It’s been a long time coming but at the 2016 Paris Motor Show Audi finally unwrapped the mystery around the next-generation Q5. The mid-tier premium SUV offering that quickly became their best selling Q model after its initial launch in 2008.
Following their current trend of increasing overall size but decreasing overall weight, the all-new Q5 is marginally longer at 4.66 metres, a touch taller at 1.66 metres, and also a hair wider at 1.89 metres. However, despite that small elongation, Audi has spread the axles further apart by 13mm, ostensibly to increase cabin space.
In terms of lightness, Audi’s MLB-Evo platform is to be thanked for the majority of the weight shed, but also the increased use of aluminium in its construction and the move to electromechanical power steering that eschews hydraulic fluid lines throughout the car. All told, the new Q5 is an average 90kg less portly than the generation it replaces.
The rough silhouette of the Q5 has not changed but with the usual updated design cues that we’ve seen applied to nearly all Audi cars of late. From rounded and curved to squared and angular, Audi is in a lot of ways extremely fortunate to have found a design philosophy that malleable enough to have aged this well, but how much longer it can last before it’s unanimously transitioned to staid and utterly mundane is up for debate.
Additional to the successful diet, the new underpinnings also endow the Q5 with more inherent dynamic talent with its standard five-link rear suspension. This can be augmented by the optional air suspension and Audi’s quattro all-wheel drive system to enhance all-weather grip.
Inside the cabin layout is classic Audi of this generation. The logical and impressively minimal layout is dressed in the usual spread of premium materials - from leather to aluminium to polished wood and high-gloss accents.
The Audi Virtual Cockpit system can be specified to add that extra level of techno-magic to the driving experience, being able to view and control the most common vehicle functions such as navigation and media as well as engine speed and road speed from a high-resolution 12.3-inch display that lives beyond the instrument binnacle.
At the Paris launch, Audi highlighted the Q5 as a showcase for its drive assistance systems and will (should?) be offered to buyers in different packages: Tour, City, and Parking - which are pretty self explanatory. These systems make use of things like Autonomous Emergency Braking, Adaptive Cruise Control, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, and Lane Keep Assist to keep the new Q5 and its occupants out of harms way. Although, predicting whether these features will come lock, stock and barrel to us Down Under is difficult.
Just like the recently introduced A4 and A5, the all-new Q5 comes with the typical range of turbocharged TFSI petrols and TDI turbodiesels, all feeding the all-wheel drive SUV through dual-clutch transmissions (S Tronic) or a six-speed manual. To save fuel, the rear axle is decoupled when not necessary, effectively operating as a front-driven car unless more grip is called for.
So far, confirmed engines include a 2.0-litre TFSI with 188kW and a equal displacement TDI that generates 141kW. A step up includes a V6 diesel unit that would likely also spawn an performance oriented RSQ5 version with 213kW/620Nm that instead decouples the front axle for a more spirited driving character in normal driving conditions.
For us in Australia, Audi is expected to start sale of the second-generation Q5 toward the latter half of 2017 with units built in its newly constructed plant in Mexico.
For more on Audi vehicles, including pricing and specifications, check out our Showroom.
