2022 Audi Q5 vs Lexus NX

What's the difference?

In a bustling mid-size luxury SUV market, Audi has managed to achieve the ultimate in perfect timing: launch what they claim is Australia’s most fuel-efficient diesel SUV when fuel prices are weighing heavily on everyone’s minds.

But while its fuel consumption is impressive, the Q5 has more to offer than that: it’s comfortable, controlled and refined, and exhibits the expected Audi levels of luxury.

It’s not the liveliest of drives, but the Q5 is a package likely to please Audi fans and perhaps even attract a few more buyers away from its rivals.

The NX 450h+ is a leading example for plug-in hybrid models. It’s a big ask for a buyer to switch to this technology at a correspondingly higher price, and others could follow the example set by this car as it nails the brief for core offerings.

It has a long range, charges relatively quickly, and the hybrid system is easy to use, yet is also customisable to allow keen users to extract the most out of the technology.

The NX does all of this whilst also being a big step forward for the brand in terms of its interior design, technology, and features. 

What remains to be seen is if there’s a big enough target market for PHEV tech when Lexus sells an even easier-to-use standard self-charging hybrid version.

The Q5 is 4682mm long (with a 2823mm-long wheelbase), 2140mm wide and 1637mm high. 

Audi has seemingly mastered the art of fine-tuning the look of an urban-focussed SUV and packaged it in this neat and tidy vehicle.

This mid-size luxury SUV is easy enough on the eye to me but, as always, make up your own mind about what you like and don’t like in terms of styling.

The design of the new NX is perhaps the thing I love the most about it. I was no fan of the prior model, which seemed a pretty average re-imagining of the previous Toyota RAV4 on which it was based. This new one, though, is a stratospheric leap into the future.

It thoroughly owns its appearance inside and out, leaving hardly a hint that it might share its underpinnings with the RAV4, and moving the Lexus brand forward in so many ways.

It has a newfound imposing stance thanks to its significantly expanded dimensions, with the signature Lexus descending roofline, massive wheels, and expansive grille.

While I wouldn’t call it ‘elegant’ it’s certainly contemporary, with the contours running down the bonnet, and particularly the ones surrounding the rear wheel arch cutting strong, post-modern lines.

It looks distinct, and importantly, far more resolved than its predecessor, to my eyes for the first time truly earning its place as a Lexus.

Interesting touches this time around also include the typeface across the rear, and sharp LED light clusters front and rear.

If you agree the exterior is an impressive step forward, wait until you see the inside. Lexus has clearly re-thought its entire approach to interior design, with the dash a clean slate exercise.

Immediately dominating the design is that massive touchscreen, which has an entirely new and much easier to use interface. Some clear thought has also been given to ergonomics, as, despite its size, even the furthest elements are easy to reach for the driver. And the clumsy touchpad interface which plagued the previous car has finally been consigned to the bin.

There’s also no doubt the NX reaches into the premium realm, with soft touch materials and tasteful grey finishes everywhere. There are even some clever elements, like a padded leather strip running alongside the centre stack for the driver’s knee, and largely tasteful application of piano black finishes.

The digital dash and wheel design is aesthetically pleasing, while maintaining a driver-oriented approach, which can sometimes feel a bit lost on some other new designs which replace an indented cluster with a single continuous panel for the dash and multimedia functions.

There’s also a distinct lack of buttons to clutter up the design, which ties into the practicality of the space which we’ll look at next.

I spend a lot of my time in large 4WDs, so it’s unusual for me to climb into something like the Q5 but I like to think I bring a fresh perspective to objectively critiquing the kinds of vehicles that inhabit this slice of the market.

In that spirit of frankness, here goes…

With leather all over the shop and soft-touch surfaces in abundance, this is definitely a premium space and though the interior feels like it shrink-wraps around you, it still manages to feel somewhat roomy and functional.

There are five seats: driver (power-adjustable and heated with four-way electric lumbar support) and front passenger (power-adjustable and heated), and a second row of seats in a 40:20:40 split-fold configuration.

There are floor mats, front and rear, to cop the dirt and debris of everyday life.

The driver gets a leather steering wheel with controls and paddle-shifters, and access to storage places aplenty, including cupholders in the centre console and door pockets, and two USB outlets in front, with charging and connectivity functions.

The touchscreen multimedia unit is easy enough to use and I didn’t have any problems pairing my phone to the system.

Second-row passengers get a fold-down armrest with cupholders, as well as two USB outlets, aircon temp and fan controls (and a digital display), and storage spaces back there include door pockets.

Cargo volume is listed as 520 litres in the rear (with the second row in use), and 1520 litres if the second row is stowed away.

