2017 Honda CR-V vs Audi Q5

What's the difference?

Without the safety aids offered on the top model, the VTi-L does become more expensive when compared to its competitors, and we encourage Honda to implement at least AEB across its range as soon as it possibly can.

The VTi-L is a decent, handsome, mid-sized family SUV for a smaller family, if they really need seven seats. If you don't need that third row, though, we'd recommend you have a look at the five-seat versions of the CR-V, as you'll find a lot more space and practicality on-board.

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.

Longer in the wheelbase and less Roger Ramjet in its extremity styling than the fourth generation, the chunky, bold CR-V offers a strong visual presence on the road.

The seven-seater carries over all of the external measurements from the five-seat line, too.

It’s a similar story on the inside, with strong, neatly resolved lines flowing across the dash and throughout the car. Honda has been guilty of overdoing things on recent generations of its most popular cars, but we’re glad to report the tide of overdesign is finally retreating.

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

The VTi-L is the only seven-seater in the CR-V range. It's not built on an extended wheelbase when compared to the five seat versions of the CR-V, which offer a great deal of room in the second row.

On first glance, the accommodations for the third row of seats in the VTi-L look cramped. A simple pull-strap activates the seat back to fold them into position, and occupants need to clamber over a folded down second-row seat to gain access.

Once back there, the two occupants have a fold down cupholder each and roof vents for comfort. But as you can imagine, luggage room drops to virtually zero when those seats are in place.

The one element that saves the VTi-L's seven-seat dignity is the ability to slide the second row of seats forward and back on their runners. They're split in a 60/40 fashion, and the backs can be inclined or reclined as necessary as well.

If all of your passengers in the car are tall, then you will be faced with compromise in terms of knee and legroom in both the second and third rows. But if your occupant mix varies in height and size, then it's possible to find a suitable arrangement where pretty much everyone is comfortable.

You'll need to put your smallest kid behind your tallest front seat occupant, and you may need to offset the second row in order to be comfortable in that third row. But despite the apparent lack of length in the CR-V, the seven-seat function does work.

However, there is compromise when it comes to luggage space. All seats can be folded flat, and there's an extra deck that can be moved into different slots to create the semblance of a flat floor. However, there are gaps all the way through between each seat row, and that floor level is quite high, which can make loading objects a little bit tricky, and it does steal away from cargo space.

The seven-seater loses about 50 litres of luggage space to its five-seat brethren when the third row is folded flat (472 litres to 522 litres), and 117 litres when all seats are down (967 litres to 1084 litres).

There is a full-sized spare under the boot floor, which needs some fiddling about to access. Kudos, though, for having something that's not a space saver or a can of goop.

Second-row seaters enjoy a pair of USB ports, cupholders in a fold-down centre armrest, as well as cupholders in the door. There is also a pair of ISOFIX baby seat mounts on the outside seats.

The biggest black mark against the second row of seats is the standard fitment of a full-length sunroof to the VTi-L. The different headlining that's required to fit the sunroof steals away a staggering 84mm of vertical head room for second row passengers (912mm), when compared to a base CR-V five-seater (996mm).

Combined with a bench that already sits quite high, even moderately tall passengers will find themselves hitting the roof, finding it positively uncomfortable even on a short journey. Our 15-year-old passenger is tall for his age, and found it uncomfortable to sit in the CR-V's rear for any length of time.

Front seat passengers are well catered for, though (despite losing 20mm of headroom thanks to that sunroof), with large divided door pockets that can stow bottles. A unique sliding tray covers a large, L-shaped box, and you can actually slide the cover back, Star Trek door style, to reveal a deeper space for wallets and phones.

There's a small tray underneath the gear shift which is ostensibly for phones, but most modern phones have outsized this small space. One oversight is that none of the trays have a removable rubber backing. Quite often cars have a small mat on the bottom of the storage containers that can be removed to wash.

Only the driver side seat is powered, while the passenger seat is manual in operation.

The gear shift is essentially mounted in the centre console itself, which does create more space through the middle of the two front seats, and the seats themselves are upholstered in a leather-like material, and are well bolstered and comfortable. Only the driver side seat is powered, while the passenger seat is manual in operation.

When it comes to other practicalities, like the multimedia system, unfortunately Honda has dropped the ball. While the 8.0-inch touchscreen looks good with sharp graphics, its functionality is simply not as good as many other, if not any other, device on the market.

Its key buttons are too small, and take too long to activate, and it's incredibly difficult to do simple things like find a source for multimedia. It's just not intuitive, and makes for a frustrating user experience.

The buttons on the steering wheel do help make it easier to use, while the dash dials have been replaced with a small digital screen, which is incredibly easy to use. It’s customisable in its look, and features a digital speedo as its central facet, which is very convenient.

The Honda also offers a range of locking aids that are linked back to its keyless entry system that include an instant lock when you walk away from the car, the ability to roll down the windows by depressing the unlock button as you approach the car - which is a great feature - as well as a powered tailgate.

