Audi SQ5 Review & Prices

This is the Audi SQ5, a performance SUV with a curious engine choice – because unlike most alternatives it’s diesel-powered. While it’s not as powerful as other, petrol-powered options, it’s by no means slow, and means you get the benefit of better fuel economy. It’s a bit like doing your weekly shop at Tesco instead of Waitrose – there’s little difference in what you’re buying, but it will cost less in the long run.

If the idea of a diesel performance car has you looking elsewhere, capable petrol-powered alternatives to the Audi SQ5 include the BMW X3, Mercedes-AMG GLC 43 and Porsche Macan.

Like most posh, fast German SUVs, the Audi SQ5 has subdued if imposing styling. This generation of Q5 has been on sale for a good few years now, and it’s starting to look a little dated, but that understated look is at the core of its appeal. In S form, you get slightly more aggressive bumpers with bigger air intakes, while the silver door mirrors are an S model signature, but flared body panels and big wings are reserved for Audi’s spicier RS models.

Again, inside, the simplicity of the design and climate controls with physical buttons feels a touch last-gen, but actually everything is so easy to use that it reminds you how annoying the touchscreen-for-everything trend is. Everything you poke and prod feels high quality and is clearly solidly put together.

It’s pretty spacious wherever you sit, and storage is decent up front, with a covered area beside the armrest and good-sized door bins. The boot is a useful size at 510 litres, which is a bit bigger than the Porsche Macan, though the BMW X3 has more luggage space than both.

With an Audi S car, practicality is only part of the equation, and thankfully the SQ5 delivers impressive performance on the road, too. Under the bonnet is a 340hp diesel engine, which gives the car a unique character. It’s less powerful than both the Porsche and the BMW, the latter of which has a huge 398hp, but the way the diesel delivers its power means you never feel like you’re missing out on motorway slip roads, or pulling off a quick B-road overtake on a dawdling Sunday driver.

Where it does lose out a little is on a twisty road, because you don’t get the immediate response from the accelerator you do with a petrol, nor the fun of holding onto a gear as you rip through the rev range. However, once you learn it’s better to get into a smooth flow with the car rather than drive it like a hooligan, the SQ5 is an impressively capable SUV in corners. There’s loads of grip, and the body doesn’t lean too much, so you have confidence to carry speed through corners. The Porsche Macan is better still, and a bit more fun too, but the Audi isn’t far behind.

The high driving position and decent visibility make town driving easy, and the suspension isn’t so sporty that you’re jiggling about all over the place. There’s a good compromise between sportiness and everyday usability, though the gearbox isn’t the quickest.

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Prices for the Audi SQ5 start at about £66,000, and there’s an SQ5 Sportback version with a stylish sloping roofline that’s about £2,000 more. That means it splits the Porsche Macan S and BMW X3 M50 on price. The Porsche looks like decent value, because you get a bit more power and badge appeal, despite prices starting about £4,000 less than the Audi. The BMW is also appealing despite its £67,000 starting point, because it has more power than both and a bigger boot, too.

Capable on a twisty road and relaxing to drive when you need it to be, but alternatives are more fun

In town

You sit fairly high in the Audi SQ5, so you get a good view of the road ahead. Visibility all around is pretty good, with a slightly thick windscreen pillar the only minor complaint. It means that despite being pretty big, the SQ5 isn’t too difficult to cruise around tight city streets.

It’s comfortable enough for a sporty model. Sure, you’ll feel bumps in the road more than you would in a regular SUV, but, it’s only the biggest bumps and potholes that will really crash through the cabin, particularly if you use the car’s driving modes to choose the ‘comfort’ setting. More annoying is the automatic gearbox, which is rather dim-witted – the shifts themselves are snappy, but it’s easily caught out and can take a moment too long to decide on which gear to give you.

You get a reversing camera as standard, which is useful in a tight spot, as well as a system that will park the car for you.

On the motorway

This lethargic gearbox is less of a problem on the motorway where you’re typically cruising at a steady speed, but it can catch you out when accelerating up to speed on a short slip road. Once you’re in gear though, the engine is punchy enough to get you up to speed quickly.

At a cruise the Audi SQ5 doesn’t feel like a performance-focused model at all. It’s comfortable, quiet and refined, and feels like a good place to spend a few hours at 70mph.

Cruise control is included as standard, though it’s slightly disappointing for a car of this price that you have to buy the £1,250 Tour Pack to get adaptive cruise control, which maintains your speed as well as distance to the car in front.

On a twisty road

Point the Audi SQ5 down a twisty road and it’s perfectly capable in corners. There’s loads of grip, and the all-wheel drive system helps the tyres hook up when you accelerate out of corners, even in dodgy weather. There’s not too much body lean either, which increases your confidence.

