• last year
You know how everybody went crazy for SUVs? Now they're all going crazy for Sportback SUVs! It's basically an SUV...just without the same amount of boot space. Is the craze justified? Paul Maric gets behind the wheel of the 2022 Audi Q5 Sportback 45 TFSI ultra to find out!

Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE

More Audi content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/audi
More Audi Q5 content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/audi/q5

Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior 0:51
Interior 3:36
Infotainment 6:38
Safety tech 7:44
Practicality 8:56
On the road 11:21
0-100km/h 16:22
Verdict 18:29

We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.

Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.

Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1

You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.

Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!

Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!

CarExpert:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au

Paul Maric:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric

#audi #q5 #review
Transcript
00:00 G'day, I'm Paul.
00:01 So we know SUVs are all the craze at the moment,
00:03 but SUV Sportbacks are the new thing.
00:07 So they're like a sportier version
00:08 of your sport utility vehicle.
00:11 This is one that's been updated recently.
00:12 It is the Audi Q5 Sportback.
00:16 This one here is called the Q5 Sportback 45 TFSI Quattro Ultra.
00:21 So, bit of a mouthful.
00:23 This is priced at around $90,000,
00:26 and this competes with things
00:27 like the Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupe and the BMW X4.
00:32 Today, we're going to do a detailed review of this car.
00:34 So if you do wanna skip ahead to other parts of this review,
00:37 you can use the time codes on the screen,
00:38 or if you're on YouTube,
00:40 you can scroll down and use the chapters below.
00:42 And if you haven't done so already,
00:44 please subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon.
00:46 That way you'll find out every single time
00:48 we publish reviews of Sportback SUVs.
00:51 So let's talk about the exterior.
00:53 You've got nine colors to pick from.
00:55 All but white is gonna cost you just under $2,000.
01:00 So on the design front, you can see down the front here
01:02 that these cars come with the S-line package.
01:05 So it gives you a bit of a sporty look there.
01:08 You've got that big black grille.
01:09 It's actually quite enormous.
01:11 Behind there, you can see those active louvers
01:13 that open and close depending on how much cooling
01:16 or heat the engine actually needs.
01:18 Big Audi logo there with a camera as well,
01:21 and a Quattro badge.
01:22 That simply means that this is an all-wheel drive Audi.
01:25 Over here, the headlights.
01:27 Now, these are interesting.
01:27 So Matrix LED headlights,
01:29 but this car has an optional package
01:31 that includes OLED rear lights,
01:33 and I'll show you those when we get around the back.
01:34 Whip around to the side.
01:36 So this gets 20-inch alloy wheels.
01:39 Got the Audi Sport logo down the bottom there.
01:41 I like this design,
01:42 so you've got a machined finish on the outside
01:44 and then a piano black finish on the inside there.
01:47 20-inch wheel, but 45-profile rubber,
01:49 which means it should ride okay.
01:51 Another S-line badge here.
01:54 If we jump up to the top here,
01:55 you've got piano black up the top there
01:56 with an indicator built into that wing mirror
01:59 plus a camera down the bottom here for the 360 camera.
02:02 These door handles are interesting.
02:03 They kind of open upwards,
02:06 which is different to some of the other Audi models.
02:08 So it's curious to see they have different door handles
02:11 depending on which variant of the car you're looking at.
02:14 This one's got a moonroof up the top
02:16 and another optional package that includes privacy glass.
02:20 Come around to the back of the car.
02:21 So when we say Sportback, this is what I mean.
02:23 It comes down to the back there
02:24 and it kind of has that sort of, I don't know,
02:27 coupe-style look as you get towards the rear of the car.
