Sold the Q5 PHEV
07-25-2023, 04:49 PM
#1
AudiWorld Senior Member
Thread Starter
Sold the Q5 PHEV
We just sold our 2020 Q5e for a variety of reasons, but primarily because we lost confidence in the vehicle. When we bought the Audi we decided to keep it at least while under warranty and then re-evaluate a few months before the end of the warranty. That’s 6 months from now and we decided to trade it in and not get another Audi.
We owned it for 3 1/2 years. I was a bit concerned about buying the first year of a complex vehicle, but knew it had been available in Europe for a while. We have driven an average of 20 miles per day, mostly with local trips to stores, restaurants, and to take dog walks. It’s a fun, responsive vehicle to drive locally. We charged after every use, so it was always ready to go in EV for the next trip. It’s a good definition of an SUV, sporty, along with having utility for local uses.
The 20 miles per day is well within the EV only range for us, which averaged 22 winter and 32 summer miles. So, with the exception of a few multiple hundred mile trips within the state and to Indiana from Michigan, all the miles on the Audi are as an EV. We level 2 charged at home with both our solar system and the utility. By running some fairly complex calculations on actual electric costs and avoided gas costs, I estimate reasonably accurately we saved about $750 per year in energy costs over owning an ICE Q5.
The reliability was iffy.
-Sometimes we had to push the start button multiple times to get it ready to run. In a few instances we gave up and used our other vehicle.
-We had the “Electric system failure: See dealer service” message in the dash once early in our ownership
-The brake squealed like a banshee or were grabby in some circumstances
-There was a persistent rattle in either the sunroof or the hatch in the right rear
-There was a knocking rattle in the driver’s side door on rough roads
-Occasionally the rear camera stayed on a long time after shifting into drive and heading out.
-The check engine light came on and Audi could not find anything to fix. They gave us the vehicle back after resetting the codes and a week later the light turned back on with the same codes as before, plus a new one about the charging circuit.
-We stopped driving it in the rain because there seemed to be a correlation with the CEL and water.
There were a few frustrations with the vehicle.
-The tires wore out at only 20,000 miles, despite our driving like the grandparents we are. That wipes out much of the savings from not buying gas.
-After we bought it, we found out we could not put a trailer hitch on it for our small boats and bike rack, which would have been showstopper if we had known. The salesperson had assured us we could, in her ignorance of what was then a new model for that dealership.
-It’s not a road tripper. To us, it does not have the quiet ride of a luxury vehicle and is tiring on long trips. It shines in local driving for sure, but not on the rough Michigan roads at highway speeds.
-The rear camera also turns off if you turn off the annoying parking sensor beep when backing up.
-The hard stab at the brakes is very poorly programmed, both in severity and for specific situations.
-Who thought it was a good idea to put cupholders in front of a sliding tray needed to access the console compartment that also includes the phone charger? Yeesh!
We did not replace it with another Audi. The value proposition for an Audi simply is not there for us. For the very high luxury vehicle price and service costs, very high expectations need to be met for sales, service, reliability, driving dynamics, ergonomics, and electronic user interfaces. Many other manufacturers have exceeded Audi in these categories, in my opinion. It seems to me the main thing Audi has going for it is the Audi image. Other than that, Audi needs to step up their game if they expect to keep charging the prices they do.
I learned a lot from this forum. I appreciate the contributions of other members and the excellent moderation.
We owned it for 3 1/2 years. I was a bit concerned about buying the first year of a complex vehicle, but knew it had been available in Europe for a while. We have driven an average of 20 miles per day, mostly with local trips to stores, restaurants, and to take dog walks. It’s a fun, responsive vehicle to drive locally. We charged after every use, so it was always ready to go in EV for the next trip. It’s a good definition of an SUV, sporty, along with having utility for local uses.
The 20 miles per day is well within the EV only range for us, which averaged 22 winter and 32 summer miles. So, with the exception of a few multiple hundred mile trips within the state and to Indiana from Michigan, all the miles on the Audi are as an EV. We level 2 charged at home with both our solar system and the utility. By running some fairly complex calculations on actual electric costs and avoided gas costs, I estimate reasonably accurately we saved about $750 per year in energy costs over owning an ICE Q5.
The reliability was iffy.
-Sometimes we had to push the start button multiple times to get it ready to run. In a few instances we gave up and used our other vehicle.
-We had the “Electric system failure: See dealer service” message in the dash once early in our ownership
-The brake squealed like a banshee or were grabby in some circumstances
-There was a persistent rattle in either the sunroof or the hatch in the right rear
-There was a knocking rattle in the driver’s side door on rough roads
-Occasionally the rear camera stayed on a long time after shifting into drive and heading out.
-The check engine light came on and Audi could not find anything to fix. They gave us the vehicle back after resetting the codes and a week later the light turned back on with the same codes as before, plus a new one about the charging circuit.
-We stopped driving it in the rain because there seemed to be a correlation with the CEL and water.
There were a few frustrations with the vehicle.
-The tires wore out at only 20,000 miles, despite our driving like the grandparents we are. That wipes out much of the savings from not buying gas.
-After we bought it, we found out we could not put a trailer hitch on it for our small boats and bike rack, which would have been showstopper if we had known. The salesperson had assured us we could, in her ignorance of what was then a new model for that dealership.
-It’s not a road tripper. To us, it does not have the quiet ride of a luxury vehicle and is tiring on long trips. It shines in local driving for sure, but not on the rough Michigan roads at highway speeds.
-The rear camera also turns off if you turn off the annoying parking sensor beep when backing up.
-The hard stab at the brakes is very poorly programmed, both in severity and for specific situations.
