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Old 10th March 2019, 21:16   #1
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Audi Q5 - Ownership Review

After nearly 2500 kms over 3 months, here are my top likes and dislikes:

Likes

Engine - A joy I experience every day, every drive, especially in Mumbai's jam-packed Western Express traffic. If I were asked to put my money on the single biggest upgrade from the Jetta to the Q5, it is this - the smoothness and power of a 250hp petrol.

Ride quality - In my view, this is probably top of class, at par or even better than the XC60 air suspension. Supple when you want it (Comfort mode), and balanced at other times, the adaptive dampers really work.

Low NVH levels - Practically no engine noise, cant remember when I heard wind noise, if at all. A little road noise does come through and the brake bites during auto hold.

Very high quality switchgear - Audi kills this. Every single switch gives you a touch and feel thats sublime. The epitome of this are the MMI scroll wheel and the capacitive climate control switches. The material used for the plastics and leather are decent enough, but nothing to write home about.
great virtual cockpit,

Android Auto - I know this is available in near entry-level cars these days, but the experience is transformative. Has completely changed how I engage with the vehicle.

Overall, everything just works. Its amazing how stress-free an experience even daily driving becomes when things are refined to this level.

Dislikes

Lack of touchscreen - Between Google Assistant and the fantastic rotary dial, things work pretty well, but a touchscreen is a touchscreen. Would have loved to have that option. However, if I have to choose between Android Auto and a touchscreen (that’s you, BMW), it would be Android Auto hands down.

Audi Sound system - Its decent, better than the Jetta (which was surprisingly good), but compared to the B&Os, Boses, and Harman Kardons, it pales. Pinches me a little because I am passionate about good audio.

Alloys - I like the alloys on the Premium Plus variant better than the Technology. I should have checked if the swap was possible when I booked the vehicle.

Mileage - 8 km/l with 90% city (mostly rush-hour) driving is par for a large petrol SUV. Cant complain because I knew exactly what I was buying. However, one can always wish.

Lack of a 360 view/ front camera - Not a fan of highly assisted driving, but as a techphile, would have liked to have some of that fancy stuff available in Kodiaqs etc.

The search

Our search for a new car (an SUV) began during our Jetta's sixth year (early 2017). My daughter and I have conflicting memories on our first test drive for the new car - she says it was a GLA and I thought it was the Tiguan. Either way, they were eliminated pretty quickly. The GLA was too small and under-equipped, and the Tiguan was like driving the Jetta all over again. We test-drove the GLC, the X3 and the XC60 in mid-2017 and really liked them. However, at that time, we concluded they weren't worth the money. The GST changeover period was tempting, and we would have closed on the X1 if the Msport had come down to 50. It didn’t, and so we didn’t. Along the way, we were tempted by a couple of sedans, the 3GT and the A6. Similar to the X1, I got stuck about a couple of lakhs, and didn’t close them (also the fact that they were late-gen bothered me). We then decided to put things off by a year, and look at the next segment.

Cut to late 2018, and we test drove the XC60, new Q5, new X3, XC40, X5 DPE and the Kodiaq (again). The dilemma and eventual resolution is captured in my other thread but here is the summary:

XC60 - Great car, but somehow my heart was set on the Inscription version, and I couldn’t swallow that price point for a car of this segment. The Momentum version somehow just didn’t do it for me. I thought Volvo had a great pricing strategy when they launched the new XC60 Inscription in the mid 60-lakh OTR. Don’t know whats happened since despite the localization of production.

X3 - Made the best first impression, with a great mix of looks, driving dynamics and comfort, but eventually had to fall out of consideration since the petrol version simply wasn’t available (except in white). Anything but white for us. If availability wasn’t an issue, I wouldn’t have looked at the Q5 again. In hindsight, I'm glad I did. I hadn't given the Q5 a fair chance.

