2020 Audi Q5

With its refined interior styling, a wealth of features and relatively snappy powertrain, the five-passenger Audi Q5 compact SUV radiates the brand of understated luxury experience that Audi does best. It combines most of the general parameters that car buyers are clamoring for these days—the crossover dimensions, in particular, but also all the connectivity features that define our lives. It’s a fully modernized product after its 2018 redesign, and it does nearly everything exceptionally well.

But it’s also the most mainstream of all the Audis, in the sense that it packages everything we want into a premium-luxury product, but it’s not particularly special in any respect. Its A6 and Q8 siblings have that edge, whether in performance or style, or both. It’s not a problem that the Q5 isn’t particularly exciting—if you want that you can upgrade to the performance-tuned SQ5—and the fact that it’s Audi’s best-seller more than squelches any legitimate protests in that direction. It’s a great car, and perfect for the huge swath of the market that wants precisely this.

It’s also plenty of fun. It’s handling is crisp and responsive, and the all-wheel-drive easily manages slippery spots that might surprise you in early winter. It’s also smooth and manages tire roar and wind noise quite well. It’s not the sepulchral ride that the A8 flagship sedan is, because it’s smaller and lighter. But if you hop into an economy crossover or roughly comparable spec and drive a few miles after the Q5, you’ll immediately see what you’re paying for. People tend to forget that after a few months of driving premium cars—but they’re reminded when they climb into a rental or a friend’s car.

Technology, as usual with Audi, sits front and center—and hidden. The dynamic and adaptable virtual cockpit creates a terrific interface for navigation, and the complement of safety enhancements lurk in the car, waiting for trouble. Chief among them are automatic cruise control—a massive convenience as much as a safety tool—but also less commonly used features such as Pre Sense City, which detects pedestrians and vehicles as you’re navigating city streets, automatically braking if any of them are at risk of contact. It’s only one of many hazards the car can sense and alert you to or automatically avoid. 

There are times when the car feels a hair overstuffed, such as with the primary infotainment display. It extends vertically from the top of the dash in a way that’s distinctly noticeable. Plenty of cars have done this over time—it frees up space on the dashboard and also places the display closer to eye level—but it also makes it look like an afterthought, something plugged in at the last minute. (Not to mention, you feel like at some point a duffle bag strap is going to snag on it with pricey results.) Few cars still do this these days, and one hopes the next generation of the Q5 will blend the display into the dash. 

What this compact SUV doesn’t do is deliver leap-off-the-line, competition-burning performance. Its turbocharged 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine and its all-wheel drive is sturdy and reassuring, but it’s 19 mpg city and 27 mpg EPA fuel economy ratings are just average. That said, those looking for a genuinely high-performance SUV should upgrade to the SQ5 and its 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 and lower, sportier stance. A plug-in hybrid variant of the Q5 with a 14.1 kWh battery joined the North American Audi lineup late in the 2020 model year. 

Another minor complaint lingers on the dual-clutch transmission. Those are fantastic innovations optimized for aggressive driving, but they can make for somewhat clunky gearshifts at lower speeds. As much as performance enthusiasts love a dual-clutch, there’s a reason conventional transmissions are still here—they’re a bit softer and smoother. But make no mistake, if you enjoy brisk driving, the dual-clutch will make you very happy. 

Ultimately, though, the Q5 is very much the everyman’s premium multitasker—loaded with cool features and providing enough SUV-like qualities to make it legitimately more appealing than a conventional sedan.