02:30 So this costs you a little bit of boot room,
02:32 but it gives you that sort of stylish look at the back.
02:34 It's got a spoiler built into the tailgate.
02:37 Shark fin aerial over there.
02:38 Around the back here, you've got this piano black strip
02:40 that runs along the back.
02:41 45 TFSI quattro down there designating the variant
02:45 and then Q5 over here.
02:47 These are the OLED lights I was talking about.
02:49 These are flashing for some reason,
02:51 so I don't know if they're faulty
02:52 or if it's meant to do that,
02:54 but these OLED lights are so cool
02:55 because it's gonna be hard to see on the camera,
02:57 but there is a tiny thin strip of LEDs
03:01 that are all sort of in segments here
03:02 and it just looks fantastic at nighttime.
03:05 So really cool setup and part of the Technic package.
03:09 Down at the bottom here,
03:09 it is all black and no visible exhaust pipes,
03:12 which is kind of good
03:13 'cause they're fake on some other Audi,
03:15 so you might as well just not have them here
03:16 if you're gonna make them fake anyway.
03:18 Oh, by the way, I think we've figured out
03:19 what's going on with these lights.
03:20 When you step back, they switch off,
03:24 and then when you come closer to the car,
03:26 they switch back on.
03:28 So I don't know, random feature.
03:30 Let me know in the comments section,
03:31 do you know why that exists, what exactly it's for?
03:34 Keep for your feedback.
03:36 So we're inside the Q5.
03:37 Let's start off with the key.
03:39 It is, so you've got unlock, lock, boot,
03:43 Audi down the bottom there,
03:45 and then a little bit of piano black on the back
03:47 for good measure.
03:48 Proximity sensing key,
03:49 so you can leave that in your pocket,
03:50 then you have a push button start just here.
03:53 Okay, interior, let's talk about that.
03:55 So you will notice a lot of piano black,
03:56 and that is because strangely,
03:58 you can actually option a piano black package,
04:00 which this car has.
04:02 I would not recommend that for anybody
04:03 given how easily it stains and gets dirty
04:06 and all that sort of stuff.
04:08 But if you look outside of that,
04:09 I quite like the fact that you've got
04:10 that nice infotainment screen
04:12 displayed proudly up the top there.
04:14 And the rest of this still looks quite modern
04:16 despite the Q5 being out now for a little while.
04:19 This is of course part of an update
04:21 that's sort of modernized the Q5,
04:23 but for the most part,
04:24 this still actually looks really quite nice.
04:26 What about your touch points and your materials?
04:28 So materials-wise, it feels nice
04:30 along the top of the dashboard there.
04:32 As you get down the bottom,
04:33 it's still kind of this softer rubberized material,
04:36 and that follows along the doors as well,
04:38 where they've got more of that piano black insert.
04:41 On your touch points, it's nice on the center there
04:44 and firm on the door.
04:45 How soft is it?
04:46 Well, we've got our durometer.
04:48 We've tested the main surfaces in this cabin.
04:50 If you wanna see how this car compares to others
04:52 that we've tested before,
04:53 have a look at the link in the description.
04:55 What about our build quality?
04:57 I'll say this about a lot of Audis,
04:59 but it all feels really nice and solid here,
05:02 which is impressive.
05:03 And our door test,
05:04 sounds very European.
05:07 Let's talk about infotainment.
05:10 So you have a 10.1 inch display
05:12 located here at the top of your dashboard.
05:15 This is a color touchscreen,
05:17 so you drive it all just by touch.
05:19 What have you got here?
05:20 So you've got these main pillars on the first menu,
05:22 and then as you progress through,
05:23 you've got shortcuts to the rest of the vehicle settings.
05:26 You also have shortcuts from the top there as well.
05:29 The good thing about this and other Audi models as well
05:32 is the wifi hotspot.
05:33 So if you don't have your family in the car
05:35 and they need to access the internet
05:36 and do kid related things,
05:37 you can hook up to the wifi hotspot
05:40 to give them internet without having to use your device.
