Q5 enters new era

Second-generation Audi SUV range is topped by a lusty 260kW SQ5 version

THE SECOND-generation Audi Q5, launched in South Africa last week, is in many ways a microcosm of the challenges facing the motor industry in the second decade of the new millennium.

At 4660mm long, 1890mm wide and 1660mm tall on a 2820mm wheelbase, it is bigger in nearly every dimension than its predecessor because the market demands it; customers want to know they are getting ‘more car for their money’.

It’s bigger inside too; even with the back seat in its rearmost position the cargo bay will swallow 550 litres of retail therapy (10 litres more than the previous Q5), and with it folded, capacity expands tardis-like to 1550 litres.

Nevertheless, it is also, depending on the engine, up to 90kg lighter - thanks to clever usage of ever-greater percentages of expensive aluminium and high-strength steels, to meet the fuel-efficiency statutes of regulators and clean air authorities around the world.

Audi’s new mid-sized SUV arrives in South Africa in a fivestrong range comprising two trim levels, with a choice of two-litre diesel or petrol power, as well as the range-topping SQ5 with 260kW of three-litre V6 turbopetrol motorvation.

The two-litre TFSI turbopetrol, rated for 185kW and 370Nm, and the TDI turbodiesel (140kW and 400Nm, on tap from 1750-3000rpm) are each mated to a paddle-shift S tronic automatic transmission with a fuel-saving freewheel function and Audi’s new quattro-on-demand ultra final drive. The system uses 150 sensors to monitor the route, driver and driving status predicting whether and when one or both of the front wheels will begin to lose traction and bringing in the rear axle ahead of time to Continued on Page 3