2025 Audi Q5

The all-new third-generation 2025 Q5 launched in May 2025 on the PPC platform with a 2.0L TFSI four rated 268 hp across Premium, Premium Plus and Prestige; the SQ5's 3.0T V6 tops the range at 362 hp.

The volume 2.0T makes 295 lb-ft, up from the 273 lb-ft of the outgoing second-generation 45 TFSI that was still on sale early in the 2025 model year.

Audi quotes 5.8 s to 60 mph for the 2.0T quattro and Car and Driver's instrumented run matched it; quick for a compact luxury SUV but short of the segment's performance variants.

The 2.0T is quiet and relaxed at cruise, but reviewers consistently flag turbo lag off the line — power delivery is subtle enough that hard throttle is needed to wake the turbo, and there is a perceptible pause before thrust arrives.

The 7-speed S tronic dual-clutch is well tuned at speed — reviewers describe smooth, torque-converter-like upshifts — but low-speed driveability remains the weak point, with creep-speed hesitation and paddle inputs answered on a delay.

Audi rates the 2.0T Q5 at 4,400 lbs with the factory hitch — the same figure carried by the previous generation and typical for the compact luxury SUV class, well short of the body-on-frame SUVs at the top of the segment band.

Quattro all-wheel drive is standard on every US Q5 trim for 2025 — there is no front-drive variant — and Audi drive select adds an offroad mode that retunes throttle, shift points and stability control for low-traction surfaces.

A pavement-focused luxury crossover: roughly 8 in of ground clearance (about 200 mm), no low range, no locking differentials, no skid plates and no off-road trim. The offroad drive mode and the Prestige's adaptive air suspension raise ride height and add hill descent assist, which covers gravel and snow but not much more.

Three distinct powertrains were on sale under the Q5 nameplate in the 2025 model year: the new 2.0T four (268 hp), the SQ5's 3.0T V6 (362 hp), and the Q5 55 TFSI e plug-in hybrid (362 hp combined, EPA 23 mi electric). Good breadth including an electrified option, though the PHEV was still the outgoing generation's car.

EPA rates the all-new 2025 Q5 2.0T quattro at 25 MPG combined. Mid-pack among gas compact SUVs and clearly behind the hybridized luxury rivals (Lexus NX 350h, Mercedes GLC) that dominate this subject.

22 MPG city from EPA. The US-market third-generation Q5 does not get the 48V MHEV plus system Europe receives, so there is no electric assist to lift the stop-and-go figure.

30 MPG highway is the Q5's strongest economy figure and a gain over the outgoing generation's 28–29, helped by the PPC platform's aerodynamics and the tall 7th gear of the S tronic.

A 17.2-gallon tank at the EPA's 25 MPG combined works out to roughly 430 miles between fills — respectable but unremarkable, since the redesign carries a smaller tank than the previous generation's 18.5 gallons.

The EPA's own annual cost estimate is $3,050 — near the expensive end of the SUV band, driven by the combination of 25 MPG combined and a premium-fuel requirement.

Premium unleaded (91 octane) is specified for the 2.0T TFSI to make its rated output and EPA figures, with no regular-fuel, flex-fuel or plug-in option on this powertrain — a standing cost penalty versus mainstream rivals.

NHTSA rates the 2025 Q5 SUV AWD five stars overall, with five stars in every frontal and side measure including the side pole test; only rollover falls short at four stars (16.4% calculated risk, no tip in the dynamic test).

The all-new PPC-platform Q5 earned the 2025 IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK+ — the highest award — on Good results in the small overlap front, updated moderate overlap front and updated side tests. Two things keep it out of the top few points: headlights rate only Acceptable rather than Good, and the award is build-date restricted to cars produced after July 2025, so an early-build 2025 Q5 (or the outgoing second-generation car sold alongside it as a 2025 model, which rates Marginal in the updated moderate overlap test) does not carry it.

