2017 Audi Q5 vs Volkswagen Touareg

What's the difference?

Like just about every SUV in the Australian market, Audi’s Q5 is up against some hot competition, including Range Rover’s new sleek and slick Velar. But it’s popular for a reason, with heaps of standard equipment for the money, a punchy drivetrain, and excellent dynamics. A full-house suite of safety equipment is the icing on the cake.

Yes, it's getting on a bit, and if you're one of those people in the queue for a new iPhone every year you'll find the technology a little frustrating. But as far as big, practical and powerful SUVs go, the Touareg Adventure has still got plenty to offer.

Emerging from Audi’s corporate garage a decade ago, the Q5 was the second SUV in the Bavarian maker’s line-up, following the larger Q7, which kicked things off in 2005.

It received a relatively mild facelift refresh in 2012, and this new, second-generation version still doesn’t stray a million miles away from Audi senior designer David Caffrey’s original vision.

Angular (standard) matrix LED headlights, sitting either side of a blacked-out version of the brand’s distinctive ‘Singleframe’ grille, give the car a mildly annoyed expression. It feels like it’s staring you down, and large gill-like vent apertures, also housing the front fog lights, enhance the imposing look.

The edges of the broad, subtly straked alloy bonnet close neatly over the top of the front fenders, with shutlines so even and accurate they’d make a Swiss watchmaker proud. This is partly down to the fact Audi uses laser sensors to measure how the sheet behaves during forming, and to make fine pressure adjustments if necessary. 

A clear, undulating character line confidently defines the side of the car, and continues around to the rear, which conforms strictly to Audi’s corporate design philosophy. There’s a spoiler at the top of the hatch door, inward-tapering (LED) tail-lights, and dual exhaust pipes neatly integrated in a single graphic piece under the bumper.

As the name implies, this limited edition features a ‘Titanium black’ styling package, including the black highlights around the grille, black trim strips on the side windows, roof rails and mirror caps, plus heavily tinted privacy glass, as well as 20-inch Audi Sport alloy rims finished in ‘Anthracite Black’. Our test example’s non-metallic ‘Quantum Grey’ paint looked uber cool.

Overall, it’s an evolutionary take on a proven design theme, but adventurous competitors like the Range Rover Velar will appeal to those looking for a more contemporary approach.

The cabin, while not exactly black, is definitely dark, with many square metres of top-shelf nappa hide used to trim the seats, complete with impressive diamond pattern quilting on the centre panels, and beautifully detailed contrast stitching.

There’s also Alcantara in the door inserts, and patches of the same tough material on the inner front seat bolsters to handle wear from buckling and unbuckling the seat belt. A thoughtful touch.

The interior treatment is classy but relatively conservative (again, next to the Velar, or the flashy Lexus RX) with the broad centre console a familiar Audi element. 

The dash is borderline plain, with a compact binnacle surrounding the ‘Virtual Cockpit’ digital instrument display, and the 8.3-inch high-res colour display up high in the centre, although brushed ‘Aluminium rhombus’ and carbon fibre highlights add a premium, high-tech look and feel

It's big and it looks it, this Touareg, appearing to command more lane space than even its seven-seat Skoda Kodiaq cousin. It also looks more rugged, more ready for action, than some of its more urban-focussed competitors.

But it's a nod to VW's design team that, despite being largely unchanged for the past five years, it doesn't look dated or old. The polished silver-framed front end still looks clean and modern, while the squared-off boot, that sits below a shark-fin antenna and above two silver-tipped exhaust outlets, still looks of the times, too.

Climb inside, though, and you will find some elements that are showing their age. The dash and central entertainment screens are nowhere near as sleek as in the new Tiguan, for example, and the rippled rubber dash material feels a touch old school, too. But most materials feel good under the touch, and the use of silver and gloss black help lift the interior ambience.

It may sit in the middle of Audi’s SUV line-up, but the Q5 delivers full-size accommodation for five, and practicality is well taken care of.

Up front there's a pair of cupholders in the centre console, and door bins with bottle holders. The glove box is a decent size, a useful lidded box sits between the front seats, and there are smaller oddments trays in the centre console.

Connectivity and power are covered by a pair of USB ports, an ‘auxiliary in’ socket and a 12V outlet.

In the rear, head and legroom are generous. Sitting behind the driver’s seat, set for my 183cm position, I enjoyed a surprisingly large gap to my knees and adequate fresh air above the bonce. Three adults across the rear would be tight, but do-able for shorter trips.

Backseaters are provided with adjustable ventilation control (including a digital read-out) as well as two cupholders in the fold-down centre armrest, door bins big enough for bottles, net pockets on the front seatbacks, and a 12V outlet.