X5 DPE - Great, great deal, but as soon as we climbed into it, our South Indian middle class values revolted. Great engine, beautifully equipped, and available for as low as an XC60 Inscription. No-brainer of a deal, except for something inside us which told us that this wasn’t for us. I know this sounds rich coming from someone who went ahead and bought a 60 lakh car anyway, but what can I say?

XC40 - As great a car as this was, the top end which really appealed to us was priced close to 55 OTR, which didn’t make sense for a car in this segment. Whats happening with pricing, Volvo?

Kodiaq - It’s a great car let down by the engine (the same as my Jetta). In this case, the price was lower in L&K trim than when I remember it at launch at a lower trim. Would have happily paid an extra 5 lakhs for an RS version if it was available.

Q5 - We liked our first test drive in the diesel, but it didn’t "spark joy" (new Japanese saying). However, when we test drove the petrol, we really started to appreciate the car. The refinement and power were a joy, and outside of some gimmicks (I'm looking at you, multi-colour mood lighting), the car had pretty much everything one could wish for in a family car - space and comfort, ride quality, well-appointed interiors, and enough gadgetry for a geek like me. It didn’t hurt that the deals were great end of the year.

Last edited by Aurum : 31st March 2019 at 11:02.
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Old 10th March 2019, 21:18   #2
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re: Audi Q5 - Ownership Review

Buying and Delivery Experience

Overall, the sales experience was pretty good, as one would expect from a luxury brand. Minor hiccups in discount approval etc but I would attribute that to German companies and their audit processes, rather than the dealership. The price ended up Rs 64 lakhs OTR including the 5 year/ 80000 km extended warranty + service +consumables package for the 45 TFSI (Petrol) Technology variant. I went for the full shebang under the assumption that I wouldnt need to worry if I pushed the car a bit hard and long.

The delivery had its share of hiccups, but ultimately was a story of redemption. I closed out all documentation by the 26th of December with clear instructions for delivery after registration on the 6th January. Ultimately though, I had to take the car for pooja on the 6th with temporary registration. The RTO processes took a couple of days more and the car completed registration formalities only on the 8th. I then asked the car to be delivered directly to the 3M workshop for PPF. This is where things got tricky.

I had asked 3M to do a full car PPF except the roof. They gave me a good deal. It should have been a single day's job, if it had been done right. They took nearly all of two days, and then called me over. I had one look at the car and knew that there were issues, starting with the bonnet. The Q5's bonnet has some really sharp creases as part of the design. The PPF film just didn’t sit well at these points. Secondly, there was a clear horizontal line across the bonnet where one film ended and another began. Apparently the reason was that the Scratch Guard line of PPF only had 48 inch rolls whereas the Q5 needed a 60 inch roll to have a borderless film on the bonnet. I refused to take delivery of a job like this, but offered to pay additionally for Venture shield PPF on the bonnet, since that line has 60 inch films. To be fair to the 3M shop, they accepted that they should have done a better job, and agreed to re-do all affected parts. However, because the 60 inch film needed to be brought from another shop, the process took a couple of more days. While the car was there, the registration plates finally got fixed.

I took the car from 3M on the 11th. The next morning, as part of a casual check, I found that a tyre inflator kit, which comes standard with the Q5, was missing. Now, the question was, was it missing when Audi delivered the car to 3M, or did it go missing at 3M? The kit cost 27k to replace, so I wasn’t willing to let it slide. Both parties claimed innocence, so I had to turn the screws on. I first went after 3M assuming that Audi's processes are more likely to be in place, and that they wouldn’t have let a car out without checks and balances. After a lot of pressure, 3M volunteered to hand over all the CCTV footage from 8 cameras across all days the car was with them. I was then left with no option but to go after Audi. After a couple of strong emails, Audi did what I think was the right thing. They offered to replace the inflator kit with a new one, which came a few days back. In my view, they redeemed themselves. So, what should have been a straightforward delivery on the 6th January, with PPF completed on 7th January, ended up being an unnecessary adventure that ended on the 28th February. However, all parties eventually did the right thing, and its all right with the world.

