Scott Evil

Interesting comparison. I have been thru a B5, B6, and 2 B7s. I swear the B5 was the best built of them all. As the B5 aged it developed some rattles, but the quality of material and workmanship never showed its age.

Bob Petruska

On routine maintenance from Audi. I did my own work, the dealer never saw me. There really isn't much maintenance when you look at it, changed the oil, plugs, air filter, cabin filter flushed the brake fluid at 40,000 miles.

All materials on the Q5 have been cheapened, such as, the leather already show puckers after 500 miles, the A4 had no puckers after 12 years, 60,000 miles. The Q5 plastics around the vehicle are half the thickness of the A4.
I see faint windshield wiper scratches and only drove it in one rain, others report the same. Outside heated mirrors that can't be heated at will as with the A4. The A4's non-turbo 3.0 engine used a half cup of oil between oil changes, never hesitated or stumbled on acceleration in any temperature. Most of all, the A4 rode quite smoothly, and hugged the road like it was on magnetic rails, steering was towards heavy and precise with great feed back.....Q5 lacks a lot and has a nervous ride. Now my previous Audis were all manual trans, so I can't really beat up the Q5 automatic in comparison, but I will definitely say that if the tip-tronic didn't have sport mode the Q5 would be gone in less than a year. That D mode really sucks with the fast up-shifting to get to 8th gear quickly and when I'm on the interstate and just want to pass a car, with slight throttle it downshifts 2 gears. With S mode it is much better controled and I can live with it. I have driven other comparable 2013 vehicles and they all are lacking, it's a shame that things went backwards. The one thing that amazes me is why Audi spent $1800 on an electric parking brake that does nothing different than the older $200 cable/lever system. That $1800 could have put some nice standard features into the Q5 like a rear camera system.

Don't get me wrong I still like my Audi Q5, I won't be driving it much about 3,000 miles a year, but it definitely is a sign of the times with the changes, and reliability doesn't seem to be there, it's not what I saw with my A4.

bob m

Woweee,Bob, that's not too encouraging. What I did notice in the 2013's from my 09 Q5, is that the steering is way lighter. I much preferred the 09s. But I still think the Q5's hug the road. And what was it about the Q5 that you preferred over the X3 and RDX?

Bob

idale

All my test drives haven't been problematic, either. Steering's certainly not heavy, but the Q5 still seems to respond well to input and keep to the lines I want it on. As a caveat, I've been stuck in an Odyssey for the last 4 years so it's been a while since I was in a proper "driving" vehicle. But I took the TDI around windy backroads and never felt any more nervous than in any vehicle that isn't mine (I automatically put up a huge buffer around the vehicle so I don't get close to anything and risk damage).

bob m

How did it handle on those windy backroads? Nervous because of risk of damage on a car that is not yours or nervous because handling was not up to snuff?

B

idale

The former, definitely. I just have a huge mental buffer on other vehicles since they aren't mine and am not exactly sure where the corners are. The Q5 is smaller than my Odyssey, but in my head I allow much more room and there was a good bit of overgrowth on the road to avoid being anywhere near.

Handling seemed perfectly fine. It's not a sports car or anything, but I was definitely satisfied. (Whether my senses have been dulled from four years in an Odyssey is another matter, though.)

Bob Petruska

The X3 rode worse, the RDX didn't hug the road.

I took a 100 mile ride on I81 yesterday and the bad I81 section was horribly handled by the Q5. I have driven that section before in my old A4 and didn't notice any bouncing. I get to this family gathering and find out my cousin just bought a new Q6, I said let's go for a ride on that same I81 section, the A6 handled it great hardly any bounce.

jmmdmd

All the more reason to go for the 3.0T!! At my 8000km service, no oil consumption whatsoever, MMI was still reading 100%. Bob, I quite like the shifting on the 8 spd, albeit, this is coming from a former B8 6MT driver that got sick and tired of shifting...to each their own.

Q5 Bob

Probably like a lot of people we wrestled with the same things when car shopping.

I preferred the V6's in the GLK and RDX. The GLK's styling was a deal breaker and the RDX seemed a bit plain. I liked the performance and handling of the BMW but didn't like the ride w/run flats. After testing and re-testing each we decided the Q5 had the best combo of ride comfort, handling, performance and fuel efficiency for our particular needs. No regrets at this point.

Bob Petruska

I don't think that the current 2.0T or 3.0T has any differences with oil consumption. As I stated I'm still at max and I also have a dip stick which is at the max level. I would have gone with the 3.0T coming from a 3.0, I drove both the 2.0 and 3.0 extensively and I really didn't much differences in performance between the both and they both seemed to shift a lot. I liked the 2.0T better as it seemed to handle better and was easier to toss, most likely due to the less weight over the front wheels. I drive hard and fast, in my trip on the interstate yesterday I got 25 mpg doing 80 mph. I have my gear display activated and every time you use the throttle a little bit, it downshifts a gear or two, most of the time it stays in 7th gear on the level until you let off the throttle some. Most Q5 owners wouldn't notice that if they don't have the gear numbers activated in the display. My A4 would have gotten 30+ mpg on the same trip.

I just don't understand why the Q5 is designed with a bouncy ride, it's an A4 chassis. OK the the Q5 is higher and needs come compensation to not lean in the turns, how about just lowering the Q5, and reduce the bounce, 99% of the Q5 owners never go off road....Hello Audi!

Again I'm not complaining much about the Q5 in general, I just got to adapt, it just seems that all current vehicles have just gone backwards in design, to make them cheaper and lighter for fuel efficiency, etc. You can see that when my 2014 Q5 cost almost the same as my 12 year old A4. Something had to give....