2021 Audi Q5 Video Review: MotorTrend Buyer's Guide

MotorTrend

With a refresh for 2021

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 This is the 2021 Audi Q5.

00:06 Arguably, it's the most important vehicle Audi makes.

00:09 Why?

00:10 A, it's their best selling vehicle in North America.

00:13 B, along with the Mercedes-Benz GLC, the BMW X3,

00:17 and the Lexus NX, helps it define the ever-growing

00:21 and ever more profitable compact luxury SUV segment.

00:25 Now, this has been refreshed for 2021,

00:28 but the question becomes,

00:30 in such a crowded competitive field,

00:32 does the Q5 have what it takes to stand out?

00:35 Let's find out.

00:36 (upbeat music)

00:39 It's ironic that the Q5 is Audi's best selling product

00:47 because they never really wanted to sell SUVs to Americans.

00:51 Back when Mercedes-Benz came out with the ML-Class

00:54 in the late '90s, Audi said, "You don't need an SUV.

00:56 "All you really need is a station wagon

00:59 "with off-road capability."

01:01 They built the Allroad and they couldn't sell it.

01:03 Nobody bought it.

01:04 Now, they're known as an SUV maker.

01:07 So who's this vehicle for?

01:08 Well, the previous A4 buyer,

01:10 really the BMW 3 Series customer, recently minted yuppies.

01:14 And so what Audi's hoping is,

01:16 when you're gonna buy your first luxury vehicle,

01:18 you make it a Q5.

01:20 In terms of design, there are successful refreshes

01:25 and then there's the Q5.

01:27 And what I mean by this is, look,

01:29 Audi, a couple generations ago,

01:31 they came up with the giant grill on an automobile, right?

01:34 No one was doing it.

01:35 Now everybody's doing it.

01:36 Unless you're a Tesla, you got a big grill.

01:39 The problem is, if you originate it,

01:40 you can't really turn your back on it.

01:42 You can't suddenly start doing something else.

01:44 So their only option is more grill

01:47 until you get this, where it just basically takes up

01:50 the entire face of the car.

01:52 It's just a lot of black plastic at the end of the day.

01:54 (upbeat music)

01:57 You start coming down the side of this thing

02:02 and you see what Audi does really well.

02:04 Very nice looking, very expensive looking wheels.

02:07 Audi's always have great wheels.

02:09 And then you see how Audi is able to fold metal

02:12 and no one does it like this.

02:13 Like these creases are just,

02:15 it's a manufacturing technique that Audi pioneered

02:18 and no one else has really caught up with yet.

02:21 Take a step back though, it still reads just like an SUV,

02:24 despite the cool line work.

02:25 So to break up the slab sides, they added this sill here.

02:29 Yeah, it works okay.

02:31 You get out back and it just reads like an Audi SUV.

02:34 Although it's a little frumpier than I remember.

02:36 It kind of looks just like a Q7, which is a larger car.

02:40 So it kind of has like a heftiness to it.

02:42 Again, it's a well-designed vehicle.

02:44 I just don't think it's attractive as the last one.

02:47 Inside the Audi Q5, I'm right at home here,

02:52 mostly because I owned an Audi Allroad for three years

02:55 and it's a very similar cabin.

02:57 This is again, is a 2021 refresh.

02:59 So it's an update of that cabin.

03:01 The big news is the infotainment screen here.

03:03 It is larger and it's a touchscreen.

03:06 There used to be a rotary dial right here.

03:08 It's gone.

03:09 Now there's a odd shaped hole,

03:10 which isn't quite the size of a cell phone,

03:12 but they've added a spot for your cell phone

03:14 that has wireless charging.

03:15 That's a very good thing.

03:17 As far as the cabin goes, it's really premium.

03:20 You know, for a long time,

03:21 Audi's been making some of the best interiors

03:23 in the business and they focus on little things

03:25 like the noise you get when you click something.

03:27 It's uniform throughout the cabin.

03:29 So the touchscreen is gonna have the same click

03:31 as the window switches, as the shifter edits.