Last edited by SDP : 8th April 2019 at 01:07. Reason: Typo
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Old 17th March 2019, 13:01   #3
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re: Audi Q5 - Ownership Review

It's a pretty nice looking vehicle, and I have seen heads turn around on quite a few occasions. The similarity with the earlier generation can be an issue for some - wasnt for me. The lights are the dead giveaway that this is the new generation. Some of those creases are pretty sharp, especially on the front hood, and are a PPF applicators nightmare. There are no separate front fog lamps, not that I had ever used them in previous vehicles.
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-front-34.jpg

It looks smaller than it is (like the XC60), and I think its because it stands a few mm shorter than its immediate competitors. Its when a restaurant/ hotel valet drives up the car back to me that I realize, hey this is a big car.
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-side.jpg

The bottom half of the back and the pretty lamp cluster immediately tell me that its the new generation. The strip of lights at the bottom houses the white reversing lights, and the red ones light up when the boot is open, or when the rear fog lamps are activated. (Red rear fog lamps? I dont get it).
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-back-34.jpg

The 45 TFSI moniker gives me a kick. It gets the same 45 TFSI moniker in the Q7, so the nomenclature is based on the tune (power), and not on the 0-100 time (better for the Q5 than the Q7)
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-back.jpg

Here's how the rear lights look at night. The cool animated indicator lights are difficult to capture. Also, I havent been able to take a nice pic of the DRLs and various headlamp modes.
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-rear-lights.jpg

The boot is more than large enough for our needs - haven't yet had the opportunity to test it. Convenient levers to drop the rear seats down, white LED strips to light up the boot in the dark, and hooks/ straps/ net baskets add to the practicality.
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-boot.jpg

The space saver tyre and related equipment below the boot floor. The circle indicates the tyre inflator kit, the protagonist of the story earlier in the thread. You can see the battery in the boot. There's an electrical cable that goes into the spare tyre area, not sure what thats for.
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-under-boot.jpg

Some of the stuff that resides in the boot these days. Clockwise from left - Body Cover (came with the car), Interior cleaning foam (Amazon), Cleaning wipes (Amazon), Reflective wipes (came with car), Duster (Amazon), Luggage net (came with car), First Aid Kit (Came with car).
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-stuff.jpg

The height of the boot lid can be adjusted. Right now, its adjusted to just where my daughter can reach the closing button.
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-back-open.jpg

The fuel cap says 95 unleaded. I have taken written confirmation from Audi that I wont have problems running this with regular or premium unleaded fuel. I did fill it up once with 97 petrol. At 20 bucks more, any marginal benefits it provides arent worth it. When I was filling it up with 97, I asked the pump attendant if there are enough people who use it. He said, haan sir, kal raat ko hi Sachin Tendulkar or Yuvraj Singh aaye the. I got the message.
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-fuel-cap.jpg

The cool party trick - the virtual cockpit. You get used to it pretty quick, and then it blends in. You can see that the usual alarm lights are above the VC, and the fuel/ temperature guages are on either side. There are four tabs. Driving stats on the first tab, Radio/ Media (Including streaming music app information from Android Auto), Mobile phone directory on the third tab, and maps/ navigation on the fourth.
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-virtual-cockpit.jpg

The Virtual Cockpit at night in the large dial mode. The album poster comes up in the small dial mode.
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-vc-night.jpg

The coolest looking tab of the four. Rarely use it since Google Maps navigation on Android Auto is so much more useful.
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-virtual-cockpit-map.jpg

This is what I'm talking about - Android Auto. Click the button, say "Take me to Bombay Salad Company" and it responds with navigation directions immediately. Interestingly, if the navigation is on, the VC does not show the Audi maps, it only shows a compass. However, even if Google Maps is being displayed on this screen without navigation, it shows maps on the VC. Someone carefully thought of this use case, so as not to confuse drivers.
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-android-maps.jpg

