2019 Volvo XC40 vs Audi Q5

What's the difference?

The XC40 Inscription T4 is beautifully designed while also being spacious and practical – yep almost perfect form and function. Then there’s the exceptional safety systems, but a lack of standard adaptive cruise control or auto parking is odd. That also affects the driving experience, which while good isn’t as refined as its stylish design may suggest.

The Q5 50 TDI is good value, it’s practical and the 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 makes it the choice for those that need to tow, or who just want a tough, quick-accelerating, medium-sized luxury SUV. Small families will find the Q5 50 TDI a willing and helpful weapon in the suburban warfare that is daily life.

Nearly everything about the design of the Volvo XC40 is interesting: from the way the bonnet sits flat and high, then leads to that sub nose with its modern grille, to the way the back door panel kicks up sharply to meet the rear pillar that’s hugged by long, angular tail-lights flanking a cleanly designed tailgate. It’s Volvo’s cool, minimalist design in a little SUV package.

And the exterior dimensions show just how little the XC40 is at 4.4m long, about 1.6m tall and 2.0m wide (with the mirrors out). How does that affect space inside? We’ll get to that below in the practicality section.

As far as the design inside goes Volvo minimalism is present throughout the cabin. This cockpit has a stylish simplicity, with a high-quality feel to the materials and excellent fit and finish.

The Inscription comes with pale ‘Drift Wood’ in-lays on the dash and doors – it’s a light coloured, rough feeling wood, see the interior images for yourself. There’s a 'crystal' gear knob, plush carpet trim on the doors, charcoal leather seats and a leather-trimmed steering wheel, too.

You can spot an Inscription from the outside by its 19-inch 'Double Spoke Black Diamond Cut' alloy wheels – again, check these out in the exterior images. While the R-Design grade above it has a two-tone colour scheme with a black roof, the Inscription comes standard as all one colour.

The hue of my test car was 'Luminous Sand Metallic' which is the most stunning shade from a limited choice of colours that includes 'Pine Grey Metallic', 'Denim Blue Metallic', 'Maple Brown Metallic', 'Bright Silver Metallic' and 'Crystal White Pearl'.

Compared to rivals such as the BMW X2, Audi Q2 and Jaguar E-Pace I think the XC40 is arguably the best looking of the bunch.

I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I’m giving the XC40 a perfect 10 because as far as small SUVs go right now, they don’t get better looking or as bravely unique as this inside and out.

The Q5 is arguably the best looking of the all Qs – not too big or too small, it appears to be the most perfectly proportioned of Audi’s SUVs. More of a dimensions type? The Q5 measures 4663mm end to end, 1893mm across and 1659mm tall.

Picking a 50 TDI from lower grades is tricky because the 40 TDI and 45 TFSI come with almost identical exterior features, and also the grey and matt aluminium silver grille.

The Q5 50 TDI isn’t as blingy as the Benz GLC or as sporty-styled as the BMW X3, but it has a solid, confident look and I adore the so-called Tornado Line, which twists itself over the wheel arches and traces an edge right around the car, through the tailgate and bonnet.

The cockpit is typically Audi: stylish and modern, but also restrained. While I admire the simplicity and quality of the build, with its outstanding fit and finish, I think Audi needs to make its cabins dazzle more. This isn’t just a Q5 thing, it’s across the board. 

The XC40 is small at just 4.4m long and 2.0m wide, but space inside is outstanding for storage and people room.

Up front there’s plenty of room for me at 191cm tall to sit under the steering wheel with stacks of space in the footwell and great head-, shoulder- and elbow room.

Room in the back is also great – I can sit behind my driving position with more than a 20mm of space between my knees and the seatback, while headroom is plentiful, too.

Sitting back there I’m also happy to report that vision isn’t obstructed by the ‘kick-up’ in the door panel as it occurs just behind the back-seat passenger’s shoulder. I also had my four-year old son sitting in the back in his child seat and his visibility wasn’t affected.

Cabin storage is clever and makes use of the available space in the XC40 well.

There are giant bottle holders in the front doors and smaller ones in the rears,  there also four cupholders – two in the cockpit and another in the fold down armrest in the back.

The centre console bin is big and even has a small net for business cards or coins, then there’s the little trap door hidey hole in front of it and the giant area under the dash which also houses the wireless charging pad, 12-volt outlet and USB port. There’s a drawer under the driver’s seat, too.

Rear passengers have seat back net pockets, a USB charging port and directional air vents.

How big is the XC40’s boot? The cargo capacity is 460 litres which is big for an SUV that’s only 4.4m long.