The base Premium carries the whole core set: Active Front Assist (AEB bundling front emergency braking, evasion assist, turn assist and front cross-traffic assist), traffic-sign-based adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, Audi side assist blind-spot warning, rear cross-traffic assist, Rear Turn Assist, Park Assist plus and rear parking sensors with distance display. Only lane centering (adaptive cruise assist), the top-view camera and the head-up display sit behind Premium Plus and Prestige.

IIHS rates the redesigned Q5's pedestrian front crash prevention Good, day and night, with the system standard — a full letter grade better than the outgoing car, which was Marginal and took no credit in the nighttime evaluation, and it is what lifts this Q5 from the lower-tier award to TSP+. Short of the ceiling only because the vehicle-to-vehicle side of the system has no separate published result under the current protocol.

Audi side assist and rear cross-traffic assist are standard on every trim, and unlike the old car this generation adds genuinely active intervention — Rear Turn Assist brakes for oncoming traffic when turning across a lane, and front cross-traffic assist is folded into Active Front Assist. The 360-degree top-view camera that would complete the picture is still a Premium Plus item.

Lane departure warning is standard and reviewers report the assist tracks the middle of the lane cleanly rather than ping-ponging — a real step up from the previous generation, whose centering only worked below about 40 mph in traffic jam assist. It is held back by packaging: sustained lane centering comes with adaptive cruise assist, which is a Premium Plus/Prestige item rather than base equipment.

Traffic-sign-based adaptive cruise control is standard on every trim and works through the full speed range down to a stop, and stepping up to adaptive cruise assist turns it into a combined highway-assist system that holds speed, gap and lane together at city and highway speeds. Well integrated and smoothly calibrated; the ceiling is that the full highway-assist behavior is an extra-cost item on the volume trim.

No hands-free highway driving is offered on any 2025 Q5 trim or option package — nothing equivalent to Ford BlueCruise, GM Super Cruise or BMW Highway Assistant. Adaptive cruise assist is explicitly a hands-on system requiring the driver to keep hold of the wheel.

IIHS rates the redesigned Q5's headlights Acceptable — and only after Audi changed its factory aiming process mid-year, which is what let the car qualify for the award at all. No trim, including Prestige with the available Matrix-design LED units, earns a Good rating in the current listing, so lighting is the weakest link in an otherwise top-award safety record.

The redesign keeps the upright greenhouse and commanding seating position that made the old Q5 easy to place, and reviewers single out improved outward visibility as one of the new car's gains — helped by standard rear parking sensors, Park Assist plus and a rearview camera. The surround-view top camera that would compensate for what remains is optional rather than standard.

Two full sets of LATCH connectors at the rear outboard positions plus a tether anchor for the middle seat, anchors reviewers describe as easy to find, wide rear door openings and a reclining second row make this an easy SUV to install seats in. Short of the top band because it is a compact two-row cabin — three across is a squeeze, and a rear-facing seat still costs the front passenger legroom.

The third-generation Q5 is a strictly two-row, five-seat compact luxury SUV — no third row is offered on the SUV or Sportback body, which puts it at the bottom of the 4–8 seat SUV band.

US-published front headroom for the redesigned PPC-platform Q5 is 38.2 in — noticeably tighter on paper than the 39.6 in of the second-generation car the aggregators still list under the same 2025 model year, because the new body sits on a lower roofline.

Front legroom is 40.9 in, carried over almost exactly from the previous generation and near the bottom of the 40–44.5 in SUV band — the Q5's front row is comfortable but not generous by the numbers.

Rear headroom of 37.8 in sits mid-band for SUVs; adults up to roughly six feet clear the headliner, though the standard-fit panoramic roof option eats into it further.

38.0 in of rear legroom is genuinely good for the compact luxury class, and the new Q5's fore-aft sliding, reclining rear bench lets occupants trade legroom against cargo — a feature CarBuzz notes rivals do not offer.

There is no third row on any 2025 Q5 trim or body style — buyers needing seven seats are pushed up to the Q7. Scored in the low band as the framework requires rather than omitted.

27.6 cu ft behind the rear seats is a real gain on the second-generation Q5's 25.9 cu ft, but it still sits just above the floor of the 25–80 cu ft SUV band — this is a small hold measured against SUVs generally, even if it is competitive within the compact luxury class.