An absolute thing of beauty - this climate control unit. Every icon is intuitive. Those silver buttons below the black LCD screen are capacitive. As soon as you touch them, additional options light up on the LCD screen above, its just a joy to use. The knurled temperature control knobs are very high quality. The whole setup seems to have been someone's project of passion.
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-climate-control.jpg
The buttons below from left - The drive select buttons. (More details in the driving section). The Start-stop off button. When on (default) this stops the engine in traffic light/ long stop situations. Except when you need the engine to be really responsive (drag races from traffic lights?), I dont see a reason for this to be off. The traction control off button - dont see a reason to switch it off. The parking sensor off button - The car throws up audio and visual warnings when other objects are too close. This button can be useful to mute those warnings when needed. Downhill descent control - Can be useful in situations I am never likely to be in. Screen off - this is to switch off the MMI screen.


From the top: The glass capacitive touchpad has limited uses. It can be used for writing out letters with the finger when using the navigation system. However, you cannot use it when navigating the media library. So its not of much use to me, especially since I dont bother with the Audi Navigation system. Also when using the map (Audi or Google Maps) it can help move the map around on the centre screen. It does not function as a touch pad for Android Auto. This appears to be by design. Those numbers at the top can be programmed to your choice of radio stations. That black scroll wheel is the life of the MMI and Android Auto. In AA, click right, and Google Assistant comes up. Click left and the menu comes. We are a musically inclined family. So every family trip involves me clicking the button right every 5 minutes and instructing Google Assistant, "Play Taki Taki" or some such. The inbuilt media library is a pain to scroll and search, and so we are maximizing Android Auto. To the left of this setup is the volume, pause/ play and skip/ rewind buttons designed for the passenger to use. The driver has the same functions more conveniently accessible on the steering wheel.
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-console-buttons.jpg
The yacht-like gear level feels nice to use. No surprises here. Works exactly like you would like it to. The parking brake is electrical. The Auto-hold next to it is a boon in Mumbai traffic. My driver was specifically told during the Audi chauffeur training he went to, not to use it. I am driving the car 90% of the time, and use it liberally.

Everything on the left side of the wheel is designed to control the VC. the top arrow buttons are for changing tabs. The view button is for changing between the large dial and small dial views of the Virtual Cockpit, and the scroll wheel and OK buttons are for using the various Virtual Cockpit menu items.
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-steering-wheel.jpg
On the right, the Nav speaker is a button to control the Nav volume (not of much use since I dont use the MMI Navigation). The * button is mapped to drive select. So I can change from Auto to Dynamic mode on the fly without reaching out to the drive select buttons with my left hand. The telephone button can receive and end calls (on AA or on MMI). The Voice command button is for barking commands at the Audi voice recognition system (cant be mapped to Android Auto). It struggles with anything thats not very specific. The cluster of buttons below are the standard music/ volume buttons.

Reasonably sized glove box with a cooling control. Two SD card slots, and a SIM slot, which cant be activated in India, else I would stuffed a Jio data SIM in there, stat. There is a DVD (thats right, a DVD drive) above that. Will try that one day. I'm expecting to find that it only plays music DVDs.
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-glove-box.jpg

There's a really neat slot for the owners manual next to one's right foot, for when you see one of those warning lights you don't recognize.
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-manual-box.jpg

The wiper stalk - If you spend two minutes looking at it, it makes sense what each action does. However, I didn't, and there was this one time on a commute to office, when I accidentally pressed the button to the extreme right of the stalk. The rear wiper got activated, and I couldnt for the life of me figure out how it happened. I pulled and pushed the stalk, took it up, took it down, and nothing worked. Eventually, I pushed that button.
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-wiper-stalk.jpg

The indicator stalk - left, right, flash and high beam, thats it. Yay!
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-indicator-stalk.jpg

