Audi Q5 2017 review

Damien Reid road tests and reviews the updated Audi Q5 with specs, fuel consumption and verdict at its international launch in Mexico.

To be built south of the border, Audi's coming Q5 promises thrift, pace, value and comfort.

The Q5, the most important model in Audi's portfolio, could be the most significant launch within the VW empire this year.

Over eight years, the outgoing version sold more than 1.6 million globally, becoming not only Audi's best-selling SUV but also surpassing the A4 as its outright bestseller.

It's a similar story for Audi Australia, for which the Q5 is No. 3 in sales. More than 23,000 examples are on the road and it was the segment leader from 2009 until 2015 — sales increased year on year until supplies started to dwindle in preparation for this new model.

This week's international launch was on the Baja Peninsula in Mexico, not far from the new state-of-the-art factory that will build the Q5.

New from the ground up, the SUV uses a shortened version of VW's latest, modular platform that also underpins the Q7, A4 and A8 stablemates plus the VW Touareg and Bentley Bentayga.

These new underpinnings are largely responsible for the Q5's shedding up to 90kg even though the new version is marginally wider and higher, with more knee, shoulder and headroom.

For a car that looks incredibly similar to the outgoing model, there's not a single nut or bolt carried over.

There are new engine options, the next level of driver assistance packages and even a new range of colours.

For the first time in this class, adaptive air suspension will be an alternative to the regular coil springs.

Initially, engines will be 2.0-litre turbo fours: petrol (185kW/370Nm) and diesel (140kW/400Nm), respectively claiming 7.1L and 5.2L/100km.

The diesel's clatter is almost impossible to detect and, the “Dieselgate” fuss apart, this is a sweet engine, propelling the SUV from rest to 100km/h in 7.9 seconds.

It made short work of overtaking when needed and merging with highway traffic.

We sampled the 3.0-litre V6 turbo diesel (210kW/620Nm) that's on the horizon — it's by far the best in the range. Smooth and quiet with effortless low-down grunt, it made short work of overtaking when needed and merging with highway traffic.

The petrol engine needed to be pushed along at higher revs but still settled into highway cruise mode for long distance travel. The 2.0 engines turn a seven-speed dual-clutch auto while the 3.0 uses a regular eight-speed auto.

The optional air suspension with adaptive dampers comes from the large Q7. It has five ride-height settings through a 60mm range and even drops the tail to ease loading and unloading of the generous 610L space behind the rear seats.

Using the rotary controller, the driver can select one of seven driving modes including two new lift/off-road and allroad modes

The Q5's revised quattro all-wheel drive “with ultra technology” disconnects drive to the rear wheels and diff when not needed. Checking progress on a tablet plugged into the car, we could see the quattro set-up flicking between two and four in a matter of milliseconds — it did so scores of times on the drive and the process was undetectable inside the car.

From the outside, the Q5 may look similar but the interior lets you know this is a new canvas, most notably for the driver who now has Audi's Virtual Cockpit instead of conventional gauges.

This 12.3-inch widescreen digital display features navigation, multimedia and driving assistance info plus a selection of gauges that scroll, depending on the drive mode.

A touchpad can be used in addition to the rotary control to reach a series of shortcut menus and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are supported.