Now, all these features are ultra convenient, but they definitely depend on user preference. Fortunately, it's easy to set up the car through the multimedia system to your liking.

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.

The Q5 S line Black edition is available as a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel for $82,900 (before on-road costs), with the 2.0-litre turbo-petrol (as tested) weighing in at $86,611.

Based on the 2.0 TFSI quattro S tronic Sport, this Q5 already boasts a healthy standard equipment list including, keyless entry and start, the electric rear tailgate (with kick motion open/close), matrix LED headlights (+LED DRLs), the ‘Audi parking system plus’ (with rear-view camera and visual display), electrically adjustable sport front seats (+4-way electric lumbar support), ‘leather appointed’ trim, three-zone climate-control, adaptive cruise control, the ‘Audi Virtual cockpit’ display (configurable digital instrument cluster with 12.3-inch high-res colour display), ambient lighting, alloy door sill trims, auto headlights, rain-sensing wipers, and a leather-trimmed sports steering wheel.

Then the multimedia system adds, ‘Audi connect’ (including in-car Wi-Fi), Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support, 10-speaker audio (including subwoofer and six-channel 180W amp), DAB+ digital radio, ‘MMI navigation plus’ (with 8.3-inch high-res colour display, 3D maps, voice control, touch-control panel with handwriting recognition, live traffic updates), DVD/CD player, as well as two SD card readers and 10GB storage.

On top of all that, the Black LE additions run to the 20-inch Audi Sport ‘rotor design’ alloy wheels, ‘S sport suspension’, the ‘Titanium black’ styling pack, an ‘aluminium look’ lower bumper insert, privacy glass, the nappa leather (with diamond pattern contrast stitching), ‘S line’ interior elements and badging; illuminated front door sill trims with S logo, ‘carbon atlas’ inlays, a tricky rear seat bench (fore-aft sliding, reclining, and remote release for the luggage compartment), plus ‘Manhattan grey’ finish for the wheel arches, sill trims and lower part of the bumpers.

That’s a whole lot of swag for a premium SUV sitting (well) under the $100k price barrier.

The entire CR-V range uses the same 140kW/240Nm 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine that’s found in the Civic. The VTi-L is a front-wheel-driver, and offers the ever more popular CVT auto as its only option.

It’ll tow up to 1500kg of braked trailer, too.

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).

Against a claimed combined cycle fuel economy figure of 7.3 litres per 100km, we achieved 8.6L/100km over 440km of mixed terrain testing in the VTi-L.

It’ll take 91RON standard unleaded without fuss, and its 57-litre tank is good for a theoretical range of 780km.

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.

Equipped with a small capacity 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine and a CVT auto, the CR-V is capable, if not outstanding, around town and on the open road. The engine only has 240Nm – not much for a turbocharged engine – and has to push around 1642kg.

CVTs continue to improve, in that the annoying droning effect of earlier versions has pretty much been eliminated, especially around town. But when pushed, the combination of the small four-cylinder engine slurring its gear changes isn't exactly pleasant.

The Honda rides well, with good roll control, decent if not overwhelming steering feel, and progressive braking under light foot conditions around the city. The front end, though, can wander a bit if you are not paying attention to your steering inputs.

It's quite direct from centre, which can mean keeping an eye on the helm, especially on longer trips. But, overall, the CR-V's ride comfort and handling prowess is on par with the best in the category.

The engine responds well to light throttle application to keep up with the flow of traffic, but it does need a prod to get up to freeway speeds. But once there, it holds speed easily.

One of the CR-V’s big bugbears, though, is noise. There's a lot of road roar noise coming from underneath the car, and there's also a fair bit of wind rustle coming through across the windscreen and the large exterior mirrors. Add to that a rumble from the stock tyre set, and it's a surprisingly noisy car, even in light of competitors in the space.

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.

Audi’s gone full-tilt on active-safety tech for this Q5, with the headline inclusion being ‘Audi pre-sense city’ with AEB and pedestrian detection.

Also on-board are, ‘Attention assist’, ‘Audi pre-sense rear’ (flashes hazard lights at high frequency), ESC (with electronic wheel-selective torque control), ABS, ASR, EDL and Brake Assist.

Plus, there’s adaptive cruise control, a tyre-pressure-monitoring system, ‘Audi side assist’. ‘Cross traffic assist rear’, an ‘Exit warning system’, auto high beam, and ‘Turn assist’ (monitors oncoming traffic when turning right at low speeds).

If all that doesn’t keep you out of trouble, passive safety runs to eight airbags (front for driver and passenger, side airbags for front and rear passengers, head level curtain airbag for front and rear), plus an active bonnet (to minimise pedestrian injury). Even a first-aid kit and warning triangle.

The Q5 was awarded a maximum five-star ANCAP rating when it was assessed in June this year, and there are three child seat top tethers across the back seat, with ISOFIX anchors in the two outer positions.

With a five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty, a reasonable 12 month/10,000km service interval and the first ten services capped at $295 (each), the CR-V won’t cost you an arm and a leg to run.

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).