05:42 On the radio front,
05:43 you have AM, FM, DAB, digital radio.
05:47 And the cool thing here with this Technic package
05:50 is that it also includes a 19 speaker
05:54 Bang & Olufsen branded sound system,
05:56 and it is a good sound system.
05:57 So it's pretty cool to see that you can still get
05:59 that kind of technology within cars today.
06:01 Smartphone mirroring comes in the form of Apple CarPlay
06:04 and Android Auto.
06:05 Apple CarPlay is wireless.
06:06 This is what that looks like.
06:08 So full screen integration there,
06:10 and then it's quite easy to flick between those menus
06:13 very easily.
06:14 And this is what Android Auto looks like.
06:17 So again, full screen integration,
06:19 and this is nice and snappy as well.
06:22 Ahead of the driver is another display.
06:24 This is a 12.3 inch display.
06:26 It's pretty straightforward.
06:27 It's called Audi's Virtual Cockpit.
06:29 You can flick between a bunch of different views
06:31 and it uses a very nice and fast processor,
06:34 which means everything happens very quickly
06:36 and it's all high resolution.
06:38 Moving on to safety.
06:39 Now this is gonna be a little bit confusing
06:40 because some of the features I'm about to mention
06:43 are not available at the moment
06:44 because of semiconductor shortages.
06:46 So please make sure you check with your dealer
06:48 if you are buying one of these
06:49 'cause they will give you a better idea
06:50 of what is and isn't available at the moment.
06:52 But available in general is AEB,
06:54 with pedestrian detection.
06:56 It's the tech that stops the car if you don't.
06:58 Auto dimming rear vision mirror,
07:00 blind spot monitoring built into that wing mirror,
07:03 rear cross traffic alert, radar cruise control.
07:07 In addition to that, you have front
07:09 and rear parking sensors and a 360 camera,
07:12 which I'll show you in a sec.
07:13 You have a lane departure warning
07:14 and a lane keeping assistant as well.
07:16 This is what the 360 camera looks like.
07:18 So there it is.
07:19 Quality isn't amazing.
07:21 It's sort of pretty grainy there and grainy there as well.
07:23 I'll have a look out the back.
07:26 Okay, so you can see our suitcase there.
07:27 It's not terrible, but I think it could be a little better.
07:30 And then you've got, of course, the other views,
07:32 rear wheels, front wheels.
07:34 You can do a wide angle view of the rear
07:36 and then a top down view as well,
07:38 plus front view.
07:39 So it is pretty feature packed.
07:41 You also have a semi-autonomous parking function as well.
07:44 Moving on to practicality,
07:45 and we'll start with your connectivity.
07:47 So you've got one USB-A port down here, a 12 volt outlet.
07:51 In the center console here, you have a USB-C outlet.
07:55 You've also got a wireless charging pad
07:57 that can move backwards and forwards.
07:58 I love that.
07:59 That's a really clever innovation just there.
08:02 Then in addition to that,
08:03 where are you gonna put your phone?
08:04 Well, your phone kind of can't live in there
08:07 because it doesn't really fit.
08:08 That's my iPhone.
08:09 I wonder if the Android will fit.
08:10 No, it doesn't fit either.
08:11 So if your phone's too big,
08:13 I'll try Eagle's littler phone.
08:15 There you go.
08:16 Even that's sort of a bit funny in there as well.
08:18 So not really a great phone holder.
08:21 Then you can't even put it down the front there.
08:22 There's not really a great deal of storage there.
08:24 What about in there?
08:25 Yeah, it kind of fits in there.
08:26 Or you can, of course,
08:27 just stick it in your cup holders if you want.
08:29 Now your cup holders can also house your fancy coffee.
08:32 So that'll fit in there without any problems.
08:34 There are also teeth in there
08:35 that hold bottles and coffee cups in place.
08:38 We'll try our normal bottle in there.
08:40 Fits like a charm.
08:42 That fits in the door too.
08:44 Now, big bottle won't fit into there,
08:47 but fits in the door without any problems.
08:50 Very impressed with that.
08:51 Other storage, you've got your center console here.
08:54 As I mentioned before,
08:55 that slides backwards and forwards.
08:56 You've got storage in there.