This is the cluster of switches above the driver (windscreen to the right). Not the clearest photo, but here goes. The button thats lit up right now, switches on all interior lights when the car door is opened up. The button that looks like the rising sun lights them up when you want them to. The slot in the middle has two sliding buttons - one for the sunroof shade, and one for opening up the sunroof itself. To the right, the two small LED lamps help light up the gear level and buton cluster there. The two larger silver circles are touch sensitive lights. You touch them and they glow. The mystery in this setup for me are the large black blobs to the left. They are soft to touch, and my guess is that they are mics. However, in the past, I have typically seen mics within the dotted grills rather than protruding out like this. In any case, the voice reception on bluetooth is outstanding, so no complaints.
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-sunroof.jpg

Pretty simple climate control at the back.
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-rear-climate-control.jpg

Thats the view from the sunroof for those in the back.
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-sunroof-view.jpg

The rear seats slide and recline. Not by a great lot, but enough to make a difference.
Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-seat-lever.jpg

Last edited by Aurum : 31st March 2019 at 18:32.
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Old 17th March 2019, 18:01   #4
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re: Audi Q5 - Ownership Review

Driving
The car is a real joy to drive. Its ride quality (in comfort), NVH, and refinement almost lull you into thinking it's a sedan. Its defining characteristic is comfort and practicality. However, it can also turn into an animal in Sport mode when you want it to. Day to day, in bumper to bumper Mumbai traffic, its a really easy car to live with.

Audi Q5 - Ownership Review-drive-select.jpg
The car behaves pretty differently across drive select modes. This variant comes with adaptive damper suspension (a notch below air suspension), and so can also change ride comfort across modes. It cannot raise or lower itself, and does not get a lift/ offroad mode which the variant with air suspension gets (not available in India).

Comfort mode - The steering is light, the car absorbs road bumps better, and the car feels really easy to manouevre. My wife feels comfortable behind the wheel in this mode. Its the most luxury sedan like ride I have had in any SUV. The Jetta was much firmer by comparison. Personally, I prefer not to drive in this mode except when with family (who like this better).

Auto Mode -Balanced between comfort and Sport. Good ride quality (appropriately firm without the occasional springiness that comes in comfort). Engine and gearbox responsiveness seems about the same as comfort. The only difference is the ride quality, I think.

Sport mode - This is just amazing. The slightest input amplifies itself in terms of engine and gearbox responsiveness. The ride is firmer though. This weekend, I will customize the individual setting to a sport responsiveness with a balanced ride, and see how it goes. Have only used this on weekends on Mumbai roads, which might truly be its best use case. In a sense, its useless on long drives since sudden responsiveness is not needed.

Efficiency - The gearbox responsiveness is the same as Comfort and Auto. The engine responsiveness appears to be slightly muted, and stop-start is enforced in this mode. To be honest, I don't really understand what it's doing. My mileage on Auto and Efficiency modes are pretty similar if you account for traffic conditions. Ride quality appears to be same as Auto.

Overall mileage over the 2000 odd km driven is around 8km/l, of which around 300 km are highway miles (Mumbai-Pune and back). In the mornings, on the way to office at 8 AM, I end up getting a mileage of around 10.5. That goes down to around 6-7 in the evening rush hour.

Offroad and Individual drive modes havent been tried yet.

Whats next
- Need to get better mats. The existing ones keep slipping. Back to 3M for this?
- Need to customize the individual drive mode to see if there is a mix I like better than Auto.
- Plan a proper long drive. Goa seems to be most obvious one.

Last edited by Aurum : 30th March 2019 at 10:47.
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Old 1st April 2019, 09:58   #5
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Re: Audi Q5 - Ownership Review

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!
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Old 1st April 2019, 11:28   #6
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Re: Audi Q5 - Ownership Review

Hi Aurum,

Congratulations on the Q5, she indeed looks stunning in that shade of blue

The rim design is too plain / simple & is the only element which is diluting the look of an otherwise handsome SUV, but surely the ride comfort would be making up for this.

Also a fantastic coverage of all the key points / USP of the car, plus its very refreshing to see a Audi ownership review after a long time on TEAM-BHP

Last edited by karan561 : 1st April 2019 at 11:30.
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Old 1st April 2019, 13:59   #7
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Re: Audi Q5 - Ownership Review

Lovely review, Aurum! It’s does look stunning indeed. Most generation changes these days turn out to be evolutionary at best, and play it safe in the design department, but this one looks a lot sharper and more aggressive than before - especially in this blue! Congratulations!

