1600-4300rpm.

Drive goes to all four wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch auto transmission and Audi’s ‘quattro’ all-wheel drive system using an electronically-controlled, multi-plate clutch centre differential, and the ‘quattro ultra’ rear diff that (in conjunction with the centre unit) decouples when AWD isn’t needed to reduce mechanical drag and improve fuel efficiency.

The X3 M arrives from the US with a shiny new version of BMW's modular six-cylinder performance engine. While the M Performance M40i has a single turbo (B58) straight six, one tiny change to the name - from B58 to S58 - means a heck of a lot.

The S58 takes the same fundamental formula, bolts in two new single-scroll turbos, throws in forged conrods and a few other changes to boost the power to 375kW (500 horsepower) and 600Nm.

That torque figure is available across a nice wide 3350 revs, between 2600rpm and 5950rpm.

Getting all that to the wheels is the M version of BMW's all-wheel drive system xDrive and an active rear differential. The near-ubiquitous eight-speed ZF brokers the connection between that system and the flywheel and it's all impossibly smooth and feels bulletproof.

Claimed fuel economy for the combined (ADR 81/02 - urban, extra-urban) cycle is 7.3L/100km, the Q5 45 TFSI emitting 167g/km of CO2 in the process.

Minimum fuel requirement is 95 RON premium unleaded and you’ll need 70 litres of it to fill the tank.

Over roughly 300km of city, suburban and freeway running we recorded an average of 11.4L/100km, which is a solid miss relative to the claim, but a more expected number for a close to 1.8-tonne five-seater.

The official fuel sticker quotes a mightily impressive 10.6L/100km. No, not great for a mid-sized SUV but pretty good for one with five hundred horses under your right foot.

The reality, of course, is different but not unexpectedly so - a week in my hands in the suburbs and a cobweb-clearing early morning run delivered a 14.1L/100km average. Again, not bad given the kind grunt that's on tap.

Audi claims the Q5 45 TFSI will accelerate from 0-100km/h in 6.3sec, which is decidedly snappy for a mid-size, five-seat SUV, and with maximum torque (370Nm) available from just 1600rpm up to 4500rpm mid-range performance is satisfyingly strong.

In ‘normal’ city driving, even in Sport mode, power delivery is close to linear, although a slightly delayed push in the back is the norm when squeezing the right pedal more aggressively.

The seven-speed dual-clutch auto is slick and fuss-free, the standard wheel-mounted paddles delivering rapid and precise manual changes on demand.

Suspension is by multi-links (five) front and rear, and ride comfort, despite standard 20-inch rims, is impressive. Standard rubber is 255/45 Michelin Latitude Sport 3, an SUV-oriented tyre with wet weather performance and low rolling resistance (to help fuel economy) as key priorities. They’re quiet, and in more spirited driving, surprisingly grippy.

Take the long way home and this family focused SUV feels well balanced and predictable. The quattro system shuffles drive between the axles seamlessly, and the ride/handling balance is excellent. Any shift from front- to all-wheel drive is imperceptible.

Steering is electromechanical and remains nicely weighted, with good road feel in the city and on the highway thanks to speed-dependent assistance.

Braking is by sizeable vented discs at the front and solid rotors at the rear. They’re powerful yet refined with an agreeably progressive pedal feel.

The multi-adjustable front seats are grippy, yet comfortable over the long haul, and in line with the current Audi norm, ergonomics are top-shelf.

One of the things I love about BMW is the company's ability to produce a car that on one hand is so normal and competent for the every day but also produce a version that is completely doolally.

The fine folk at M obviously involve themselves from day one so that when they get a finished car they can get cracking on making it properly fast. Obviously, quite a bit has to change for that to happen.

The X3 M is very stiff. Pop the bonnet and you'll see a piece of whatever the metal equivalent of four-by-two keeping the two sides of the car apart.

This is something M does whenever it gets a vanilla BMW, as it has with the M2 and outgoing M3 and M4 pair. To name three. The difference from the driver's seat, when compared to, say, the M40i, is immediate.

The steering is super-responsive, the front of the car reacting incredibly quickly given the X3 M's two-tonne weight.

Even in Comfort mode, the X3 M's ride is pretty firm. That doesn't bother me especially, nor my wife, who has a keen sense of ride quality. It never really falls over the line of being uncomfortable but it's worth knowing if you're considering this and you have to carry passengers.

If you drive around town in either M1 or M2 (in the factory settings at least), you're mad - the suspension becomes very hard and the steering too heavy. In fact, the steering in its Super Sport setting is just too heavy and uncooperative.

Once you've set it up to your liking though, the X3 M is brilliant. The S58 - soon to be installed in the new 3 and 4 Series M cars - is fantastic.

Cheerfully belting the 7200rpm redline at every upshift, barking between gears and delivering torque the way a hungry Labrador delivers a headbutt if you get in between it and food, the straight-six is glorious.

The 4.1-second sprint from 0-100km/h is only part of the story. Not many cars can cover ground so quickly and fewer still SUVs of this size and weight can do it with such precision.

When you turn the wheel on the X3 M, the front goes where you want it, instantly. All that under-bonnet bracing prevents the front flexing and shimmying, which is the enemy of going fast. So that sorts out getting into the corner. The best thing is you can push through corners and slingshot out the other side, riding that huge torque slab, the rear wheels doing most of the work with the occasional wriggle to keep you smiling.

A good chunk of the applause goes to the way the xDrive all-wheel drive system and its 'M Active' diff at the rear work together in Sport+ mode.

As colleague Steve Corby discovered at this car's clay-pan launch, the front wheels aren't doing much of the driving when you've turned it all up to 11 in '4WD Sport'.

When the road goes from straight to twisty, the excellent brakes come in to play, hauling the car down from big speeds without complaint. Even better is that in normal driving, they're not grabby and the pedal always lets you know what shape you're in.

The X3 M rolls out the door of BMW's North Carolina factory with six airbags, stability and traction controls, front and rear parking sensors, around view camera (including reversing camera), forward and reverse AEB, blind spot sensor, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, reverse cross traffic alert, speed limit recognition and tyre pressure monitoring.

There are also two ISOFIX points and three top-tether restraints.

The X3 scored a maximum five ANCAP stars in 2017.

Audi covers the Q5 with a three year/unlimited km warranty, which is in line with BMW and Merc, but lags the mainstream market where five years/unlimited km is the norm, with Kia and SsangYong at seven years.

That said, body cover runs to three years for paint defects and 12 years for corrosion (perforation).

Recommended service interval is 12 months/15,000km, and ‘Audi Genuine Care Service Plans’ offer capped price servicing options over three years ($1710) and five years ($2720).

BMW offers a segment standard, but increasingly mean-looking, three years/unlimited kilometre warranty. It's not just BMW, though, it's all of the premium Germans. You do get three years roadside assist into the bargain and you can pay to extend the warranty, too.

You can pre-pay your servicing, with a five-year/80,000km Basic package for $3685. If you think you're going to give your X3 M a proper walloping you can opt for the the 'Plus Package'. For a not-inconsiderable $8173.

BMW will cover your brake pads and rotors for the same period as the Basic package.

Service intervals are variable because, as ever, BMWs tell you when they need a trip to the dealer.