It's a huge call, I know, but having driven a lot of cars, both personally and professionally, this one is the best yet!
When we looked around we were trading in our sedan and 4WD for a single vehicle that could tick a lot of boxes: performance, economy, safety, towing, carrying capacity, comfortable and fun to drive and something that both of us could easily handle. It almost seemed as though Audi had read our minds!
It's solid. At just over two and-a-bit tonnes it's the heaviest in it's category but what does that get you? Performance that is a little scary for a start! Switch to dynamic and every set of traffic lights instantly looks likes the starting line of a drag-strip! I'm surprised I still have a licence LOL.
Switch back to economy and laugh as you pay for servo guy cause the ECM is telling you to expect about 800km from the tank. Performance will lag a little in economy but a flick of the gear shift puts it into sports and you're gone.
Watch out though: towing is effortless with a small load (jet skis, pop-top caravan, small boat) and it's easy to forget you've got something there. The lane departure/blind spot assist gets switched off automatically once you connect the lights of your trailer.
All the driver assists are there to help and even after a long journey you'll arrive fresh and ready to go.
The adaptive cruise control is just amazing as it keeps a safe braking distance at all times but the only downer can be that other drivers see the gap as room for them (no, it's so I don't wind up ramming you when you suddenly decide to stop for no reason).
We haggled pretty well and got a good warranty and servicing deal. Check to see if you're employer is part of their corporate service ledger, it makes it even easier should you need to get your vehicle serviced. The folks at the servicing centre were also really good at helping out with a few questions I had in relation to the space saver tyre and driving on snow/loose surfaces.
It's also the little touches that make it such a pleasure to drive and be a passenger in:
The shade that opens and closes under the glass roof and rear windows
Splitting rear seats that can be operated from the rear cargo or passenger doors
Drink bottle holders in all the doors
Memory position seats for separate drivers
2 SD cards, CD, IPod/MP3 Blue tooth and Wi-Fi connectivity plus it's own sim card
But what really sold me was the climate controlled cup-holder!!! Oh yes, that cup of coffee you're sipping on your way to where ever is going to stay hot! Or cold if it's a cold drink of course. (I seem to recall that once the sales person told me about them I instantly achieved a euphoric haze that made him begin the paperwork and await my dependence back into my mortal coil).
Are there any negatives? Well it can feel a little bulky manoeuvring around tight car parks. My previous was a TJ Jeep which is a lot shorter in length but if you can handle a station wagon this'll be easy. The only rubber mats you can get for are for the Q5 which seems picky but it's a different model all together.
It's been factory lowered by 20mm so wheel arch and ground clearance do need to be taken into consideration especially over speed bumps.
When hitching up a trailer I find it's best to reverse and position the car THEN attach the tow ball as sometimes the reversing sensors pick it up and that can throw you out. Make sure you check your trailer plugs as you may need another adapter lead to marry it to the cars lighting.
Attaching the roof racks takes time as they come with a special torque wrench- which is very easy to use- and there's special notching for them.
Those things aside though, for all round performance, comfort, safety and driving pleasure the SQ5 really does a lot of really good things really well. The bar has been set very high!
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