SA Roadtests
South Africa
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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Many of the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.
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Pics by Motorpress
Posted: May 2, 2022
The numbers
Base prices: Advanced R1 007 100, S-Line R1 046 100
Engine: 1983 cc, DOHC, 16-valve, inline four-cylinder, commonrail diesel with turbocharger
Power: 140 kW between 3800 and 4200 rpm
Torque: 400 Nm between 1750 and 3250 rpm
0-100 km/h: 8.1 seconds
Top speed: 220 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 7.3 l/100 km
Tank: 65 litres
Luggage: 510 – 1480 litres
Ground clearance (Standard suspension): 197 mm
Turning circle: 11.8 metres
Standard tyre sizes: 235/55R19, 255/45R20
Spare: Pump-up Spacesaver
Audi Freeway plan: Five years, 100 000 km
Audi Q5 has been around since late 2009 in South Africa but this is the first time it’s offered in Sportback.
Here’s what you get before adding personal touches:
• 2.0 TDI or 2.0 TFSI engines. There’s also an über-hot 3.0 TFSI SQ variant but that’s something else entirely.
• Seven-speed S-Tronic transmission
• Heat reflecting glass all around
• Powered windows and mirrors
• Three-zone air conditioning
• LED lighting
• Headlamp washers
• Disc brakes front and rear
• Roof rack
• Collapsible spare tyre
• Manually adjustable front seats
• Leather/Leatherette upholstery
• Three ISOFix mounting sets
• Standard sport suspension
• Powered tailgate
• Quattro awd
• Audi drive assist
• Parking aid plus
• Hold assist
• Cruise control with limiter
• Electric kiddie locks
• Six airbags
• Smartphone interface
• Standard Audi sound system
• Emergency contact and service app
A rearview camera is part of a City Assistance package, that includes pre-sense rear and lane change assistant, at R23 900. Various other items that one might expect to be included in a million-Rand motorcar are similarly available only as options. But that’s The German Way.
We’re offered two versions of the diesel car; Advanced, or S-Line at R39 000 extra. Differences are 20” wheels rather than 19” and some added appearance kit. Our Advanced test unit was fitted with R222 900-worth of options but we’ll touch on only one more.
Adaptive air suspension, at R38 000, is quite a package. It adjusts automatically to user choices or prevailing circumstances by lifting the car as much as 45 mm when adventuring off-road or crouching 15 mm lower than normal when driven at speed. Its party trick is to lower the back end by 55 mm to facilitate loading.
We tried it out, on Comfort setting (jacking it up to max. reduces wheel travel and hardens the ride), on the gravel road past the veggie farms. Compared with other air suspension systems we found the ride more sporty than airy; satisfactory but not Range Rover.
Size-wise, Sportback is seven millimetres longer, at 4690 mm, than its regular Q5 sister, similarly wide and tall at 1890 and 1660 mm, and slightly sleeker. Its Cd is 0.30 rather than 0.31.
Luggage loads at 760 mm (705 with air suspension) onto the usual flat deck. It is 982 mm long, 1050 between wheel arches and fitted with two lights, four lashing rings and remote releases for the 40:20:40-split seatback. These sections fold almost flat to extend cargo volume by up to a further 970 litres. Apart from the boot, sundry storage spaces include generous door bins, a pair of seatback map pockets and a big glove box.
Passenger space in the back seat was, despite the extra slope of the Sportback roofline, quite satisfactory for a 1.84-metre tester seated “behind himself” with a comfortable amount of free headspace, knees clear of the back of the driver’s chair and uncrowded under-seat foot room. There are three head restraints, two and a half belts and a fold-down armrest. Despite the trio of head restraints, the space is better suited to two, owing to a high centre tunnel.
The driving experience was, as usual, rather special with quick responses to steering, acceleration and braking inputs while the seven-speed DCT, with manual mode when desired, is still one of the best in the business. Power seems to go on forever, it feels strong and solid and the fun never ceases. We could easily live with one.
Test unit from Audi SA press fleet
We drove the 'plain' version here
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 or goat tracks as well. As a result, my test cars do occasionally get dirty. It's all part of the reviewing process.
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 ever I place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with a very similar vehicle 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.
Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. There are no advertisers and no “editorial policy” rules. I add bylines to acknowledge sponsored launch functions and the manufacturers or dealerships that provide the test vehicles. And, as quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8