Audi Q5 2025 review – stylish BMW X3 rival lacks ultimate thrills and guts

In case you hadn’t noticed, Audi is hedging its bets and rightly so. For every soft-selling EV in its lineup it now has a refreshed combustion-powered alternative, for the underestimated majority of buyers who were not ready to commit. To an extent, though it is a little bigger, the Q5 is that alternative to the Q4 e-tron, as well as a rival to BMW’s X3 and Mercedes’ GLC, arriving alongside the new range of Audi A5s and S5s in 2024. 

Those saloons and estates caused confusion among commentators and customers alike, nicking as they did their names from bygone coupes as part of a now defunct naming strategy to differentiate combustion cars and EVs. Thankfully Audi turned heel and the saloon and estate that were set to be called A7 returned to being A6 ahead of their launch. 

Happily, the Q5 never had such an identity crisis. It is as it’s always been since its launch in 2008, a sort-of stylish (it’s not to our tastes but it appeals to its target market) mid-sized semi-luxury family SUV. Does this new third-generation car distinguish itself alongside its rivals?

Engine, gearbox and technical highlights

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• Petrol, diesel and hybrid powertrain options
• Optional adaptive air suspension
• MHEV plus tech across 2-litre engines

The Q5 rides on the same Premium Platform Combustion architecture that underpins the A5, S5 and A6, with a powertrain offering that more or less mirrors its platform-mates too. Choosing between them will not be an arduous process as there are only two engines – a 2-litre turbocharged petrol with 201bhp and 250lb ft and a 2-litre turbocharged diesel with 201bhp and 295lb ft. 

Jump up to the SQ5 and you get the new 362bhp 3-litre twin-turbo V6. All of these come ready-loaded with Audi’s MHEV plus mild hybrid tech, which is a 48-volt system with a generator that allows low speed short distance electric driving and buoys the power band of the powertrain as a whole. The adaptive air suspension came as standard on our launch edition test car but is a £1725 option on most Q5s.

The Q5 e-hybrid borrows the same PHEV powertrain as seen in the A5 range with a total of 299bhp and 332lb ft, coming from the 2-litre engine paired with an electric motor and 25.9kWh battery. The penalty for this is extra weight, with the e-hybrid tipping the scales at over 2200kg by comparison to the base petrol’s 1820kg kerbside figure.

Performance, ride and handling

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• Competent ride and good refinement
• Distant and univolving handling
• Efficiency more impressive than the performance

Fire up the Q5 and you’re either greeted by the distant watch tick of a petrol four cylinder or the unfamiliar but relatively subdued rattle of the diesel. It still feels strange hearing oil burners in new cars in 2025, no less in cars from the Volkswagen Group. The seven-speed S tronic transmission is smooth and brisk in its actuation and the engine’s responsive and potent enough at local speeds.

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Dig into their power reserves however and you do find yourself hankering for the V6 of the SQ5 or the kinds of big multi-cylinder diesels these sorts of cars used to be offered with. The 295lb ft of the 2-litre diesel is ample but the engine sounds strained while plumbing it for its performance in ways that it doesn’t in the A5. That should be unsurprising given the Q5 has some 200kg over its lower, smaller saloon sibling.

We’re not deluded into thinking a lack of neck-snapping performance ought to be a deal-breaker for typical Q5 buyers but the engines sweating as hard as they have to to get the car moving in any significant way does wobble the premium, upstanding vibe somewhat. And is there any more appreciable premium feature, than having performance in reserve? The Q5 does not, especially in base TSFI form. It’s laden with extra mass but the extra oomph of the e-hybrid could prove appealing. The diesel is at least impressively efficient – you’ll struggle to kick it into delivering less than 40mpg or less than 500 miles from a tank.

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Happily this is the only real chink in the Q5’s otherwise impressive premium demeanour. This car rides well on the adaptive air suspension. The Q5 adopts its standard right height in balanced, comfort or efficiency settings. Switch to dynamic and it drops 15mm, while off-road can raise it by 30mm and ‘raise’ can lift it by 45mm. In dynamic the Q5 gains a decent amount of composure, cutting out a large slug of the car’s inherent body roll during hard cornering. 