It will be interesting to learn more about the auto-hold usage discouragement from the dealer! Do you know the reason?
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Old 1st April 2019, 14:39   #8
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Re: Audi Q5 - Ownership Review

A very crisp review of a great car, Aurum! Thanks for sharing.

You have nicely covered all the practical things that a potential buyer/user would want to see upfront in this highly evolutionary artefact of automobile engineering.

Couple of queries:-
  • Any comparo between the Q5 AT and the Jetta DSG?
  • What was the tipping factor in your decision that made you transition from a sedan (a highly accomplished one at that) to a SUV?
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Old 1st April 2019, 15:37   #9
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Re: Audi Q5 - Ownership Review

Congratulations on your new Q5. At one time our roads were dotted with Audi SUVs. Wonder what went wrong for them?!! Right now it is refreshing to see a review on the new gen Q5 and I can see it is a very capable car. VAG group's TFSI petrol engines are absolutely brilliant. I can imagine the plushness in your AUDI with that typical AUDI interior quality + silky smooth petrol engine + pliant suspension and tallish sidewalled (Michelin?) tubeless tyres.

Nice to see the spare neatly tucked in a dedicated slot under the boot floor as well. Some of us with older gen BMW SUVs really envy you for this.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Aurum View Post
The Auto-hold next to it is a boon in Mumbai traffic. My driver was specifically told during the Audi chauffeur training he went to, not to use it.
Why not?!!

Last edited by Santoshbhat : 1st April 2019 at 15:42.
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Old 1st April 2019, 16:07   #10
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Re: Audi Q5 - Ownership Review

Quote:
Originally Posted by karan561 View Post
Hi Aurum,

Congratulations on the Q5, she indeed looks stunning in that shade of blue

The rim design is too plain / simple & is the only element which is diluting the look of an otherwise handsome SUV, but surely the ride comfort would be making up for this.

Also a fantastic coverage of all the key points / USP of the car, plus its very refreshing to see a Audi ownership review after a long time on TEAM-BHP
Thanks. There are a few important points I haven't covered yet, for example seating position, leg room, head room etc. Will do that over the next few days.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jassi123 View Post
Lovely review, Aurum! It’s does look stunning indeed. Most generation changes these days turn out to be evolutionary at best, and play it safe in the design department, but this one looks a lot sharper and more aggressive than before - especially in this blue! Congratulations!

It will be interesting to learn more about the auto-hold usage discouragement from the dealer! Do you know the reason?
Thanks! To be honest, I think it is more evolutionary rather than substantial, but I don't mind that.

I wasn't there for the training (my driver was). I think the Auto hold restriction is to do with longevity of the DSG gearbox in stop start Mumbai traffic, but in my view, they are playing it too safe.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JoshMachine View Post
A very crisp review of a great car, Aurum! Thanks for sharing.

You have nicely covered all the practical things that a potential buyer/user would want to see upfront in this highly evolutionary artefact of automobile engineering.

Couple of queries:-
  • Any comparo between the Q5 AT and the Jetta DSG?
  • What was the tipping factor in your decision that made you transition from a sedan (a highly accomplished one at that) to a SUV?
Thanks. The gearshifts in the Q5 AT are far less perceptible than the DSG. Overall, it's a much smoother experience. At very slow speeds, there are occasions when I'd like it to be more responsive than it currently is in balanced and efficiency modes. In dynamic mode, it's ridiculously responsive, so I know it's a configurable thing. This behaviour is similar to the DSG, but the rough edges are smoothened out. I'm not educated enough to know how much of this is a result of the engine rather than the gearbox.