08:58 This also moves forwards and backwards,
09:00 but can also be adjusted for height too.
09:03 If you want a different position.
09:04 And finally, you have a reasonably sized glove box down there.
09:08 Now, what about your comfort?
09:09 So you have dual zone automatic climate control
09:12 up the front.
09:13 There is a third zone for the second row.
09:15 Heated seats for your front passengers.
09:17 Front passenger seats are both electrically adjustable.
09:20 So they go forwards, backwards.
09:22 The backrest goes forwards, backwards.
09:24 You've also got lumbar adjustment
09:25 and memory for the driver.
09:27 I like the seats.
09:28 They've got this diamond quilted finish on them.
09:30 You've got the S logo up the top there.
09:32 And they're pretty comfy as well.
09:33 They hug you nicely when you are going
09:35 on a faster drive as well.
09:37 Steering offers both tilt and reach adjustment.
09:40 It's entirely manual.
09:42 But on our reach test,
09:43 all of this stuff is easy to reach while you're driving.
09:45 Okay, second row of the Q5.
09:48 Look, room is actually not too bad here.
09:50 So knee room is reasonable.
09:51 Toe room's great.
09:52 Headroom is not too bad
09:54 when you consider this is a sloping roofline.
09:56 To create your comforts,
09:57 you've got matte pockets in the back of the seats.
09:59 This is where your third zone of climate control is.
10:02 You've got two USB-A charging ports and a 12-volt outlet.
10:06 Still have that sort of same diamond quilted design
10:09 on the seats.
10:10 Center armrest here with two cup holders.
10:14 Fit our bottle in nicely.
10:16 It's gonna fit inside the door too.
10:18 You've got ISOFIX points on your outboard seats
10:21 and three top tether points.
10:22 And our window test.
10:24 Auto up and down.
10:27 So close.
10:28 So close.
10:30 Let's talk cargo space.
10:32 You've got a powered tailgate.
10:34 There we go.
10:36 So in its standard trim,
10:37 you have just over 500 litres of cargo space available.
10:40 It's actually not a bad boot.
10:41 So the lip is a little bit high,
10:43 but it's going to contain everything
10:45 'cause the boot floor sits beneath the lip nicely.
10:48 Under the cargo floor,
10:49 you have a space saver spare tyre, a jack,
10:52 and a couple of other bits and pieces,
10:54 and then netting off to the side,
10:56 plus a few hooks as well.
10:58 I'll show you what it's like with our bags in there.
11:00 So that's laptop bag.
11:02 Suitcase.
11:03 There you go.
11:04 So that all fits pretty nicely.
11:06 Then if you do want to expand the space,
11:09 they've made it so you don't get your jeans dirty
11:11 leaning over your bumper.
11:12 You just pull this down,
11:14 away it goes,
11:14 and pull that one down as well.
11:16 And then it expands the space to a little over 1500 litres.
11:19 So I've just hit the road in the Q5 Sportback.
11:25 Powering this, it's a fairly familiar Audi engine,
11:27 two litre turbocharged, four cylinder petrol engine.
11:31 Makes 182 kilowatts of power and 370 newton metres of torque.
11:36 And that's all made it to a seven speed
11:38 dual clutch transmission.
11:40 So dual clutch transmission means
11:41 it can be a little bit jerky at times,
11:43 but one of the things that I really like about this
11:46 is the way they've integrated the stop start system.
11:48 It is just so smooth.
11:50 As you roll to a stop, it just seamlessly switches off.
11:53 And then when you roll out of the brake,
11:55 you barely even know that it's switching on.
11:57 So it's a great integration there.
11:58 And it means that it doesn't get annoying.
12:00 It's not one of those features that you will switch off
12:02 'cause it's annoying you.
12:03 And it actually serves a purpose and works,
12:05 which is pretty impressive.
12:07 So what does all that feel like behind the wheels?
12:08 We're in comfort mode at the moment.
12:10 We'll give that a punch.
12:11 Yeah, look, it's fine.
12:14 I mean, it's not an S or an RS car,
12:17 but when you do get on the throttle,
12:19 it gives you that sort of progression that you need.
12:20 I like the engine noise as well.
12:22 It sort of makes a fairly decent noise once you get up it.
12:25 I think that's what you need from a car like this.