The NX is much bigger than before, meaning it has a lot more cabin space, but what cabin space is on offer is also more efficiently used. 

A prime example is the centre stack and armrest console. The latter is simply huge and features the brand’s signature top with a trick hinge so it can be opened both ways. 

The lack of clumsy controls featured in previous cars, as well as a tidy fly-by-wire shifter, means a lot more space in the centre console for two huge bottle holders.

Under the climate controls is a neat, floating, wireless charger, which slides back into the dash to reveal yet another large storage area and 12V power outlet. Front passengers can also make use of a choice of USB 2.0 or USB-C for connecting to the multimedia suite. Nice.

Moving onto the touch panel itself, and the basic dual-zone climate functions are controlled via big shortcut touch units, as well as the smart inclusion of physical dials for temperature. There’s also a physical dial for audio volume in the centre, and shortcut buttons for instant de-fogging. Smart.

There are big bottle holders with a small bin in the doors, and the space on offer for front passengers is great. The seating position is quite high, but the excellent seat trim which Lexus has built a reputation for is still present. The F-Sport seats in this variant offer unexpectedly good side-bolstering, too.

The rear seat continues with the lovely seat trim, and the 60/40 split backing has two states of recline. 

The space offers plenty of room for my 182cm tall frame, featuring ample airspace for my knees and head. Oddly though, it doesn’t feel as big as its Toyota RAV4 relation. 

This could merely be perception, as the interior trim consists of dark leather with dark headlining and a deep tint for the rear windows.

For storage, pockets feature on the backs of the front seats, alongside a decent bottle holder in the doors and an armrest console with two more. 

Amenities include dual adjustable air vents with a lock-off (but no independent third climate zone), as well as dual USB-C outlets and a 12V socket.

Finally, there’s the boot. Volume is decent, with 520 litres on offer. The loading lip and floor is quite high, though, and it’s notable that 60 litres have been lost to this car’s design when compared with the RAV4. 

It fits the three-piece CarsGuide luggage set with a little space to spare, but the luggage cover had to be removed to accommodate the height.

Under the boot floor there is no room for a spare, but a small storage cutaway, perhaps for your charging cables, as well as a tyre repair kit and a compartment which houses the 12V battery.

The NX 450h+ is the most expensive NX ever, wearing a before on-roads price-tag (MSRP) of $89,900. It’s some $6000 more than the well-received NX 350h 'self-charging' hybrid and offers a huge battery with an unusually long range for a PHEV.

We’ll look a little more closely at the detail behind that in a moment, but you should also know that in the context of its PHEV competition the value equation is not as alarming as it first seems.

The Mercedes-Benz GLC300e wears an MSRP of $95,700, and incoming new PHEV versions of the BMW X3 (xDrive 30e - $101,971) and Volvo XC60 (Recharge - $97,990) are significantly more expensive.

It seemingly takes a lot to convince a buyer to switch to PHEV technology, so Lexus has quite cleverly positioned the NX 450h+ under its rivals, while also playing to the brand’s hybrid history.

Standard equipment is also excellent, with the NX range a huge leap forward for Lexus, the 450h+ only being available in the top F-Sport trim.

This includes a brand new and enormous 14.0-inch multimedia touchscreen with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and built-in nav, an 8.0-inch digital instrument cluster, head-up display, wireless phone charger, 14-speaker premium audio system, full synthetic leather interior trim, dual-zone climate control, power adjustable front seats with heating and ventilation, keyless entry and push-start ignition, 20-inch alloy wheels, colour-matching F-Sport bodykit, fully adaptive LED headlights, and a power tailgate.

Adding further value on top of the standard F-Sport equipment mentioned above, Lexus throws in the sunroof, heated steering wheel, and digital rear-view mirror which are optional lesser variants.

It doesn’t end there, though, with the NX featuring the full suite of active safety items offered by Lexus, as well as a particularly large hybrid battery (18.1kW) which allows a claimed NEDC range of 87km. 

It also throws in the polite inclusion of a Type 2 to Type 2 charging cable, which you’ll need to charge up at public AC locations.

So yes, the 450h+ is the most expensive NX ever made and will still be too tall an order for many, but it’s actually a lot better value than it first seems in the context of its rivals.

The Q5 has an in-line 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine, which produces 120kW at 3250-4200rpm and 370Nm at 1500-3000rpm, and a 12V mild-hybrid system.

It has a seven-speed dual-clutch S Tronic transmission and front-wheel drive – a first for Q5s sold in Australia. 

