Car Review: Audi SQ5

Another SUV on the road? Well it is rather impressive...

Not So Unique Vehicle: big and powerful but it doesn’t stand out in a crowded marketplace (Photos Audi)

I suppose the question that immediately arises when you ponder the Audi SQ5 is: does the world need another 155mph SUV?

Of course it’s a daft question that answers itself. The world needs no such thing, just like it doesn’t need any more nuclear weapons or plastic bottles, but it does need more clean drinking water and sustainable supplies of energy. The SQ5 doesn’t really help with those.

Anyway, the motor industry still keeps expending scarce resources – engineering talent, investment money, steel, aluminium, those troublesome plastics – in making the improbable real, and one of the most startling emblems of that is the Audi SQ5. That’s because we like them and we buy them. Mystery solved.

Flashy: it looks the part and has the horsepower to match (Audi)

This is a smallish SUV, of the kind so wildly fashionable now, with the usual kind of chunky styling – the distinctive trapezoidal Audi grille treatment, gigantic bling alloy wheels and, a bit of a difference this, a hugely powerful turbocharged petrol 3-litre V6 engine shoved under the bonnet. It was as if the developers had just decided to set themselves their own private engineering challenge, as an in joke, but somewhere along the line there’d been a bit of a muddle, someone took the joke seriously, and now it is sat in Audi showrooms all over the world ready to frighten or entertain its customers. All for about £51,000.

In tune: soundtrack your road trip (Audi)

This Audi goes. The 0-60 time of 5.4 seconds is the predictable result of combining 354 horsepower with a slightly above average heavy vehicle (1.8 tonnes, with all the Quattro four-wheel drive gubbins).

The S version of the Q5 – lesser versions are available – is fitted with air suspension, which adjusts for both comfort, off-roading (as if) and the car’s handling. It hardly seems to matter which of the eight automatic gears the SQ5 happens to find, the urge is always there – the torque (turning force of the engine) is delivered right across the rev range.

The handling is astonishingly good, given the unpromising recipe of bulk and high centre of gravity.

The spec

Audi SQ5 TFSI quattro tiptronic 

Price: £58,345 (as tested)
Engine capacity: 3.0 litre petrol V6, 8-sp auto, AW
Power output (PS @ rpm): 354 @ 5,400-6,400
Top speed (mph): 155
0-60mph (seconds): 5.4
Fuel economy (mpg): 34
CO2 emissions (g/km): 189

You can perfectly well argue that spending so much time, money and effort in making an SUV handle like a sports saloon is, literally, wasteful – but that said, you have to conceded that this a superlative piece of work.

With the continuing diesel-gate scandal damaging the VW group’s brands and reputation, including Audi, and the arrest of the Audi CEO over the emissions scandal, the firm needs to prove it can do some good as well as harm; you’d also be forgiven for thinking that if only VW group engineers had stuck to messing around with projects like the SQ5 rather than manipulating the diesel figures then this globally renowned car manufacturer might not be in so much trouble.

It’s a luxury car too, and its owner will want for little. It features a head-up display, so you can see your speed and speed limits as if projected onto the road in front of you; parking assistance; adaptive cruise control, automatic braking and lane assistance; fine soft nappa leather seats; three zone climate control; powered tailgate; and that air suspension for an extra-cushy ride.

Heads up: the display allows you to see your speed projected in front of you (Audi)

Absurd as the SQ5 undoubtedly is, the sheer range of its abilities is almost enough to persuade you that it makes some kind of sense. You’d think that such an exotic creation had this sub-niche of mega-powerful baby SUV to itself. But no. It is up against rivals such as the Jaguar F-Pace, Mercedes-AMG GLC (an ugly critter, that one) and the BMW X3 M40i. The SQ5 makes a perfectly good case for itself against them all. Though the Mercedes and BMW are marginally (even) faster, and the Jag more handsome, there’s very little in it between these V6 monsters.

Luxury interior: the trim is comparable with other small SUVs (Audi)

The Q5 range as a whole loses ground to the Range Rover Evoque, which lacks an out and out performance variant, on looks and snob appeal; some indefinable quality of being covetable that others lack (even though the Jaguar is similar to it).

The Evoque is not as technically advanced as the SQ5. It’s slower, due for replacement soon and is more fashion accessory than sensible transport.

If I had the money and actually wanted a small SUV (unlikely), I’d prefer the Evoque, just because it has such a tasteful and stylish interior. But I don’t think the world needs another SUV driver.