Maximum cargo of 56.9 cu ft with the 40/20/40 bench folded barely clears the 55 cu ft floor of the SUV band — the redesign added about three cubic feet over the old car but the Q5 remains a small-box SUV in absolute terms.

Competent everyday storage without a signature idea: a covered console bin with the standard 15W wireless charging pad, usable door bins, underfloor cargo stowage and a 40/20/40 bench that folds near-flat with a load-through pass. There is no household outlet, frunk or in-cabin storage innovation of the kind that earns a top-band score.

Front seats are a consistent strength — heated leather sport seats are standard, ventilation arrives on Premium Plus, and reviewers describe them as well-shaped and supportive over long stints; the sliding, reclining rear bench is a genuine comfort advantage over rivals with fixed backrests.

Reviewers split on the volume configuration: the Prestige's adaptive air suspension is praised as softer than rivals and compliant even on 20-inch run-flats, but the steel-sprung Premium/Premium Plus that most buyers take rides firmer than the outgoing car, and J.D. Power flags the 20-inch wheels transmitting pothole thumps.

One of the redesign's clearest wins: acoustic windshield glazing is standard (acoustic front side glass on Prestige) and reviewers describe conversation-at-a-whisper quiet at highway speeds with no wind roar and no rattles.

Comfort equipment is rich and starts early: heated front seats and three-zone automatic climate are standard, Premium Plus adds a heated steering wheel with hands-on detection and ventilated seats, and remote climate pre-conditioning runs through the myAudi app. The knock is that climate adjustment lives in the touchscreen rather than on physical controls.

The 2025 model year is split: the all-new third-generation Q5 arrived mid-year alongside the outgoing second-gen car, and the registry places 2025 in the generation beginning 2025, so the third-gen ladder is the one scored. Its entry Premium trim lists at $52,200 plus $1,295 destination.

Premium Plus is Audi's habitual volume trim, adding ventilated seats, panoramic roof and Bang & Olufsen content over Premium; all third-gen Q5s use the single 268-hp 2.0T quattro powertrain, so trim is the only price variable.

The two mainstream estimators disagree materially, so the figure is a midpoint between them; Audi dealer labor rates and premium-fuel-spec 2.0T service intervals keep the Q5 above mainstream-SUV maintenance costs even though it is cheap by luxury-German standards.

Luxury compact SUV depreciation is steep and the Q5 tracks slightly worse than its class average; the estimate blends transaction-based and modeled residuals, discounted a little because heavy closeout incentives on the split-generation 2025 model year depress residuals further.

Audi's 4-year/50,000-mile new-vehicle limited warranty is a year longer than the German norm but well short of Genesis (5/60) and the mainstream Korean brands.

Audi does not publish a powertrain warranty that outlasts the bumper-to-bumper term, so the 2.0T and quattro driveline are covered only for the same 4 years/50,000 miles — below the 5-year floor of the segment band and a genuine weak point against Genesis (10/100) or Mercedes' equal-length but higher-mileage terms.

Audi includes 4 years of 24-hour roadside assistance and an Audi connect PLUS trial with the new third-gen infotainment, but it offers no complimentary scheduled maintenance at all in the US — scheduled service is a prepaid Audi Care plan costing roughly $699–$1,179. That is 'basic roadside only' territory, well behind BMW's and Genesis' included service and behind Jaguar/Volvo-style packages.

$57,995 volume-trim price minus its estimated resale value after 5 years (44% retained, or about $25,518) leaves about $32,477 in depreciation. Add the projected $6,200 in 5-year maintenance and repairs, and owning this vehicle for 5 years costs about $38,677 in total.

2025 is the launch year of an all-new Q5 — new PPC platform, new EA888 evo5 2.0T, new E3 electronics architecture — and every predictive signal lands below average. Consumer Reports states outright that its prediction is below the average new car and says the prediction is built "on data from the 2025 model and Audi's brand score." The owner record backs it rather than contradicting it: 41 NHTSA complaints inside roughly eighteen months on sale, more than the mature 2023 car accumulated in three years, and concentrated in exactly the systems a first-year electrical architecture would be expected to break — 22 forward-collision-avoidance, 18 electrical system, 6 lane departure. Several are not annoyances but drivability failures (all displays blank at 108 miles with no speedometer or fuel gauge; a car dropping to 40 mph with every warning light lit). Scored below the 2023 car's 46 rather than alongside it because a redesign this complete removes the one thing that was carrying the old Q5 — a settled, iterated platform.