03:33 It's a subtle thing,

03:35 but it just makes the entire experience feel quite premium.

03:38 Of course, you've got Audi's excellent virtual cockpit.

03:41 The MMI system itself is quite functional.

03:44 As far as the materials go,

03:45 it's actually a mid-bag within the Prestige here.

03:48 Like the roof and the A-pillar

03:50 are wrapped in this nice fabric,

03:51 but then there's this kind of undone, greasy plastic,

03:54 which doesn't really match.

03:56 But then you have really nice wood,

03:57 really nice metal, and really nice leather.

04:00 Behind me, it's not a ton of room.

04:04 Remember, this is based on the A4, not the A6.

04:07 However, should you fold the seats down,

04:09 there is quite a bit of room back there.

04:11 Again, the big takeaway is, you know,

04:13 Audi has done premium cabins right for a very long time.

04:17 Is it the best interior in the class?

04:20 Hard to say it is, but it's top three for sure.

04:24 One of the reasons you pay more for premium vehicles

04:28 is because typically you get more performance.

04:31 Audi is well aware of this,

04:32 which is why they've added 13 horsepower

04:34 to the two-liter inline turbocharged four-cylinder engine,

04:37 bringing the total up to 261

04:40 and the torque rating up to 273 pound-feet.

04:43 There's also a hybrid option available,

04:45 adds about 100 horsepower, 100 pound-feet of torque.

04:48 Whichever you choose,

04:50 you get a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission,

04:52 which might give you slightly quicker acceleration times.

04:55 But trust me, most customers won't know the difference.

04:58 They think they're just driving a regular automatic.

05:00 This Q5 is all-wheel drive.

05:02 If you're really seeking a performance car,

05:04 you wanna go for the SQ5.

05:07 That's a separate video.

05:08 But you know, this drives about as well as everything else

05:11 it competes against.

05:12 In terms of fuel economy,

05:14 this car gets 25 miles per gallon combined

05:17 and the hybrid will net you 50 MPGe.

05:21 As far as safety goes,

05:24 we know that the Q5 had a five-star crash rating

05:27 from the NHTSA.

05:29 The Insurance Institute gives it all good marks.

05:31 And the Q5 comes loaded with tons of standard

05:34 active safety features, such as rear cross-traffic alert.

05:41 How much does a 2021 Audi Q5 cost?

05:45 Well, you can get into one for right around $44,000.

05:50 This blue baby next to me is the top tier Prestige trim

05:54 and that costs around $55,000.

05:57 Couple of things to point out.

05:58 You can actually get into an Audi A4

06:00 for just over $39,000.

06:02 And you can get into an Audi Allroad,

06:05 which is a wagon version of the A4,

06:07 but it has the ground clearance of the Q5

06:10 for the same price as the Q5.

06:12 As far as the German rivals go,

06:14 they're all priced almost identically,

06:16 the BMW and the Mercedes-Benz.

06:18 However, the Lexus NX costs a little bit less.

06:21 If there's one thing I want you to know

06:25 about the 2021 Audi Q5,

06:28 it's that there is a reason

06:30 why it's Audi's best-selling vehicle.

06:32 It's really good at being a premium SUV.

06:36 As I mentioned, this is a very crowded segment.

06:39 Aside from the other three competitors,

06:41 Alfa Romeo, Acura, Infiniti, Jaguar, Volvo,

06:44 everybody's getting in on this cash cow.

06:47 But what the Q5 brings to the table is its Audiness.

06:50 You know, you may not like the refresh, I certainly don't,

06:52 but it's a sharp-looking car.

06:54 Plus you have that engine,

06:56 plus you have that powertrain

06:57 with the quattro all-wheel drive system.

06:59 You have that premium interior.

07:01 It's really hard to argue against any of that.

07:03 In fact, you could just say it's really hard

07:07 to argue against the Audi Q5.

07:09 To see vehicle rankings and a complete buyer's guide,

07:13 please visit motortrend.com/cars.

07:17 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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