-Who thought it was a good idea to put cupholders in front of a sliding tray needed to access the console compartment that also includes the phone charger? Yeesh!
We did not replace it with another Audi. The value proposition for an Audi simply is not there for us. For the very high luxury vehicle price and service costs, very high expectations need to be met for sales, service, reliability, driving dynamics, ergonomics, and electronic user interfaces. Many other manufacturers have exceeded Audi in these categories, in my opinion. It seems to me the main thing Audi has going for it is the Audi image. Other than that, Audi needs to step up their game if they expect to keep charging the prices they do.
I learned a lot from this forum. I appreciate the contributions of other members and the excellent moderation.
The following users liked this post:
iworms (07-26-2023)
07-25-2023, 06:17 PM
#3
AudiWorld Member
I’ll agree with you on the cup holders. They are also too small. There are 3 cubby holes in the console, and they are all useless. It will be interesting to see about the tires. Only 2500 miles so far. Definitely short of storage space. I guess all taken up by battery.
07-25-2023, 07:26 PM
#4
Sorry to hear we're loosing you in the Audi world, you're posts were very helpful, particularly to the rest of the early Q5e adopters like me.
Also sad to hear you were having so many issues.
Honestly, I'm not sure any one of the VW corp owned brands know how to make proper cup holders. Haven't found a VW or Audi with a decent cup holder....maybe Porsche or Lamborghini?
Also sad to hear you were having so many issues.
Honestly, I'm not sure any one of the VW corp owned brands know how to make proper cup holders. Haven't found a VW or Audi with a decent cup holder....maybe Porsche or Lamborghini?
07-26-2023, 07:03 AM
#6
AudiWorld Member
Sorry to hear about your experience with the Q5, but thanks for the thorough write-up after a few years of ownership. Hopefully you found something nice that better suits your needs!
07-26-2023, 07:19 AM
#7
AudiWorld Senior Member
Quite the opposite here. She liked it so much, after the 3-year lease was up on her 2020, we bought her a new 2023 Q5-e. We like getting 90mpg in town.
2. We never saw any of that here.
Sounds like you were having water intrusion problems on the bottom of the vehicle and floor computers and wiring. There was a recall for that..
Remember to occasionally run the ICE engine on these PHEV.
3. The trailer-hitch omission on 2020 PHEV was strange, but they added it back now. We never had anything to tow anyway. Since you did, I can see you resenting it and wanting to get rid of it a little early.
None of your other frustrations affected us either EXCEPT for the phone-charger on top of the cup-holders. They kept that for 2023 but we rarely use it anyway expect for trips (she often just keeps iPhone in pocket or purse, and CarPlay works fine from there).
Last edited by Tesla1856; 07-26-2023 at 07:21 AM.
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07-26-2023, 09:43 AM
#8
AudiWorld Senior Member
Hopefully they’ll realize that Americans do and get more input on cup holder design.
Last edited by lowjdml; 07-26-2023 at 09:45 AM.
07-26-2023, 09:58 AM
#9
AudiWorld Member
1. Interesting. So, what is next for you in the 5-passenger Hybrid SUV segment?
Quite the opposite here. She liked it so much, after the 3-year lease was up on her 2020, we bought her a new 2023 Q5-e. We like getting 90mpg in town.
2. We never saw any of that here.
Sounds like you were having water intrusion problems on the bottom of the vehicle and floor computers and wiring. There was a recall for that..
Remember to occasionally run the ICE engine on these PHEV.
3. The trailer-hitch omission on 2020 PHEV was strange, but they added it back now. We never had anything to tow anyway. Since you did, I can see you resenting it and wanting to get rid of it a little early.
None of your other frustrations affected us either EXCEPT for the phone-charger on top of the cup-holders. They kept that for 2023 but we rarely use it anyway expect for trips (she often just keeps iPhone in pocket or purse, and CarPlay works fine from there).
Quite the opposite here. She liked it so much, after the 3-year lease was up on her 2020, we bought her a new 2023 Q5-e. We like getting 90mpg in town.
2. We never saw any of that here.
Sounds like you were having water intrusion problems on the bottom of the vehicle and floor computers and wiring. There was a recall for that..
Remember to occasionally run the ICE engine on these PHEV.
3. The trailer-hitch omission on 2020 PHEV was strange, but they added it back now. We never had anything to tow anyway. Since you did, I can see you resenting it and wanting to get rid of it a little early.
None of your other frustrations affected us either EXCEPT for the phone-charger on top of the cup-holders. They kept that for 2023 but we rarely use it anyway expect for trips (she often just keeps iPhone in pocket or purse, and CarPlay works fine from there).
We also had a 14 MDX. Then we had a 17 MDX hybrid. Frankly, if the new generation MDX had a hybrid, we would have gone that way.
07-26-2023, 06:12 PM
#10
AudiWorld Junior Member
My 2021 PHEV is fast, quiet, rattle free, with consistent 29 miles of electric only driving. The fit and finish of the body and interior is spot on. At just over 42,000 trouble-free miles the tires are like new, and the brakes are top notch. The ride, albeit on the firm side, is outstanding. The steering is precise with a bit of understeer. The seats are comfortable and supportive. The technology is state-of-the-art, and the Bang & Olufsen audio system is mind blowing. My PHEV is a superb around town daily driver, and the perfect 1000+ mile road tripper for two old buggers. Yes, cost of ownership is high, as I already knew when I bought my Audi, but Audi is a luxury German marque after all. All in all, I’d buy another Audi without hesitation, before I bought a BMW or Benz.
Last edited by Roxor; 07-26-2023 at 06:23 PM.