Audi's multi-year dependability standing is bottom-third and only slowly mending: 273 PP100 in the 2025 VDS, 244 PP100 in the 2026 VDS against a 204 industry average — 27th of 31 brands, with only Jeep, Land Rover, Volvo and parent Volkswagen behind it. Initial quality tells the same story with the same shallow recovery: last of all brands at 269 PP100 in the 2025 IQS, improving to 225 against a 175 average in 2026. Held above the failing band because Consumer Reports reads the brand far more kindly than J.D. Power does — 13th, mid-pack, and second of the three German luxury brands — so the two major sources disagree rather than agreeing on "bad," and because both J.D. Power studies now point the right way. This is a brand property, so it is scored the same as the equivalent item on other Audi model years.

The formal recall record is genuinely light — one NHTSA campaign against the 2025 Q5, versus five against the 2023 car — and while a seat-belt defect is a serious consequence, 26V266000 is a supplier manufacturing fault with a straightforward replace remedy and no stop-drive order, not a design or powertrain failure. Notably, the cylinder-head-cover fastener campaign with the fire consequence that hit the 2022–2024 cars does not reach this generation. What keeps it mid-band rather than higher is the service-bulletin side of the item, which is where this car's problems actually live: dealers are working through MMI and Virtual Cockpit lockups with a KD2 software update, owners describe repeat visits and multiple software reflashes that did not clear the fault, and the 41-complaint log is dominated by driver-assistance and electrical faults that have not yet produced a campaign. Read the low recall count with its age caveat — a car on sale since mid-2025 has had far less time to accumulate campaigns than a three-year-old one.

The base ingredient is sound and the packaging is not yet proven. The 2.0L TFSI is an EA888 — a family in continuous VW Group production since 2008 whose later revisions resolved the early oil-consumption and timing-chain failures — but the 268 hp / 295 lb-ft unit in this car is the evo5 revision, new for the PPC-platform cars in 2025, so there is no high-mileage fleet behind this exact specification. Behind it sits a seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch rather than a torque-converter automatic, which carries the usual mechatronic and clutch-pack failure modes plus a fluid service the owner cannot skip, and reviewers already flag low-speed lurching from it on brand-new cars. Held to the middle band rather than lower because nothing in the complaint record points at a systemic driveline defect — only 5 engine and 3 power-train complaints out of 41, against 22 for driver assistance — so the risk here is unproven-newness, not a known bad engine.

The clearest win in the category and a real step up on the outgoing car: reviewers put the redesigned cabin's materials above the BMW X3's and level with the Mercedes-Benz GLC's, praising soft-touch surfaces, genuine hardware and natural wood inlays, with the lighter Pearl Beige treatment reading as lounge-like rather than austere. Kept below the top band for one consistent and specific complaint — piano-black plastic used across the center console, the screen bezels and the driver's-door switch panel, a finish that scratches and fingerprints and that rivals are moving away from at this price.

Static assembly reads well — the same reviews that praise the materials describe tight, well-executed panel fit — but this item also asks about initial-quality reports, and that is where a launch-year Audi is measured hardest and does worst. Audi finished last of all brands in the J.D. Power study covering 2025 model-year vehicles, at 269 PP100 against a 192 average, and J.D. Power's IQS counts software and infotainment faults as quality problems precisely because owners experience them that way. The complaint log matches: what fails on these cars is overwhelmingly things that were built, wired or flashed rather than designed wrong — displays going dark at 108 miles, airbag and driver-assist warnings appearing at random and surviving repeated reflashes, computers that will not retain settings. Consumer Reports also lists body hardware, paint/trim and noise-and-leaks among the predicted trouble spots. Not lower because none of this is misaligned bodywork or the gross assembly failure the bottom band describes.