12:27 If you're going for the Sportback model,
12:29 you probably want something exciting and interesting.
12:31 And I think they've achieved that
12:33 with this particular engine and exhaust note.
12:35 Now Audi claims a combined fuel economy
12:39 of eight litres per 100 Ks.
12:40 We are currently sitting on 9.6.
12:44 So slightly higher than the claim.
12:46 And this car has been doing a fair bit
12:47 of highway driving as well.
12:48 So I think that could be a little bit better.
12:50 Perhaps eight litres per 100's a little bit ambitious,
12:53 but it's still fine for what it is
12:54 given the size of the vehicle.
12:57 Now, let me explain Ultra.
13:00 That is in the name of this car
13:02 and it's technology that Audi likes to boast about.
13:04 And I'll run you through what it does and how it works
13:07 and whether it actually works in general.
13:09 So Ultra is a quattro all-wheel drive technology
13:13 that the Audi engineers have put together.
13:15 They realised that the most efficient way
13:16 to run an all-wheel drive car
13:18 when you don't need all-wheel drive
13:19 is to just send torque to one set of wheels.
13:22 In this instance, it directly drives the front wheels
13:25 until you need the rear axle activated.
13:28 And the Ultra Tech is able to use onboard sensors
13:30 to measure things like your yaw rate, speed,
13:33 steering input to figure out at what point
13:36 are you actually going to need that rear axle active.
13:39 When it is inactive, it opens the differential
13:41 and it provides little to no resistance
13:43 to the car's movement.
13:45 But then when it is active,
13:46 it's able to pulse torque down the driveline
13:48 so that you do have the rear wheels turning
13:50 with power from the engine as well.
13:55 Does it work?
13:56 Yeah, look, it kind of does.
13:58 Around our circuit here, it's pretty wet today,
14:00 so I haven't been able to do any sort of super fast driving,
14:02 but I did notice when you do tip in the steering
14:05 and you are going to get to a position of understeer
14:07 and apply some throttle,
14:09 it will then send torque to the back.
14:11 It is hard to know whether this stuff actually works
14:13 and how effective it is
14:14 without having a benchmark to compare it to,
14:17 but I think the main important thing
14:18 is you don't ever notice the front wheels slipping,
14:21 which kind of says to me that it is working
14:23 'cause I don't know that it is happening in the background,
14:25 and then it should mean that you are getting
14:26 your efficiency gains when the rear axle isn't active.
14:29 Now, what about your drive modes?
14:33 So, I really just hate the positioning
14:35 of this drive mode selector.
14:36 It's like right down here.
14:38 Sometimes press it and nothing happens,
14:40 but then you have off-road efficiency,
14:42 comfort, auto, dynamic, individual,
14:45 a whole bunch of drive modes there,
14:46 but we'll stick it into dynamic
14:48 for a little punt around our circuit here.
14:50 It goes into sport mode there,
14:51 signified by the S on the dash.
14:53 See what it feels like to be able to test
14:55 the all-wheel drive system through this corner here.
14:57 It is very wet at the moment.
14:59 Okay, so understeering, get on the throttle.
15:02 It's kind of working.
15:06 I don't know, it's like a low friction surface,
15:09 so it sort of just tends to default to understeer,
15:12 but as you start picking up the speed
15:14 and feeding in the throttle,
15:15 you do feel that it is tucking that rear end in a little bit,
15:18 so you are getting that feeling of all-wheel drive
15:21 as you come around some of the faster stuff.
15:23 So I think at low speeds,
15:24 it is kind of hard to get traction
15:26 if there is none available,
15:27 but at higher speeds, if you can utilise the rear axle,
15:31 it lets you basically get that added bit of traction
15:34 that you're not gonna get
15:34 if you're just sending torque through the front wheels.
15:37 Okay, we've got our sweeping corner here
15:42 onto the back straight.
15:43 See what this feels like.
15:47 Yeah, look, steering feels not too bad.
15:49 It sort of has enough feedback through the wheel
15:52 to feel exactly what the front end is doing,