The previous Audi I reviewed was an Audi A3 35 TFSI Sedan and while I loved the look of that little four-door saloon, I deemed the car too small for somebody my size, or anyone with the demands of a young family.

Yep, at CarsGuide we test the cars in the real world with our families, which means one week you’re in a small A3 35 TFSI Sedan and the next it’s a Q5 50 TDI. Moving from one to the other immediately highlights what’s been missing.

Just installing a child seat can tell you a lot about practicality. In the A3 Sedan I had to kneel on the side of the road to install the child seat, but I hardly had to bend at all to put it into the 50 TDI. The tall back door openings, the seating height, the top-tether hook, which is accessed from the kick-open tailgate, all made life easy.

And yes, the kick-open tailgate is brilliant, and it can even be opened without having to unlock the rest of the car. The standard proximity key is also a Godsend. Then then there’s the load-height-lowering function, which comes with the optional air suspension and can make the Q5 50 TDI effectively kneel down for you, to make getting bags into the boot easier.

The cargo capacity of our 50 TDI was 550-610 litres – the reason for that range is because of the optional sliding second row.

There are only two rows of seating in a Q5 – this is a five-seater car only. If you need a third row you’ll have to step up to the Q7 to get seven seats.

Second-row room is excellent. Even at 191cm tall I can sit behind my driving position with about 50mm between my knees and the seatback, while headroom is great, too. Back passengers have air vents and climate control, two cupholders and big door pockets, while up front there’s a decent sized bin under the centre armrest and a deep storage area by the driver’s right leg – I could fit my shoe in it. Don’t ask.

Along with Qi wireless phone charger, you’ll find two USB ports and a 12V outlet up front, and two charging USB ports and 12V outlet in the second row.

The Audi Q5 50 TDI Quattro Sport is the king of the Q5 range and has a list price of $84,700. Coming standard are leather upholstery with heated and power adjustable front seats, three-zone climate control, proximity key, kick-open auto tailgate, that 8.3-inch screen (it’s not a touch screen), there’s also sat nav and a media system with a control pad that can recognise your handwriting.

The 12.3-inch virtual instrument cluster is stunning, the wireless phone charger is easy to use and you also score the life-changing Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Also standard are a DVD player, a CD player and digital radio. A power-adjustable steering column is standard, too, which seems a small thing, but some brands will make you pay a fortune for that as an option.

As for the exterior, the 20-inch wheels are standard, so are the LED headlights and DRLs, plus the roof rails.

Our 50 TDI had a 19-speaker Bang & Olufsen stereo and a head-up display – they’re part of the optional Tecknik package, which costs $5600. The standard sound system is good anyway, though – so unless that sort of thing matters a lot to you, you don’t really need to spend the extra.

Our car also had the optional air suspension, which is $4000. Also fitted were the $1300 seats comfort package, which adds a massage function, along with a sliding and reclining rear bench seat. 

The Navarra Blue paint was also an option and costs around $2000. There are two no-cost colours: Brilliant Black and Ibis White.

As a model comparison, the Q5 50 TDI is up against the likes of BMW’s X3 xDrive 30d, which is $84,900, and Mercedes-Benz’s GLC 250d, which just so happens to be $84,700. Sheesh, do these guys all sit down at a table and agree on a price, or what?

The only thing better than a Q5 50 TDI is the SQ5, which is a more hardcore sporty version, and really almost a stand-alone model. Does that make the 50 TDI more the prime minister of the range, then, than the king?

The XC40 Inscription has what Volvo calls its 'T4' turbo-petrol engine with all-wheel drive (AWD).

That’s your only choice for this grade. If you’d prefer a front-wheel drive (FWD) version you’ll need to step down to the Momentum grade which has the same 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine with identical outputs of 140kW/300Nm.

You’ll use more fuel with AWD, and to find out how much more skip to the section below on economy.

The T4 is smooth, quiet and had enough grunt to get up and move quickly when I needed to overtake or merge. There's a small amount of turbo lag, but that’s not a deal breaker.

'Dynamic' mode (the sport setting) sharpens the throttle response and gear shifts.

The eight-speed automatic transmission is smooth, but a little slow in the normal setting and a lack of paddle shifters is disappointing.

The 50 TDI may look just like the lower grades in the Q5 range, but its 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel is what really sets it apart. Its 210kW of power from 3750rpm and 620Nm of torque from 1500rpm not only make it the Q5 with the most grunt, but also the quickest accelerating, with a 0-100km/h time of 5.8s.

That low-end torque makes the 50 TDI the natural choice for those who tow, too. The braked towing capacity is 2000kg.

Shifting gears almost seamlessly is an eight-speed automatic, rather than the seven-speed dual clutch that does the honours in the lower grades.   