It still feels like an SUV, though – stacked on top of itself rather four-square and composed. The Q5 is well set-up – understeer isn’t inherent, rather something that only presents with some truly egregious driving unlike anything any Q5 will likely see. But it’s far from engaging. You’re not reveling in the adaptive steering or the way the body is controlled, rather simply content. A BMW X3 has a more inherently dynamic feel.

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Inside the car isolates wind and road noise impressively, the new Q5’s more slippery form finding less wind resistance than you would expect of an SUV. Its reasonably broad tyre footprint can howl up through the arches into the cabin at motorway speeds though, surface dependent. The concrete South West section of the M25 is the ultimate test and the thumps of those expansion joints echo through the tyre carcass.

Driver’s note

‘The Q5 is a well-rounded SUV for the most part, albeit lacking the effortless engine lineup these sorts of cars used to have. It’s worth noting that the BMW X3 and Mercedes GLC are similarly lumbered with four-cylinder lumps that labour under the weight of the cars to which they’re attached. This doesn’t absolve the Audi, though – they all deserve better.’ – Ethan Jupp, evo web editor, who tested the Q5 on the road in the UK.

Interior and tech

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• Reasonable quality feel
• Intuitive UI
• Crisp OLED screens

Audi’s digital stage has near ubiquity across the range of new models it’s released over the last year, from the A5 and Q5 to the new A6. Truthfully, a bit of distinction in these cabins from model to model would be nice. The big curved lug that is the panel in which the car’s OLED screens sit doesn’t feel so domineering in the taller, airier Q5 though. The central area below the screen is more hemmed in than in the A5 with trim panels rising either side rather than it just being a flat surface as in the A5, showing the extra height in this cabin. The software is responsive and relatively intuitive on this new set-up, but the car’s rev counter – counter is charitable, it’s more a line – is too small and out of the way.

As in the A5 there’s a reasonable quality feel throughout the cabin, the new rounded hexagonal steering wheel premium in look and feel, even if the haptic controls occasionally confuse and irritate. There are some scratchy plastics to be found, likewise some creaky surfaces, though they only do so under pressure from your own hands, rather than over bumps on the move.

As you’d hope for an SUV the Q5 is nice and spacious in the front, back and boot. Head and legroom are in abundance certainly in the front, with space for two average sized adults in the rear. Three tall people might be pushing it, though.

Price and rivals

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The Audi Q5’s price range is relatively narrow, at least across the 2-litre engines. Sport spec with the 2-litre petrol costs from £50,660, with the diesel adding around £1700 to that price. S line is a jump to £54,910 while Edition 1 spec is a leap to £59,110, though that price is for either the petrol or diesel. Consider also that the air suspension is a worthwhile optional extra, albeit one that’ll add £1725 to the price. The e-hybrid starts from £56,740 with sales set to begin in September. The Audi SQ5 starts from a heady £76,275, though that does come as standard in Edition 1 spec. 

The Audi’s closest rival is the BMW X3, which is priced competitively against it, if a little bit higher than the Q5 except for at the top end. The B58-powered X3 M50 is much cheaper than the SQ5, starting from £71,005. The X3’s  engine lineup is similarly afflicted with c/200bhp petrol and diesel four-cylinders, a PHEV and a big six-cylinder at the expensive end, but the X3 is a more engaging steer regardless. The Mercedes GLC is the more luxurious, upmarket alternative but one for which you pay a premium. Its powertrain lineup is more potent but the four-cylinder engines can feel unrefined, especially as the GLC is markedly heavier than the Q5 and X3. 

We’d honestly be tempted to veer off and take a look at Cupra’s Terramar or Skoda’s Kodiaq if this sort of family SUV were unavoidable. Or if it isn’t, just go A5 Avant/3-series touring/C-class estate.