15:55 and it is sporty in that sense.
15:58 Roll into the back straight here,
16:00 get straight onto the throttle.
16:02 Yeah, look, it's okay.
16:05 I was hoping it'd be just a tiny bit punchier,
16:09 but it is fine for what it is.
16:11 I guess if you do want the full punchy thing,
16:13 you're gonna go down the path of the S5,
16:15 but this is good for what its intended purpose is, I guess.
16:20 Audi claims a zero to 100 time of 6.3 seconds.
16:26 This is how it went up against our stopwatch.
16:28 Let's talk about the ride.
16:43 Look, the ride is surprisingly good.
16:44 Audi tends to nail the ride
16:47 whenever they build one of these cars,
16:48 and this isn't a full S or RS model,
16:51 so it doesn't need to be firm,
16:52 but it is on the sporty side of comfortable,
16:54 but in saying that, it is comfortable
16:56 in and around the city.
16:57 There is no adaptive damping.
16:58 It just does everything on its own here,
17:00 and I think that it does a fairly good job.
17:01 Even when you switch between those drive modes,
17:03 it can change the characteristics of the rest of the car,
17:06 but in terms of the ride, it stays pretty much the same.
17:08 So what's it like on our sine waves?
17:10 We'll bump the speed up to 130,
17:13 which is the maximum legal road speed here in Australia,
17:17 and the sine waves are designed to see
17:19 much movement the body has as we run over
17:22 continuous undulations at highway speeds.
17:25 Yeah, it's not too bad.
17:28 It is a little floaty at the top end,
17:30 but for the most part, it's pretty compliant,
17:32 and I guess you'd expect that
17:33 with the ride being slightly firmer,
17:35 but yeah, pretty impressive.
17:36 Let's talk about road noise.
17:40 So we're on a coarse chip country road here.
17:43 There is a little bit coming into the cabin,
17:45 but it is pretty well subdued.
17:47 They are a sporty set of tires,
17:48 but I don't hear a great deal of tire noise
17:50 infiltrating here.
17:51 I think they've gone to a lot of effort to improve padding,
17:53 making sure that that sort of road noise
17:56 is insulated from the cabin.
17:57 Let's talk visibility.
17:58 So down the front there,
17:59 I can clearly see the front corners of the car.
18:02 The wing mirrors are nice and big
18:03 with a blind spot monitor built into those.
18:05 Visibility at the back isn't too bad as well.
18:07 Despite the fact this is the Sportback,
18:09 I can still clearly see through that envelope,
18:11 which is good.
18:12 So towing.
18:14 You're obviously not going to be towing
18:16 a three and a half ton caravan with this,
18:17 but if you do decide to tow anything
18:19 that has a 2000 kilogram brake trailer,
18:21 that's gonna be enough for things like a camper trailer
18:23 or something sort of fairly minimal.
18:25 So the Audi Q5 Sportback.
18:32 Look, it's just pretty inoffensive.
18:33 It's not sort of overly too fast.
18:35 It's not overly too sporty,
18:36 but it is then comfortable in every way that it needs to be.
18:38 It's got a modern interior
18:40 and all the tech bells and whistles as well,
18:42 and a pretty decent boot as well in terms of storage.
18:44 You're not really losing out
18:46 because of that Sportback sort of cutout.
18:48 So yeah, look, it's a weird one.
18:50 I'm not sort of excited or disappointed with it.
18:53 I'm just sort of right in the middle there.
18:54 So if you do want something sportier
18:56 that kind of looks like that,
18:57 it's probably gonna be the BMW X4 that you wanna go for.
19:00 Or if you want something a little bit more comfortable,
19:02 it's gonna be the GLC Coupe.
19:03 So this kind of lands just in the middle there somewhere.
19:06 So let me know in the comments section below,
19:08 have you bought a Q5 Sportback?
19:10 I get why people buy the Q5.
19:12 I'm curious to understand though,
19:13 who's buying the Sportback.
19:14 So let me know in the comments section below.
19:16 If you did enjoy this video,
19:18 please make sure you like it
19:19 and you share it with your mates.
19:20 And if you haven't done so already,
19:22 subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon.
19:24 But until next time, drive safely.
19:26 (upbeat music)

Recommended