Okay, this is where it gets tricky. You ready? The Lexus NX 450h+ has a combustion engine up front. It’s a 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine producing 136kW/227Nm which runs on the Atkinson cycle, meaning it sacrifices some power in favour of efficiency.

The idea is that the slack is taken up by the electric motors, of which this car has two. It has one more powerful unit on the front axle, producing 134kW/270Nm, and a second unit on the rear axle facilitating the all-wheel drive system, producing 40kW/121Nm.

The combustion engine, meanwhile, can only drive the front wheels via a continuously variable automatic transmission.

The electric motors are, in fact, the same ones used in the ‘regular’ 350h hybrid, however the higher voltage 18.1kWh battery pack in the 450h+ allows a full range of motion in the fully electric driving mode, up to 135km/h without any assistance from the combustion engine.

Combined power is rated at 227kW, but no system peak torque figure is given. Lexus claims the NX 450h+ will sprint from 0-100km/h in just 6.3 seconds.

Official fuel consumption is listed as 4.8L/100km (combined). 

Actual fuel consumption on test, measured at the pump, was 4.2L/100km. Very impressive.

The Q5 has a 70-litre fuel tank so, going by that as-tested fuel-consumption figure, you can reasonably expect a driving range of approximately 1616km from a full tank, factoring in a safe-distance buffer of 50km.

It has a 24-litre AdBlue tank.

The 18.1kWh battery pack which features in the NX 450h+ grants it an unusually long range for a PHEV, at a claimed 87km. This is to the more lenient NEDC testing cycle, however, and in our real-world driving the car reported around 62-65km of pure electric range at close to 100 per cent charge.

That’s still the longest real-world range of any PHEV I’ve tested, which bodes well for the usefulness of this system.

Unlike some PHEVs, the NX 450h+ has flexible options for controlling the drivetrain. The car defaults to EV mode, but with a flick of the switch it can be driven as a parallel hybrid (like any other Toyota or Lexus hybrid system) which does a great job of maintaining the battery level.

Or you can switch to charge mode, which constantly runs the engine using excess idle power to charge the battery.

The only thing I wish you could control here is the regenerative braking, which has a single mild state of tune. The ability to control it with the paddle-shifters would make for a more efficient EV.

Claimed fuel consumption for the 450h+ is just 1.3L/100km, and after my testing, covering several hundred kilometres in a few drive modes, on the freeway and around town, I came to a final figure of 3.9L/100km. 

That's pretty good, but if you were able to make more use of the EV drive mode, it could easily be less.

In terms of charging, the NX uses a European-standard Type 2 charging port. Importantly, the NX can charge at a rate of 6.6kW, double that of many PHEVs.

This means despite a relatively large battery you can get to 100 per cent charge on a public AC charger from the reserve level in just 2.5 hours. A more realistic proposition for those who only have on-street or apartment parking and cannot charge at home.

Total range can theoretically be in excess of 1000km with a full charge and tank of fuel. The NX takes 55L of fuel but notably requires mid-shelf 95RON premium.

Comfortable, refined and composed.

It has a kerb weight of 1740kg (unladen), a turning circle of 11.7m and feels nimble enough with its not ungainly size and weight. 

There is plenty to like about this vehicle – not the least of which is rather sharp steering and an engine and auto combination that produces seamless changes at the right times and reliably smooth delivery of torque from low revs – but look elsewhere if you’re chasing a particularly thrilling drive experience. There’s a bit of lag about its general performance and it needs to be really coaxed into action to yield the goods when it comes time to get energetic on the road.

The Q5 drives well enough and offers safe, predictable handling but it should feel more lively than it does.

Having said that, it is quiet inside and cocoons you for extended drives. There’s no need to ‘send it’ (as the kids say) via heavy throttle because when driving something like this, smooth and steady is the best way.

It is reliably surefooted and stable on somewhat traction-compromised surfaces (i.e. rain-slick blacktop and the like).

Ride is generally quite firm and those 20-inch alloys don’t help.

A niggle: the Q5 has a collapsible space-saver spare tyre, as a lot of these city-based SUVs do, and that’s far from ideal if you’re ranging away from metropolitan areas.

Ground clearance is listed as 175mm so you don’t have a lot of room for error when traversing any bumpy terrain, and the 245/40 R20 tyres are road-biased so they’re not suited to the rigours of dirt driving.

If you’re keen to use your Q5 as a towing vehicle, please note that its listed capacities are 750kg (unbraked) and 2000kg (braked).

Otherwise, the Q5 is a rather pleasant SUV for daily driving duties.

The NX feels entirely different from the previous model. The new car feels bigger, wider, heavier, almost as though you’re driving the previous-generation RX, a full size up.

