SA Road Tests

Welcome

This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
*To read one of our road tests, just select from the menu on the left. Hover your cursor over the manufacturer's name, then choose from the drop-down menu.
*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.


Quo Vadis Q5? We drive a 3.0TDI SE Quattro with 7-speed S-tronic to find out

Pics by AudiPress

Fine but flawed

Published in The Witness Motoring on Wednesday May 15, 2013

In many ways this updated, and top of the range, Audi Q5 is the perfect SUV for city-bound families. It has full-time all-wheel drive, pretty decent ground clearance and attack angles, an excellent seven-speed twin clutch gearbox, ample cargo space and comfortable and roomy seating for five fully grown people. It rides smoothly and very competently on dirt and does a mighty fine job on asphalt as well. All this is packed into a unit that’s a shade over 4,6 metres long; almost 500 mm shorter than some rivals. On the flipside, its electronics interfaces are a bit clunky, some items that should be included cost extra and the engine suffered from noticeable turbo lag.

Awkward electronics included SD music card slots that don’t play your music immediately; you first have to wait while the system loads your tunes into the hard drive that comes with the add-on satnav setup. The optional Audi Drive Select package cannot be accessed directly; you have to dig into the car’s main computer to find it. Then the trip computer won’t simply let you see your average fuel consumption data since the last reset; you have to scroll through the information on the current journey first.

By the way, the optional “off-road optic package” on the test car had nothing to do with off-road cameras; it’s a R19 650 appearance kit featuring different bumpers with ornamental underbody guards, door cappings, sill trims and bigger “off-road” wheels. Other fitted options included a panoramic sunroof, privacy glass and Bluetooth WLAN connectivity.

But enough whining; apart from adding features and tweaking its looks late last year, Audi added extra grunt to one of its 2.0 TFSIs and both diesel engines, and substituted a more powerful yet economical 3.0 TFSI for the previous 3.2-litre machine. Of interest for this review, the 3.0-litre diesel had power increased from 177 kW to 180, while torque was given a healthy boost from 500 Nm to 580. It makes only two-tenths of a second’s difference to the 100 km/h dash, but fuel economy is said to improve by up to 15-percent.

It loafs along at about 1900 rpm at 120 km/h in seventh gear; just inside the maximum torque band that extends from 1750 to 2500 rpm, meaning that there is plenty of power available to cope with slight inclines or sudden needs to accelerate out of trouble. Because the gearbox is a DSG, changes are easy, smooth and almost instinctive, supplying the appropriate ratio for almost any circumstance at any given moment. Naturally, you are also able to hold gears manually by using either the shift lever or steering wheel paddles.

The Q5’s easy driving manners are matched by its interior comfort with all-leather upholstery, back seats that adjust fore and aft and offer some recline ability, enough head, knee and foot space for six-footers and the back seat occupants have their own air conditioning vent controls too. Those in front are similarly spoiled for comfort with electrical adjustments for reach, height, tilt, recline and four-way lumbar settings on both chairs.

Luggage compartment features include a fair quantity of under floor storage around the spare wheel that’s bigger than a Marie biscuit, but you still need to inflate it, a cargo net to keep things under control, bag hooks, lashing rings and a 12-Volt socket. Adding to the compartment’s flexibility, a pair of levers just inside the door frame lay the split rear seat backs down almost flat; extending its volume from 540 litres to 1560.

Briefly, the Audi Q5 is spacious, competent, well made and performs athletically. But at this price level, we could do without the awkward interfaces and turbo lag.

Test car from Audi SA press fleet

The numbers
Price: R637 500 basic and R726 400 as tested
Engine: 2967 cc, V6 turbodiesel
Power: 180 kW between 4000 and 4500 rpm
Torque: 580 Nm between 1750 and 2500 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 6,5 seconds
Top speed: 225 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 9,3 l/100 km
Tank: 75 litres
Ground clearance: 200 mm
Approach/departure/break over/maximum climbing angles: 25/25/17/31 degrees
Warranty: 1 year; unlimited km
Maintenance: 5 year/100 000 km Freeway plan

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

My reviews and launch reports appear on Thursdays in the Wheels supplement to The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles each month, most months of the year (except over the festive season) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.

Comments?
Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you thoroughly disagree with what I say? That's your privilege, because if everybody agreed on everything, the world would be a boring place. All I ask is that you remain calm, so please blow off a little steam before venting too vigorously.