2021 Audi Q5 Video Review: MotorTrend Buyer's Guide
With a refresh for 2021
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MotorTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 This is the 2021 Audi Q5.
00:06 Arguably, it's the most important vehicle Audi makes.
00:09 Why?
00:10 A, it's their best selling vehicle in North America.
00:13 B, along with the Mercedes-Benz GLC, the BMW X3,
00:17 and the Lexus NX, helps it define the ever-growing
00:21 and ever more profitable compact luxury SUV segment.
00:25 Now, this has been refreshed for 2021,
00:28 but the question becomes,
00:30 in such a crowded competitive field,
00:32 does the Q5 have what it takes to stand out?
00:35 Let's find out.
00:36 (upbeat music)
00:39 It's ironic that the Q5 is Audi's best selling product
00:47 because they never really wanted to sell SUVs to Americans.
00:51 Back when Mercedes-Benz came out with the ML-Class
00:54 in the late '90s, Audi said, "You don't need an SUV.
00:56 "All you really need is a station wagon
00:59 "with off-road capability."
01:01 They built the Allroad and they couldn't sell it.
01:03 Nobody bought it.
01:04 Now, they're known as an SUV maker.
01:07 So who's this vehicle for?
01:08 Well, the previous A4 buyer,
01:10 really the BMW 3 Series customer, recently minted yuppies.
01:14 And so what Audi's hoping is,
01:16 when you're gonna buy your first luxury vehicle,
01:18 you make it a Q5.
01:20 In terms of design, there are successful refreshes
01:25 and then there's the Q5.
01:27 And what I mean by this is, look,
01:29 Audi, a couple generations ago,
01:31 they came up with the giant grill on an automobile, right?
01:34 No one was doing it.
01:35 Now everybody's doing it.
01:36 Unless you're a Tesla, you got a big grill.
01:39 The problem is, if you originate it,
01:40 you can't really turn your back on it.
01:42 You can't suddenly start doing something else.
01:44 So their only option is more grill
01:47 until you get this, where it just basically takes up
01:50 the entire face of the car.
01:52 It's just a lot of black plastic at the end of the day.
01:54 (upbeat music)
01:57 You start coming down the side of this thing
02:02 and you see what Audi does really well.
02:04 Very nice looking, very expensive looking wheels.
02:07 Audi's always have great wheels.
02:09 And then you see how Audi is able to fold metal
02:12 and no one does it like this.
02:13 Like these creases are just,
02:15 it's a manufacturing technique that Audi pioneered
02:18 and no one else has really caught up with yet.
02:21 Take a step back though, it still reads just like an SUV,
02:24 despite the cool line work.
02:25 So to break up the slab sides, they added this sill here.
02:29 Yeah, it works okay.
02:31 You get out back and it just reads like an Audi SUV.
02:34 Although it's a little frumpier than I remember.
02:36 It kind of looks just like a Q7, which is a larger car.
02:40 So it kind of has like a heftiness to it.
02:42 Again, it's a well-designed vehicle.
02:44 I just don't think it's attractive as the last one.
02:47 Inside the Audi Q5, I'm right at home here,
02:52 mostly because I owned an Audi Allroad for three years
02:55 and it's a very similar cabin.
02:57 This is again, is a 2021 refresh.
02:59 So it's an update of that cabin.
03:01 The big news is the infotainment screen here.
03:03 It is larger and it's a touchscreen.
03:06 There used to be a rotary dial right here.
03:08 It's gone.
03:09 Now there's a odd shaped hole,
03:10 which isn't quite the size of a cell phone,
03:12 but they've added a spot for your cell phone
03:14 that has wireless charging.
03:15 That's a very good thing.
03:17 As far as the cabin goes, it's really premium.
03:20 You know, for a long time,
03:21 Audi's been making some of the best interiors
03:23 in the business and they focus on little things
03:25 like the noise you get when you click something.
03:27 It's uniform throughout the cabin.
03:29 So the touchscreen is gonna have the same click
03:31 as the window switches, as the shifter edits.
