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The 2022 Audi SQ5 is a gnaw among among luxury compact SUVs. The SQ5 is blazingly quick in the dry out and certain-footed on wet and snowy roads, helped past its commuter assists and prophylactic technology. The Audi cockpit is the prototype of upscale, restrained tastefulness, and proof that four adults can travel long distances in comfort. In other words, there's a reason why you're paying so much.

Nicely equipped Audis don't come cheap. The base of operations Audi Q5 starts in the low 40s. My test SQ5 Premium Plus came in at just under $66,000 and at that toll did non have adaptive cruise control or lane departure alarm, which are bachelor simply on the SQ5 Prestige trim line costing $4,000 more. The Q5 and SQ5 are sized and priced in line with similar upscale offerings from BMW (X3) and Mercedes-Benz (GLC).

2d-Generation 2022 Q5 Is a Large Step Forward

From the outside, the 2022 Audi Q5 and SQ5 await pretty much like the beginning generation Q5 of the 2009-2017 model years. That'south deceiving. It'due south a significantly better automobile. The on-lath technology does more than, the ride is amend, there'southward less motel noise, and treatment continues to be responsive, albeit with pocket-sized route feedback from the power steering.

The Q5 employs a 252-hp, two.0-liter turbocharged iv-cylinder engine with a vii-speed sequential automated manual gearbox (that is, no clutch pedal). The performance-oriented 354-hp SQ5 uses a iii.0-liter turbocharged V6 TFSI (turbocharged, stratified fuel injection directly into the cylinders) and an eight-speed automatic transmission. Audi Quattro all-bike-drive is standard.

At that place'southward a lot of information available to the commuter through MMI, the Multi-Media Interface, especially once you've spent a couple weeks with the car and figured everything out. Yous can't simply push the ignition switch and back out of the driveway until you've learned how to motility the gear selector: Depress a button on the side then push forward for opposite, pull all the style back for Drive, pull dorsum a second time for Sport Drive style, and printing a button at the base of operations of the shifter for Park.

Audi Q5 employs ii command wheels, for driving options (left) and book. Up-down toggle buttons aren't as adept.

Many Little Reasons You'll Honey the Q5/SQ5

Audi has washed equally good a chore as any automaker in thinking about how people actually use cars. A steering bicycle scroll wheel (photograph above) is the best way to quickly command infotainment volume (or mute it with a tap on the cycle). Information technology also controls entertainment and navigation volume and a prompt onscreen tells you which you're adjusting. A second scroll wheel shifts among instrument panel information choices.

The virtual cockpit–that is, a 12.iii-inch LCD behind the steering bicycle–can exist all gauges, a combination of gauges and maps, or a full-screen map that'southward piece of cake to glance downward at. It tin exist a traditional map or a Google Earth image, fifty-fifty (when you're stopped) a street-view prototype. It's possible because the auto embeds 4G telematics, Audi Connect, carried over the AT&T network and including a multi-user Wi-Fi hotspot. Audi Connect bundles automatic crash notification, a stolen vehicle locater, transmission emergency calling, existent-time data (traffic, weather updates, fuel prices, internet radio streaming, motion-picture show navigation, read-aloud personalized news headlines, and Twitter alerts), driver monitoring (curfew, speed, and valet alerts), remote lock/unlock, and a automobile finder.

You tin can dial in the ride quality using the MMI controller. If yous jump for the optional air suspension ($1,000) you get an additional ride setting, Comfort, that is as limousine-like equally you tin can go from a machine with a 111-inch wheelbase (the longer the wheelbase, the less the auto pitches going over bumps).

MMI on the Q5 now includes a touchpad with handwriting recognition (write an address 1 letter of the alphabet at a time), map zoom using swipe/compression motions, and eight radio push presets. In that location's still the MMI control knob besides, plus voice input.

There'southward a full-color caput-up brandish available, giving you 3 places to meet three dissimilar pieces of information: the middle stack LCD, the instrument panel in virtual cockpit way, and the HUD.

Desire more driver assists? You need the $59,000 SQ5, not the $55,000 SQ5.

Adaptive Cruise, Lane Divergence Warning Gets Costly

The 1 pregnant drawback to the overall excellence of the Q5/SQ5 is that you need to specify the costliest trim lines in club to exist able to gild adaptive prowl command and lane difference warning ("agile lane assist" in Audi terminology). On the Q5, you need the top Prestige trim line, which costs $9,000 more than the entry Q5 Premium. And then you lot must social club the $ane,800 commuter assist parcel. On the SQ5, y'all demand the Prestige trim line as well.

Audi might belittle at the idea of the Toyota RAV4 or Honda CR-V existence contest, but both have ACC and lane departure alert standard, and blind spot detection is offered. In the form of driving i,000 more often than not highway miles, about 100 of them in stop-and-become conditions, it struck me as odd that a high-finish automaker doesn't include all three when the majority of its cars have as-equipped prices more than $50,000.

Dual USB jacks and aux-in jack inside the console bin are illuminated so it's easy to see where to plug in.

Room for Comeback: the Little Things

Nice as the Q5/SQ5 is, the car still has rough edges. The illuminated USB and line-in jacks in the panel are genius: no hunting for a flashlight to guide them into place on dark days. Only: Tthose are the only two physical infotainment connectors in a five-person motorcar. Y'all get as many equally six jacks from a Chevrolet Equinox and iv from a Mazda CX-v, both $30,000 vehicles. Rear seat occupants must make do with a unmarried 12-volt accessory jack, to which you can add a USB charger. No 120-volt outlet is offered, either, unless you lot bring your own via a 12-volt adapter.

iPhone Plus won't fit the console phone cutout.