There was no tipping factor. It was a family decision that we wanted an SUV this time for the experience. If anything, a tipping factor was needed to consider a sedan.
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Old 1st April 2019, 16:28   #11
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Re: Audi Q5 - Ownership Review

The electrical cable that goes into the spare tyre area, isn't that a wheel well sub-woofer? Noted the same thing in an Audi Q3. Not sure though. Good review though. Didn't know the petrol was good. All I heard was the GLC 300 was the best in it's class but not much on the Q5 petrol.

Last edited by rosh_aveo1.4 : 1st April 2019 at 16:29.
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Old 1st April 2019, 18:06   #12
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Re: Audi Q5 - Ownership Review

Quote:
Originally Posted by Santoshbhat View Post
Congratulations on your new Q5. At one time our roads were dotted with Audi SUVs. Wonder what went wrong for them?!! Right now it is refreshing to see a review on the new gen Q5 and I can see it is a very capable car. VAG group's TFSI petrol engines are absolutely brilliant. I can imagine the plushness in your AUDI with that typical AUDI interior quality + silky smooth petrol engine + pliant suspension and tallish sidewalled (Michelin?) tubeless tyres.

Nice to see the spare neatly tucked in a dedicated slot under the boot floor as well. Some of us with older gen BMW SUVs really envy you for this.

Why not?!!
Thanks. As discussed in GTO's thread, they need to get their market act together. The tyres are Michelin R18, as you rightly identified. The spare is a thin-walled one, and not a full-size. I think the newer gen BMWs have fullsized spares (?)

My guess on why they discourage auto-hold is that they are trying to minimize clutch-plate wear in the DSG. I dont subscribe to that theory (have lived with a DSG for more than 7 years) so I use auto-hold liberally. Its stupid to provide a feature and tell people not to use it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rosh_aveo1.4 View Post
The electrical cable that goes into the spare tyre area, isn't that a wheel well sub-woofer? Noted the same thing in an Audi Q3. Not sure though. Good review though. Didn't know the petrol was good. All I heard was the GLC 300 was the best in it's class but not much on the Q5 petrol.
The sub-woofer explanation makes sense. The bass in this thing wouldnt be possible without that. We test-drove the GLC diesel very early into our cycle. Somehow, we didnt see ourselves in a Merc. Didnt really try the petrol.

Last edited by Aurum : 1st April 2019 at 18:10.
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Old 2nd April 2019, 12:31   #13
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Re: Audi Q5 - Ownership Review

Quote:
Originally Posted by Aurum View Post
The 45 TFSI moniker gives me a kick. It gets the same 45 TFSI moniker in the Q7, so the nomenclature is based on the tune (power), and not on the 0-100 time (better for the Q5 than the Q7)
Congratulations on your new wheels, and welcome to the VW family. Wish you many happy miles. About the moniker, here is the full list:

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Sources:
Car Magazine UK
Motor 1

Motor Beam says that it is related to the maximum level of G-force created under acceleration, which is pretty cool. But I couldn't find corroboration for this.
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Old 2nd April 2019, 13:01   #14
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Re: Audi Q5 - Ownership Review

Quote:
Originally Posted by TheLizardKing View Post
Motor Beam says that it is related to the maximum level of G-force created under acceleration, which is pretty cool. But I couldn't find corroboration for this.
Is the badging not as per G force? There is a teambhp thread (Audi's "Dynamic Badging" - Based on performance, rather than displacement) on this as well. There are several news articles speaking about this but all I could find was Indian media and none from global sources.

Edit: Just read the sources you shared, which are from 2017 while g-force news is from 2015. Either Audi changed their badging system or maybe G-force thing was figment of imagination of someone and Indian media latched on to it.

Last edited by ksameer1234 : 2nd April 2019 at 13:04.
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Old 2nd April 2019, 17:34   #15
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Re: Audi Q5 - Ownership Review

Congratulations Aurum!! Fantastic review! It looks stunning in that shade of Blue, great choice! Are you considering a swap on the rim design? Maybe you could get them painted black if you find these too boring.

A bit off topic but what kind of price were you offered on the X5?
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