2019 Audi Q5 vs Volvo XC40

What's the difference?

The Q5 is the most popular SUV in Audi’s line-up and for good reason, or for at least seven good reasons, as you’ll see after reading this review of the 50 TDI Quattro Sport.

Yes, if you’ve been looking at BMW’s X3 or Mercedes-Benz’s GLC you need to stop and read this before you make any final decisions, because I’ve just lived with this Q5 for a week and, having handed it back, I’m missing it already. Which is really saying something, because I’m now test driving a Bentley Bentayga.

The Volvo XC40 is the smallest and most recent addition to the Swedish brand’s SUV line-up and from the moment it arrived in 2018 it seems just about everybody hailed it as the best thing since smashed avocado.

Seriously, the praise was so high for the hugely anticipated car you could have been forgiven for thinking it could have been the new Dalai Lama or the Messiah.

But what’s it like live with? The XC40, not the Messiah.

We found out when an XC40 Inscription T4 came to stay for a week. During that time, I found out just how much fuel it needed, how much room was inside, what is was like to drive and what was missing from that impressive armoury of safety technology.