Summary:
The leather interior is fine, but the car doesn't deliver much more luxury for its price tag
Faults:
Nothing.
General Comments:
First of all, the Audi seats (leather) are not so comfortable, too much on the stiff side. The Q5 ride is also on the stiff side, yet it handles well road irregularities.
The Q5 is quite spacious. The visibility in the Q5 is poor, especially in the rear and driver's side.
The Q5 has a central command panel overly complex. In fact, it is so complicated, I prefer doing the adjustments when the car is at rest, so I can keep driving safely. The plastics on the dash board and the central panel also look quite cheap, especially the dash board looks like some Korean import, despite the red digital display.
Driving position is OK. The car handles quite well, it's not spectacular, but it feels like a smaller (sedan) car, which is a good point.
Where the Audi Q5 clearly lacks is the engine-transmission power. The automatic transmission simply doesn't match the engine. The automatic transmission hesitates at low speed. The engine also lacks power at low speed. The turbo is very powerful (and noisy), but kicks in way too late, only under strong acceleration.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know
Review Date: 2nd June, 2011
6th May 2013, 15:26
A few months later.
Overall, this is a pleasant car without major issues, except the central radio/venting system, which like I said it's overly complex and not adapted to be used while driving, and the rather stiff ride over street bumps (my old Passat was much smoother in similar conditions).
The car gets very good mileage on the highway and it's generally very quiet. One note about the original Continental CrossContact LX tires. Those are low end tires, not worth using on a car this price. When the car was equipped for the winter with a different brand of quality winter tires, the steering was much more responsive and the car was more comfortable.
Finally, Audi should redesign the the rear luggage cover (it opens right on my head when the hatch is open) and the light switch located near the steering wheel; it gets kicked by the knees when getting inside the car.