Our cars: Audi Q5 PHEV
It’s time to deliver a final verdict on life with plug-in SUV
TO misquote singer Eddy Grant, for the last five months, I’ve been rocking down to Electric Avenue. And as the photo (right) proves, I’ve parked outside it too.
There’s more than a literal connection here, though. For many buyers, jumping from a combustion engine into a full EV is a bit of a leap of faith, so plug-in hybrid models provide an opportunity to sample all-electric life, while still having a petrolfuelled safety net. And thanks to the tax incentives, PHEVs make a huge amount of sense as company cars, too.
Even if you ignore these matters of pragmatism, the Q5 55 TFSI e is one heck of a car. It’s seriously swift when you want it to be, and a hushed round-town cruiser when you don’t. Like pretty much every other Audi, it has that impressive feeling of high quality inside. It’s able to turn heads, if not quite stop people dead in their tracks. I’ve genuinely lost count of the number of compliments I’ve had about both the car, and its Azores Green paintwork.
The last five months haven’t been entirely without frustration, though. The powered tailgate is a bit slow to operate, and the release button for it is right next to a strangely old-school fuel-filler flap release button; invariably I ended up hitting the wrong one. I’d also prefer the charging cable socket to be on the driver’s side, while somewhere to keep the cable would also be nice. And I don’t much care for using Apple CarPlay on systems like the one in the Q5 that don’t have a touchscreen, either.
However, what I thought was a central locking problem on the car actually turned out to be caused by the position of my hand on the door handle. My local dealer explained, sensitively, that my thumb was hitting a hidden sensor which locks the door as I tried to pull the handle. As dealer visits go, it was a slightly embarrassing one.
In the grand scheme of things, these are all pretty minor points, and the Q5 and I have got along very well indeed. I love the driving position, the comfy seats and the fact it’ll massage your back. And while it’s not the kind of car that’d tempt you into taking the long way home, it steers well and rides better than S line-spec Audis of old.
In the winter, the matrix LED headlights proved themselves time and again. They’re perfect if you live in the country or spend a lot of time on poorly lit roads. Their ever-shifting beams mean you can activate them and forget; I’m not sure there’s a better way of lighting the road ahead.
The Q5 is an upmarket SUV, but it’s certainly been a workhorse: packed with rubbish for the tip, loaded with timber for DIY projects, stuffed with flat-pack furniture from Ikea and pressed into service as regular family transport. For the most part, the Q5 took it all in its stride, although the boot is only 395 litres, 155 litres less than regular Q5’s, which meant a straight choice between taking my son’s buggy or loading up with a week’s worth of shopping. Even relocating the bulky cable bag to my shed didn’t cure this.
There’s plenty of assistance to improve the economy, though. The Q5 pulses the accelerator pedal when you’re approaching a speed-limit change, and the sat-nav can assist to apply brake regen as you approach a junction. Some might find the systems intrusive, and they can be switched off, but I found them helpful. It’s a shame you can’t access more regen more of the time, though.
This was my first experience living with a plug-in hybrid for a length of time, and my Pod Point wallbox was used from the word go. In fact, because the Q5’s battery is fairly small, I found myself charging far more often than I have with fully electric cars.
As with an EV, it’s easy to find yourself trying to eke out every last mile of range; at best I could match the claimed 26 miles, and at worst, it was little more than 14 miles; most days it was around 20. Plus you need to remember to select the car’s hybrid mode for better long-distance economy; it’s the difference between 40mpg or 80mpg if you cover a moderate distance.
Of course, the overall running costs will vary enormously depending on how many long journeys you take, and how much your electricity costs. My own supply is 14.7p per kilowatt, so a full charge costs just over £2 for 20-ish miles. The same trip in a 35mpg petrol-fuelled car would cost around £3.30.
“The Q5 is seriously swift when you want it to be, and a hushed cruiser when you don’t”