However, despite being capable it’s just not quite as much fun as the Porsche Macan. Everything feels safe and secure, and there’s not much feedback from the tyres to the steering wheel, so there’s a bit of guesswork and trust in how much grip you have. The engine has a lot of grunt, but you can’t rev it out like a good petrol engine, which numbs the sporty feel somewhat.

The Audi SQ5 has a spacious cabin, though the BMW X3 has a bigger boot if maximum luggage capacity is required

The Audi SQ5 is really spacious inside, so even taller drivers should be able to get comfortable, coupled with decent adjustability in the steering wheel and seat.

Storage is okay up front, with a covered area that also hosts a pair of cupholders, and while they won’t take larger bottles, the big door bins will. The glovebox is a fairly average size, and you can lift the armrest to access a bit more space.

Some cubby holes are less useful, though, such as the slot beside the gear shifter and another covered area beneath the climate controls, neither of which are particularly big and are perhaps useful for some coins and not a lot else.

Space in the back seats

Roominess continues in the rear, with plenty of headroom and legroom meaning that carrying four adults is a breeze, even on longer trips. Shoulder room is decent, though the narrow middle seat means that whoever’s sitting there won’t be comfortable for long and will be soon making noises about swapping places.

All this room means fitting a child seat is easy, though Audi’s ISOFIX covers have to be removed to reach the anchor point, which means they’re easy to lose. You can pop them into one of the cubby holes, but they can rattle around a bit.

As for storage, you get large door bins in the back and not a lot else. USB slots and a 12V socket sit between the front seats.

Boot space

You get 510 litres of boot capacity in the Audi SQ5, which should be more than enough for most people. It’s also a bit more than you get in the Porsche Macan (500 litres), though if you really need to maximise luggage space, the BMW X3 offers 550 litres.

Regardless, the Audi’s boot is a nice square shape, so loading large items inside is easy, and there are nets and hooks to stop your things rolling around in the back. There’s a handle in the boot to fold the rear seats easily, and doing so opens up 1,510 litres of space. Again, the BMW has more room, but in reality you won’t notice the difference.

The simple design is starting to show its age, but interior quality is fantastic

Modern interiors, such as that in the BMW X3, are button-free and screen-heavy. As a result, the Q5’s tablet-like infotainment display mounted above the air vents and the climate control with actual buttons and dials feels a touch old school.

However, like with mullets and moustaches, sometimes the old trends come back around. The modern insistence on putting everything in the touchscreen can make it fiddly and unintuitive to do even the most basic things, so being able to extend your left hand to quickly adjust the temperature with little more than a glance from the road is quite refreshing.

The infotainment display might not be a double-integrated-mega-widescreen setup, but it’s big enough at 10.1 inches, responds quickly to your touch, and comes with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for easy smartphone mirroring. Audi’s excellent Virtual Cockpit, which replaces the traditional instrument display, is also present and correct.

Cabin quality is also up there with the very best. Everything you touch feels well screwed together and should easily stand up to the rough and tumble of family life. All SQ5s get soft Nappa leather upholstery with diamond stitching, as well as heating and massage functions for those up front. Lovely.

There’s just the one engine option in the Audi SQ5. It’s a 3.0-litre diesel engine making 341hp, sent to all four wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission. The 0-62mph time is 5.1 seconds, which is about half a second down on the BMW X3 M50, though this is unsurprising given the circa-60hp deficit.

Fuel economy is the real benefit. Official tests claim the Audi is capable of up to 34.9mpg, which is surprisingly slightly worse than the BMW’s claimed 36.2mpg. However, you’re likely to see better results in the real world, particularly if you do a lot of motorway miles. Both are considerably less thirsty than the Porsche Macan S though, which gets up to 25.4mpg.

Vehicle Excise Duty rates are pretty high thanks to CO2 emissions of up to 221g/km, and you have to pay extra in years two to six because all versions cost more than £40,000. Company car tax isn’t particularly favourable in any of these performance cars either, so an electric SUV might be a better option.

The Audi Q5 has not been safety tested by Euro NCAP since the latest model was introduced back in 2017, so its five-star rating has long expired. The company has almost exclusively scored top marks in tests over the years though, so although some of the very latest assistance tech might be missing, occupant safety should still be pretty good.

You do get the basic assistance technology though, such as lane-keeping and automatic emergency braking. Regular cruise control is fitted as standard, but you have to pay extra for an adaptive system.

Audi doesn’t have a fantastic reputation for reliability, performing poorly compared with other manufacturers in the Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, while just three models made it into the top 50 cars to own in 2024’s results. (The Q5 wasn’t one of them.)

The standard warranty isn’t great either. You get three years of coverage, the first two years have no mileage limit, but there’s a 60,000-mile ceiling on the third year. This makes it one of the most basic standard warranties you can get in the UK.