03:33 It's a subtle thing,
03:35 but it just makes the entire experience feel quite premium.
03:38 Of course, you've got Audi's excellent virtual cockpit.
03:41 The MMI system itself is quite functional.
03:44 As far as the materials go,
03:45 it's actually a mid-bag within the Prestige here.
03:48 Like the roof and the A-pillar
03:50 are wrapped in this nice fabric,
03:51 but then there's this kind of undone, greasy plastic,
03:54 which doesn't really match.
03:56 But then you have really nice wood,
03:57 really nice metal, and really nice leather.
04:00 Behind me, it's not a ton of room.
04:04 Remember, this is based on the A4, not the A6.
04:07 However, should you fold the seats down,
04:09 there is quite a bit of room back there.
04:11 Again, the big takeaway is, you know,
04:13 Audi has done premium cabins right for a very long time.
04:17 Is it the best interior in the class?
04:20 Hard to say it is, but it's top three for sure.
04:24 One of the reasons you pay more for premium vehicles
04:28 is because typically you get more performance.
04:31 Audi is well aware of this,
04:32 which is why they've added 13 horsepower
04:34 to the two-liter inline turbocharged four-cylinder engine,
04:37 bringing the total up to 261
04:40 and the torque rating up to 273 pound-feet.
04:43 There's also a hybrid option available,
04:45 adds about 100 horsepower, 100 pound-feet of torque.
04:48 Whichever you choose,
04:50 you get a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission,
04:52 which might give you slightly quicker acceleration times.
04:55 But trust me, most customers won't know the difference.
04:58 They think they're just driving a regular automatic.
05:00 This Q5 is all-wheel drive.
05:02 If you're really seeking a performance car,
05:04 you wanna go for the SQ5.
05:07 That's a separate video.
05:08 But you know, this drives about as well as everything else
05:11 it competes against.
05:12 In terms of fuel economy,
05:14 this car gets 25 miles per gallon combined
05:17 and the hybrid will net you 50 MPGe.
05:21 As far as safety goes,
05:24 we know that the Q5 had a five-star crash rating
05:27 from the NHTSA.
05:29 The Insurance Institute gives it all good marks.
05:31 And the Q5 comes loaded with tons of standard
05:34 active safety features, such as rear cross-traffic alert.
05:41 How much does a 2021 Audi Q5 cost?
05:45 Well, you can get into one for right around $44,000.
05:50 This blue baby next to me is the top tier Prestige trim
05:54 and that costs around $55,000.
05:57 Couple of things to point out.
05:58 You can actually get into an Audi A4
06:00 for just over $39,000.
06:02 And you can get into an Audi Allroad,
06:05 which is a wagon version of the A4,
06:07 but it has the ground clearance of the Q5
06:10 for the same price as the Q5.
06:12 As far as the German rivals go,
06:14 they're all priced almost identically,
06:16 the BMW and the Mercedes-Benz.
06:18 However, the Lexus NX costs a little bit less.
06:21 If there's one thing I want you to know
06:25 about the 2021 Audi Q5,
06:28 it's that there is a reason
06:30 why it's Audi's best-selling vehicle.
06:32 It's really good at being a premium SUV.
06:36 As I mentioned, this is a very crowded segment.
06:39 Aside from the other three competitors,
06:41 Alfa Romeo, Acura, Infiniti, Jaguar, Volvo,
06:44 everybody's getting in on this cash cow.
06:47 But what the Q5 brings to the table is its Audiness.
06:50 You know, you may not like the refresh, I certainly don't,
06:52 but it's a sharp-looking car.
06:54 Plus you have that engine,
06:56 plus you have that powertrain
06:57 with the quattro all-wheel drive system.
06:59 You have that premium interior.
07:01 It's really hard to argue against any of that.
07:03 In fact, you could just say it's really hard
07:07 to argue against the Audi Q5.
07:09 To see vehicle rankings and a complete buyer's guide,
07:13 please visit motortrend.com/cars.
07:17 [BLANK_AUDIO]