Cargo space is bang on for the Q5’s competitive set, offering 550 litres (VDA), with the split-fold (40/20/40) rear seat upright. Thanks to the ‘Black’s’ sliding rear seat (see Equipment) that can grow to 610L.

For reference, BMW’s X3 and the Mercedes-Benz GLC offer 550L, the Range Rover Velar offers a fair bit more (673L) and the Jaguar F-Pace a bit less (508L).

Despite those differences, it’s able to swallow the CarsGuide pram with ease, or our three-piece hard suitcase set (35, 68 and 105 litres) with room to spare.

Use the neatly positioned release handles in the boot to fold the rear seat down, and that volume grows to 1550 litres, which is the same or slightly less than its competitors, although the Velar ups the ante again, with more than 10 per cent extra space (1731L).

There are netted pockets back there, a pair of bag hooks, two lights, as well as four tie-down anchors and a cargo net, plus welcome additions like a high-vis emergency vest and first-aid kit.

The power tailgate features foot-gesture control (always a winner, just kick your foot and up comes the door), and its opening height can be customised to match your garage. The spare is a space-saver.

There's plenty of space in the 4801mm-long, 1940mm-wide Touareg for upfront passengers, who will find themselves separated by a wide centre console that houses two cupholders and a deep storage bin that's home to a power source and USB connection point, though the latter requires a special adapter.

That central console is also home to the car's key settings, like altering the ride height (which is like riding the world’s slowest roller coaster when you play with it in traffic), along with the adaptive suspension settings.

The door pockets are big enough to swallow bottles and then some, and there's another bonus storage space above the touchscreen.

The back seat is huge, with plenty of legroom and headroom behind my (176cm) driving position. So big, in fact, you could feasibly fit three full-size humans in the back seat. Opt not to, and the pull-down divider that separates the rear seat will reveal two more cupholders, and there's room in each rear door for bottles, as well as a storage net on the rear of each front seat.

Backseat riders get their own air-vents, but no temperature controls. And there's a single power source to share, but no USB connection.

The auto-opening boot reveals a sizeable space (580 litres with the rear seat in place, 1642 litres with it folded flat)  along with a third power source, and the 40/20/40 split fold seats can be dropped from the boot via easy-to-reach buttons. A space-saver spare is hidden in the boot well. 

There are two ISOFIX attachment points, one in each window seat in the back.

This sense of adventure will set you back $79,990, carving a new place on the Touareg totem pole, between the $68,990 entry-level car and the $85,490, V6-powered model on which the Adventure is based.

For that money, you'll find a bigger, 100-litre fuel tank and adaptive air suspension that can lower or raise the Touareg's ride height (hence the whole 'Adventure' part), but city-dwellers will likely get joy from the  19-inch alloys (down from 20-inch in the V6-powered donor car), leather seat trim (but not the nappa leather in the more expensive model) and bi-xenon headlights (but they miss a cornering function).

That stuff joins the permanent all-wheel-drive system, cruise control and dual-zone climate control, and an 8.0-inch, nav-equipped touchscreen - though it does miss out on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

The 2.0-litre, four-cylinder, turbo-petrol ‘TFSI’ engine features dual-injection, with a multi-point set-up supplementing the main direct-injection system at partial load, for optimal throttle response.

Add Audi ‘valvelift” (variable valve timing on the exhaust side), and of course a turbo (with electric wastegate) and you arrive at 185kW from 5000-6000rpm, and 300Nm from 1600-4500rpm.

Drive goes to a seven-speed dual clutch, and on to all four wheels via the latest gen version of Audi’s ‘quattro’ all-wheel drive, featuring ‘ultra technology’.

What that means to you and I is that the system operates predictively, acquiring and evaluating dynamic data (steering angle, transverse and longitudinal acceleration, and engine torque) in 10-millisecond cycles, to distribute drive to the wheel that can make best use of it, including (amazingly) a seamless shift from all-wheel drive to front-wheel drive (and back).

We like the Touareg Adventure's 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6, which makes light work of overtakes with its 180kW at 4000rpm and 550Nm at 1750rpm. The power is channeled through a smooth, eight-speed automatic gearbox and is sent on to all four wheels.

Volkswagen reckons that's enough to accomplish the sprint from 0-100km/h in 7.6 seconds.

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

The Q5 features stop-start, and a fuel-saving coast mode, where the drive system allows freewheeling between 55 and 160km/h if the driver releases the accelerator.

Over roughly 300km of city, suburban and freeway running we recorded a (dash-indicated) figure of 10.8L/100km. Still not shabby for a 1.7-tonne SUV.