In that location's a smartphone cutout in the centre panel, but it won't hold an iPhone Plus model or similarly sized Android phone. Nor will a Plus-size iPhone fit in the cubbyhole at the base of operations of the center stack. That said, the phone interface is first-class, either through MMI or Apple CarPlay/Android Auto.

The 2 console drink-holders are deeply recessed to hold big beverages; it'due south unlikely any beverage will tip over when you attempt a 0-sixty run (almost 5 seconds) in the SQ5. Simply Dunkin sold me a lawsuit-hot medium coffee that scalded my paw when I tried to pull the coffee out from the depths of the cutout, dislodging the top and sloshing coffee on my fingers.

The base of operations Audi Q5 uses halogen headlamps; other models utilize LEDs.

The Best Audi Q5 to Get

Driving the SQ5 was enjoyable, particularly with the air interruption. Audi's S models are meant to compete with BMW M-badged vehicles and Mercedes-Benz AMG editions, and cost well-nigh $lxx,000 if you desire all commuter assists. Also, the low-profile tires will exist susceptible to harm where potholes aren't chop-chop filled in. Well-nigh will be happy with the mainstream Q5 and its turbo iv. Outside the US, for 2022 you tin get Audi's fabled V6 diesel engine with a 48-volt system running an electric turbocharger, offer hybrid operation and almost 400 hp.

The base Q5 Premium, $42,475 including $975 shipping, is reasonably equipped other than commuter assists. It does have a backup camera, Audi Pre-Sense Basic (which tightens seat belts and starts endmost windows and sunroof in a possible crash situation) and Audi Pre-Sense City (which detects pedestrians and cornering or stationary vehicles at speeds upwards to 52 mph or 85 kph and brakes in a potential collision situation). Navigation, telematics, a sunroof, and heated front seats are options. The instrument console consists of traditional gauges with a 5-inch monochrome multi-data brandish. Headlamps are xenon-based.

The mid-level Q5 Premium Plus, $46,475, incorporates LED headlamps, Audi Side Help, and Pre Sense Rear. Side Assistance comprises bullheaded spot detection, vehicle get out assist that warns if you lot're about to open up the door with other cars or cyclists about to pass yours, and rear cross traffic alert. Pre Sense Rear applies Pre Sense Bones to cars approaching from the rear, to minimize possible injuries if y'all're rear-ended. It too includes the panorama sunroof, keyless entry with an auto-open rear tailgate, and heated front end seats.

Premium Plus options are navigation with touchpad input plus the virtual cockpit ($ii,600), warm weather package with power-ventilated front sport seats and rear side sunshade ($1,450), common cold weather parcel (heated steering wheel and rear seats, $500), and nineteen-speaker, 755-watt Bang & Olufsen audio ($950). Rear side airbags ($350) are important, merely potentially hazardous if children fall asleep and slump against the side doors.

The Q5 Prestige, $51,775, integrates the virtual cockpit LCD, navigation, vi months of Audi's premium telematics service, the B&O speaker system, and Parking Organisation Plus (forepart and rear acoustic sensors, surroundings view camera, and superimposed lanes on the middle display). The driver assistance package ($1,800) is a must-accept if you're spending $50K on the car: adaptive cruise control, Plough Assistance (detects oncoming traffic and warns when you're nearly to make a left plow at 1-seven mph), Traffic Jam Help (slow speed follow), lane keep aid, automatic high beams, and traffic sign recognition. Adaptive damping (air suspension, $1,000) is worthwhile for passenger comfort and sporty driving. Warm and cold weather condition packages are too available. A fully equipped Q5 Prestige would be $56,875.

If yous really want all the driver assists–and you should–yous're in for at least $53,575 on the Q5 Prestige. This is the Q5 to go. That or a loaded SQ5 at about $70K.

Audi Q5 has a plethora of driver assistance systems if you check the options boxes.

Audi Q5 vs. the Competition

Audi's closest competition is the major German automakers. The Mercedes-Benz GLC, new in 2022, is 183 inches long, an inch less than the Q5. (A compact SUV is 180 to 190 inches long.) All-wheel-drive is optional and the interior isn't quite as desirable as Audi's. The third-generation BMW X3, 186 inches long, is all-new for 2022 with first shipments in November. I've driven at X3 briefly, at a racetrack, and in that location it was fabulous. The cockpit has been upgraded. Like Audi, it volition offer iv- and six-cylinder versions.

Other competitors include the Porsche Macan (less conveying room), Jaguar F-Stride, Alfa Romeo Stelvio (peachy exhaust sound, questions on reliability), and Volvo XC60 (splendid highway cruiser, lots of prophylactic features), Cadillac XT5, and Lincoln MKC.

The 21018 Q5 has been on sale for virtually of this yr and ranks second in sales behind only the Lexus NX, although there's less Audi cross-shopping than with European competitors. The elevation 5 currently are Lexus NX, Audi Q5, Acura RDX, Mercedes GLC, and BMW X3.

For those who want their compact SUVs both luxurious and sporty, with solid commuter and condom assists, the Audi Q5 is the all-time bet today. Our only concern is that you take to pay mid-fifties to go prophylactic features standard on mainstream SUVs from Honda and Toyota.