Roughly 310 US Audi dealers across 49 states is adequate national coverage but visibly thinner than BMW's (~350) or Mercedes-Benz's (~380), leaving real gaps outside metro areas, and J.D. Power places Audi's dealership experience mid-pack among premium brands rather than with Lexus and Porsche. Marked a notch below the equivalent item on older Q5 years because the launch of the PPC/E3 cars has strained the service side specifically: the faults this generation throws are software diagnoses that owners repeatedly report taking multiple visits and multiple reflashes to clear, and dealer-side accounts describe heavy customer dissatisfaction with the new-platform cars. Network density is a brand property; the service-experience half of the item is what moved.

Long-run parts supply should be fine — the Q5 is Audi's US volume model and the EA888 engine family is shared across the VW Group — but almost none of that maturity is available yet on a first-year PPC-platform car. The body, electrical architecture and display hardware are all new and share little with the MLB Evo parts bin the European specialist aftermarket (FCP Euro, ECS Tuning) has spent seven years stocking, so the modules that generate this car's faults are dealer-only in practice as well as in warranty. Cost is the other half and it is worse than segment-normal rather than merely luxury-normal: RepairPal puts Q5 upkeep above the luxury-midsize-SUV average with double the segment's rate of unscheduled shop visits, European dealer labor rates apply, and Audi's 4-year/50,000-mile warranty carries no separate powertrain term and expires before the fifth year. Scored below the mature second-generation car for the aftermarket-depth reason, not the cost one.

Every third-generation Q5 gets the 14.5-inch curved OLED MMI touch display as part of the standard 'Digital Stage' panoramic panel — near the top of the 7–15.5 in SUV band, and a huge jump from the 10.1-inch screen of the outgoing car.

The new Android Automotive-based MMI is fast and reviewers call it easy to use and responsive, with an Audi App Store on board — but it takes the physical climate controls with it, and the virtual cockpit cannot display Google Maps, both of which reviewers flag as everyday irritations.

Wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto are standard on every 2025 Q5 trim including the base Premium, with no wired-only tier and no subscription gate.

The E3-architecture MMI pairs a natural-language Audi assistant with cloud-connected native navigation carrying Google Earth and Street View imagery and predictive route data delivered over the air — capable enough that owners have a reason not to default to phone projection.

The available Bang & Olufsen Premium Sound System is a genuine 685-watt, 16-speaker 3D setup with Symphoria processing and vehicle noise compensation, and it is standard from the volume Premium Plus trim rather than reserved for the top car.

An 11.9-inch OLED Audi virtual cockpit is standard on every trim, fully configurable and integrated into the curved panoramic display — among the best digital clusters in the segment. Only the inability to mirror Google Maps into it keeps it off a perfect score.

The Q5 is one of the first combustion Audis on the E3 1.2 architecture, whose five high-performance computers were designed for whole-vehicle over-the-air updates — not just maps — with functions and features added after delivery without a dealer visit. Points held back because the US feature-delivery record on this architecture is still short.

myAudi covers the expected ground — remote lock/unlock, climate pre-conditioning, vehicle locate, status and send-to-car navigation — and the Audi digital key (Apple Wallet car key and Android) is standard on the 2025 Q5 with no Audi connect subscription needed. The wider connected-services set reverts to a paid Audi connect plan once the included trial lapses.

Two USB-C ports front and two rear are standard with 15W wireless charging in the console, and an optional higher-output package raises them to 60W front and 200W combined rear — but there is no household AC outlet or vehicle-to-load capability anywhere in the range.

Proximity entry and push-button start are standard, and the Q5 goes further than most of the class by making the Audi digital key — phone-as-key via Apple Wallet or Android, working from a pocket on UWB handsets — available at no subscription cost. A power liftgate is standard with hands-free gesture opening on higher trims.

Rear parking aid with distance display and Park Assist plus are standard on the base Premium, and the top-view 360-degree camera system is standard from the volume Premium Plus trim upward rather than being a top-trim-only feature.