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

It's a big bopper, the Touareg, and so it's fuel use isn't as frugal as you might hope. That said, the addition of start/stop technology and a coasting system (that engages a false neutral when it can) helps bring the number down to a respectable 7.4L/100km on the claimed/combined cycle. 

Emissions are listed at 196g/km of C02.

Two things stand out when the Q5’s wheels start moving; the smooth, civilised, and surprisingly urgent nature of the 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine, as well as the feelsome response of the variable ratio, electro-mechanical steering.

Maximum power of 185kW is a pretty handy number, and Audi claims 0-100km/h in only 6.3sec. But that peak arrives at a lofty 5000-6000rpm (the rev ceiling is around 6750rpm). It’s more the 370Nm of torque (available all the way from 1600-4500rpm) that gets the job done.

The drive select system allows tuning of the throttle, transmission, and steering. In ‘Dynamic’ mode, mid-range thrust is strong, and delivered in fuss-free, linear fashion, with the seven-speed dual-clutch keeping things in the sweet spot.

The Q5 is so agile it’s easy to forget you’re driving it, rather than it’s more compact Q3 sibling. Suspension is a five-link set-up front and rear, and despite 20-inch rubber and the ‘S sport’ suspension fitted to the Black edition (firmer springs and dampers), the balance between ride comfort and dynamic response is spot on.

Audi says it’s paid particular attention to ‘aero acoustics’ and cruising noise levels are pleasantly low (the car’s claimed drag co-efficient is 0.30). 

The sports front seats are grippy and proved comfortable on longer runs, the brakes are reassuringly powerful and consistent, and the ergonomics are top-notch. 

For those determined to head off the highway, ground clearance is 208mm, approach angle is 25 degrees, departure is 27 degrees, and ramp angle is 17 degrees.

If you want to hitch something up to the back, maximum towing capacity for a braked trailer is 2400kg, and 750kg without stoppers.

You need look no further than Hugh Hefner to see that age isn't always an inhibitor to performance. Sure, it might slow you down, but getting on a bit doesn't mean you're lost to the world.

But in the world of cars, it does mean you're more easily overlooked. Take the Touareg, which is now a touch over five years old, and facing stiff competition, not just from rival manufacturers, but from the younger, slicker Tiguan. And so we meet this new Touareg Adventure, which lowers the entry price to a V6-powered Touareg.

There's so much to love about a rich, torque-heavy diesel V6, and the Touareg's unit serves up plenty of old-school grunt to help get the Adventure moving, regardless of whether you're in the city or further afield.

So much so that it's difficult to imagine any lesser engine could be quite so much fun. The Tiguan feels heavy, you see; like it requires some considerable grunt to help it feel more nimble. Even then, it requires manhandling, with heavy steering and suspension meaning you need to exert a little more effort than you may be used to. 

We didn't venture off road, but it's a smooth and comfortable on-road tourer.

The good news, though, is  the engine makes light work of  urban and freeway motoring, and the smooth eight-speed auto helps make your journey quiet and refined. In fact, it isn’t until you attempt some more athletic driving that the gearbox gets confused, constantly wanting to shift down mid-corner. A paddle-shift system would solve the problem.

Elsewhere, the technology is feeling aged now, and makes the drive experience feel dated, but if you're not particularly tech-savvy, that's unlikely to bother you too much.

We didn't venture off road, but it's a smooth and comfortable on-road tourer, with a heap of space inside and the kind of plush, comfortable seats and easy mannerisms that make long-distance touring a breeze.

The Touareg adventure is fitted with an impressive suite of standard safety kit, which starts with nine airbags (dual front, side and curtain bags, along with a driver's knee bag and side airbags for backseat passengers).

Beyond that, though, the Touareg adds a reversing camera, parking sensors, a fatigue-detection system and forward collision warning with AEB. 

The Touareg hasn't been ANCAP crash-tested since 2008, but did score the maximum five-star rating then.

Audi provides a three year/unlimited warranty, with three years paint cover, and a 12-year rust perforation guarantee. ‘AudiCare’ 24-hour roadside assistance is complimentary for three years.

The recommended service interval is 15,000km/12 months, and the ‘Audi Genuine Care Service Plan’ is available to cover scheduled servicing for three years/45,000km (whichever comes first). And for the Q5, the indicative price is $1870 (for petrol and diesel variants).

A standard three-year/unlimited km warranty is a little behind the times now, but service intervals are a healthy 15,000km or 12 months. 

A capped price servicing scheme limits total maintenance costs to $1815 for the first three years of ownership.