As with all Q5s, the 50 TDI is all-wheel drive.

About that fuel economy – by choosing the Inscription T4 with its AWD you won’t use much more fuel than the FWD with the same engine.

Volvo officially says the XC40 Inscription T4's mileage over a combination of open and urban roads is 7.4L/100km (the T4 with FWD is 7.2L/100km).

After 175km of peak hour traffic and my test route through country roads I’d used 21.24 litres, which works out to be 12.14L/100km. Motorway kays would bring that number down a stack further.

Audi says that if you’re driving a combination of urban and open roads the 50 TDI will use 6.3L/100km. Our test car wasn’t too far off that claim, with an average of 7.6L/100km, measured from the trip computer.

The day that we shot the video above saw me driving continuously around the same hilly suburb for a couple of hours, and the mileage, according to the trip computer, afterwards was 14.2L/100km.

The XC40 Inscription T4 feels good to drive. By that I mean, the steering is light, smooth and direct, with a quiet engine that has acceptable shove along with a comfortable and serene cabin.

These are the boxes that pretty much get ticked in every new Volvo I’ve driven in the past few years.

If you’re after a sportier XC40 then skip the Inscription and head straight to the R-Design with its more powerful 'T5' engine and paddle shifters.

The T4 in the Inscription is fine, but with 140kW its acceleration isn’t mind blowing (0-100km/h in 8.5s) and I found the turbo lag to be frustrating at times.

Built more for comfort than handling the XC40 is easy to pilot, but that soft suspension, short wheelbase (no doubt) and high centre of mass also means speed bumps and pot holes cause a bit of bounce and body wobble at slow speeds over Sydney’s horrendous roads. There were times the family was jiggled cocktail-shaker style.

I was hoping for a better driving experience from the XC40 Inscription T4. It’s a small and relatively affordable SUV (compared to other Volvos), but can’t match the on-road refinement of its bigger siblings.

Then there’s the portrait screen which looks good and removes many of the buttons from the dashboard, but I found it difficult and distracting to use while driving. It’s not intuitive, the layout is book-like and too wordy for quick selections.

There were times I needed to pull over just so that I could work out how to do what should be simple things – like how to turn the stop-start fuel saving system off. Tesla has nailed the large portrait screen – Volvo take note.

Also, adaptive cruise control isn’t a standard feature. Our test car had it optionally fitted but I couldn’t help but fume about that.

Volvo is at the forefront of driving tech like this and making people pay more seems to be at odds with the portrayed ethos of the company.

So, it’s not quite an eight out of 10 here – I feel the driving experience is good but not outstanding.

The 50 TDI is one of those SUVs that feels like an Iron Man suit, in that it goes, turns and stops like you’re wearing it rather than driving it. Truly, it responds that well to whatever you ask of it.

Our test car had the optional adaptive air suspension and I recommend it if the roads you’ll be driving it on are as bad as the potholed streets of Sydney.

While the 50 TDI isn’t an SQ5, the handling is still excellent, with minimal body roll, and the steering is precise and well-weighted.

That 3.0-litre diesel V6 is a gem, providing great acceleration, and is well suited to towing, but if you’re not in the Dynamic drive mode, you’ll find that turbo lag rears its head occasionally. That issue can be solved almost instantly by shifting down a gear, using the steering-wheel paddles.

The V6 diesel is also quite loud from the outside, but you’ll be happy to know the excellent cabin insulation keeps most of the clatter out.

The Q5 was given the maximum five-star ANCAP rating when it was tested in 2017 and when the 50 TDI grade arrived in 2018 (it was called the 3.0 TDI, back then) it came equipped with an impressive armoury of standard safety tech. There’s forward AEB, which can also detect pedestrians, and reverse AEB with rear cross traffic alert, blind-spot warning, lane-keeping assistance and adaptive cruise control.

The 50 TDI also comes standard with auto parking for both parallel and perpendicular spots, and a 360-degree camera.

Airbags? There are eight of them.

And for child car seats you’ll find two ISOFIX mounts and three top-tether anchor points across the rear row.

The Q5 50 TDI is made in Mexico. Olé.

The XC40 is covered by Volvo’s three-year/unlimited kilometre warranty.

Servicing is recommended every 15,000km or 12 months.

Two servicing plans are available for the XC40. The basic 'Smart Care' plan costs $2165 for three years/45,000km, $3320 for four years/60,000km or $4230 for five years/75,000km.

The Q5 50 TDI is covered by Audi’s three-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty. Servicing is recommended every 12 months/15,000km.

Audi has two servicing plans for the 50 TDI: three-year coverage for $2040 and five-years for $3070.