AUDI Q5 SPORTBACK S LINE
In a nutshell… Refined and capable cruiser
Price £52,610 Kerbweight 1825kg Towball limit 100kg
FOR OUR LINCOLNSHIRE trip, we paired the Discovery D4-4 with an Audi Q5 Sportback S line 40 TDI Quattro S tronic.
With a kerbweight of 1825kg, and a corresponding 85% figure of 1551kg, it made light work of towing the 1206kg Bailey.
Our test model also came with a variety of optional kit, including a retractable towbar (£765), which folds away easily and quickly via a button in the boot. Other options included the smart Navarra Blue metallic paintwork (£675), the Comfort and Sound Pack (£1395), and a 70-litre fuel tank (£100; 65 litres is standard).
Quiet and refined
Under the bonnet lies a 2.0-litre 201bhp turbodiesel engine, and it felt super-refined on the road; it proved supremely quiet when cruising along the motorway, and neither of us needed to raise our voices to hear each other while we were towing at maximum legal speeds.
Our Q5 had a seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch gearbox, which felt a little slow to torque up (this is seemingly a common feature of VW
Group dual-clutch cars), and meant it felt a little hesitant pulling away at junctions.
That’s fine if you’re towing a light caravan such as the Bailey, but if you have a heavier van,
you can help to alleviate this to some degree by switching to Sport mode, which brings the clutch in more quickly, allowing smoother getaways.
Compared with the more upright, regular Q5, the steeply raked rear windscreen of the Sportback makes packing the boot less easy than it is with the boxier, regular model.
This is particularly noticeable when you have a caravan with a low payload, such as the Bailey, and you need to keep weighty items in the car.
The Q5’s reversing camera is excellent, allowing you to see the towball with ease.
As for the car’s fuel economy: according to the trip computer, when we were driving solo, we managed 40-45mpg, which is on a par with the official combined figure of 43.5mpg. When we were towing the Bailey, we achieved 25-27mpg.
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