Despite looking very much like a 75 per cent scale Q7, the Q5 is engineered from quite different building blocks; the Q7 owes its heritage to the Porsche Cayenne/VW Touareg, the Q5 to Audi’s new A4.
Clearly the major differentiating factor is height – the Q5 is some 210mm taller than the A4 – but in other respects the two share similar dimensions, with practically identical wheelbases, while the Q5 is fractionally wider and, somewhat surprisingly, a little shorter.
The extra height and glass area takes it toll on the scales; the Q5’s claimed 1730kg kerb weight is around 135kg heavier than a similar A4 quattro, and with options our test car weighed a hefty 1880kg.
Other than the standard quattro all-wheel drive (which as a default distributes power with a 60 per cent rear bias), hill descent control and an off-road ESP setting, Q5s have little extra technology to help should their owners wish to head off road. Which few will, of course, but it is worth noting that the Q5 does without the height-adjustable air suspension of the Q7, instead running conventional steel springs.
On the road there is an option of adjustable damper control and variable-ratio steering as part of Audi’s Drive Select package, neither of which were fitted to our test car.
The engines are familiar but still relatively fresh: the 2.0 TDI is VAG’s more recent common-rail unit, here in its higher-output guise with 168bhp and 258lb ft. The 2.0 TFSI is the reworked design first seen in the VW Scirocco, except here with variable valve lift to boost power to 208bhp. Whether manual or new seven-speed S-Tronic, Audi, as it did with the A4, has positioned the Q5’s front differential ahead of the gearbox, and directly behind the engine, allowing the front axle to move forward to help improve ride comfort.