It’s also a completely different beast from the RAV4 on which it is based. Visibility is still excellent with expansive glass on all but the rearmost window, while the refreshed cabin design feels spacious but more luxurious, too.

The steering is heavy, regardless of drive mode, making the NX feel substantial, but not inconvenient or artificial, with some organic feedback letting you connect with the road.

The hybrid drivetrain is the real star of the show, however, with Lexus putting its decades of experience on full show. 

The car defaults to EV priority mode, moving primarily as an electric car at up to freeway speeds without needing the combustion components. 

In hybrid vehicle mode, the components (which are the same as the standard hybrid, anyway) do an excellent job of mimicking the series/parallel drive of other Lexus and Toyota hybrid models.

The key brilliance of this system is how drive to the wheels is managed by the transmission, so it is imperceptible to the driver when the engine is assisting (aside from distant noise at higher loads). 

The mastery of this tech is such that it is still the leading hybrid drive on the market for smooth power transfer.

The NX also has a charge mode, where it will operate primarily as a combustion vehicle with less electrical assistance. The idle time from the engine is used to charge the battery via the transmission. 

While it’s not an efficient way to use the energy, it may be useful for where you want to maximise the amount of energy saved during a freeway trip in order to have a full charge for emissions free motoring at your destination.

The only area of drivetrain customisation I wish the NX had is in regeneration. The stock regen tune is quite mild, so I feel as though it could get even more range out of EV priority mode if you were able to maximise this.

The NX is also quite fast in a straight line, with Sport and Sport+ modes allowing you to eke otherwise hidden performance out of the electric motors. 

Raw acceleration does make the 6.3-second claimed 0-100km/h time feel like a realistic proposition, but I wouldn't put this SUV in amongst its performance rivals.

While its electrified straight-line performance is impressive, the each-way suspension tune and weight of 18.1kWh of batteries leaves a little to be desired on the handling front. 

This car feels its weight in the corners and comes with a fair bit of body-roll to keep it out of the same league as German sports machines like the GLC53 or BMW X3 M40i.

The suspension tune was another source of disappointment. For context, the ride is generally very good, but I found the large wheels, low profile tyres, and new adaptive suspension package give the NX a ride with a harsher edge than I was expecting. 

This is perhaps more notable because its RAV4 relation is particularly good for ride comfort. Seems odd that the relatively affordable Toyota-branded SUV rides with more grace than its Lexus luxury equivalent.

The same goes for road noise. Not bad, but it could be better on coarser chip surfaces, where you can hear the difference the big Lexus wheels and low-profile rubber makes.

Where does that leave us? This is a more luxury-oriented model when it comes to its ride and handling than some of its price-equivalent sporty rivals, but leans into its electric features to provide a customisable platform for energy-efficient adventures.

It’s silky smooth around town but leaves you with the confidence to have some battery left at the end of your trip without making it too complicated. I’d argue the ingredients on offer here are what more manufacturers should be combining to get people into PHEVs.

As the top-spec car, the NX 450h+ comes with the full suite of modern active safety, including freeway speed auto emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, a new intersection assist feature, a new emergency steering feature, blind spot monitoring with rear cross traffic alert, lane departure warning with lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control, road sign assist, safe exit warning, and panoramic reversing camera.

It also packs a whopping 10 airbags alongside the standard array of brake, stability, and traction controls, as well as dual ISOFIX and three top-tether child seat mounting points across the rear row.

At the time of writing, the NX was yet to receive an ANCAP safety rating.

The Q5 has a five-year / unlimited km warranty, plus a five-year warranty on the paint, and a 12-year manufacturer warranty for bodywork against corrosion perforation. 

Servicing appointments are scheduled at 15,000 km or 12 months, whichever comes first.

Owners of new Audis can buy five-year service plans at any time during the first 12 months of their ownership – the cost is $3140 on all Q5s. 

Lexus offers a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty but goes one step further for its hybrid and electric models to offer an industry-leading 10-year/unlimited kilometre warranty for the high-voltage battery components.

Service costs are very competitive for the luxury market, too, with every NX costing just $495 a year for the first three annual visits.

Good value considering the PHEV is more complicated compared to standard combustion variants.

Specific ownership boons offered to buyers of the PHEV model include complementary home installation of an AC charging terminal, alongside a three-year membership to the Lexus Encore Platinum service.

Benefits include invites to various events and discounts with partnered venues and fuel stations. But perhaps most importantly, access to the 'Lexus on Demand' service which lets users swap their car for another model for up to eight days at a time.

This is a fairly generous ownership initiative which keeps Lexus ahead of its luxury rivals.