A configurable head-up display projecting a roughly 7 x 3 inch image — Audi claims an 85% larger viewing angle than the previous generation — is standard equipment on the volume Premium Plus trim, which is exactly the availability the top scoring band asks for. It is not offered on the base Premium.

Family logistics are handled well: wide, squared rear door openings, two full LATCH sets at the outboard positions plus a middle tether, and a rear bench that slides and reclines so a rear-facing seat can be given room without evicting the front passenger. The limit is cargo — 27.6 cu ft behind the second row is enough for a stroller and a grocery run but not both plus a week's gear.

The safety proposition is strong on the trims families actually buy: NHTSA five stars overall, a 2025 IIHS Top Safety Pick+, and Active Front Assist, traffic-sign-based adaptive cruise, side assist and rear cross-traffic assist all standard on the base Premium. Acceptable-rated headlights and the absence of any hands-free highway system are the gaps.

Well set up for a long drive with four aboard: three-zone climate and two rear USB-C ports standard, 38 in of rear legroom on a bench that reclines, a quiet acoustically glazed cabin and a Bang & Olufsen system from Premium Plus. Luggage space with all five seats occupied is the constraint, and there is no rear-seat entertainment provision.

Relaxed and quiet at cruise with standard adaptive cruise and good outward visibility, but the commute is where this powertrain is weakest — reviewers repeatedly describe a hesitation at tip-in as the seven-speed dual-clutch drops a gear and the turbo spools, and Consumer Reports says the DCT degrades low-speed driveability outright.

Expensive to commute in by any measure: 22 MPG city and 25 MPG combined on required premium fuel, which the EPA converts to roughly $3,050 a year at 15,000 miles. The US car gets no 48V mild-hybrid assist and there is no hybrid version of this generation yet, so there is nothing to soften the stop-and-go figure.

Compact enough for city duty at 185.7 in long with a 38.8 ft turning circle, and the camera support is better than most — Park Assist plus and rear distance display standard, top-view 360 camera from Premium Plus. It is slightly longer than the previous car and the class's smallest rivals, so tight garages take more care.

Light-duty at best. The 4,400 lb tow rating with the factory package is respectable for a compact luxury crossover and beats most electric rivals, but 27.6 cu ft of cargo, no bed, no payload headroom worth quoting and a 268 hp four-cylinder make this a weekend-trailer vehicle rather than a work tool.

A luxury crossover in its launch year on an all-new platform, engine revision and electronics architecture, from a brand sitting in the bottom third of long-term dependability — none of which is what you want under hard use. Leather-and-Dinamica interiors have no wear-friendly work alternative, and there is no fleet or commercial program behind it.

Almost no work-oriented provision: cargo tie-downs, a 12V socket and roof rails rated for about 165 lbs, and that is the list. There is no 120V household outlet or vehicle-to-load, no washable interior option, no bed and no Audi upfitter ecosystem — accessories are lifestyle racks and boxes rather than work equipment.

This is what the Q5 is best at. Roughly 430 miles between fills at 30 MPG highway, standard acoustic glazing and a cabin reviewers call whisper-quiet, supportive heated and ventilated sport seats, and traffic-sign-based adaptive cruise standard with full adaptive cruise assist lane centering available. No hands-free system is the one thing missing at this price.

Better equipped for the trailhead than most compact luxury crossovers because quattro all-wheel drive is standard on every trim — no front-drive variant exists — and Audi drive select includes an offroad mode with hill descent assist that raises ride height on air-suspension cars. But ground clearance is around eight inches, there is no low range, no locker, no skid plating and no off-road trim, so this is a gravel-road and ski-hill vehicle, not a trail one.

Flexible for its size: a 40/20/40 bench that slides, reclines and folds near-flat opens 56.9 cu ft with a ski pass-through for long items, roof rails take a box or bikes, and a factory hitch is available. The absolute volume is the ceiling — bulky camping gear for four is a squeeze compared with a mid-size SUV.

The PPC platform's revised front suspension is the redesign's clearest dynamic gain — reviewers call this the best-handling Q5 yet, with markedly more front-end grip and body control that stays composed even in the softer air-suspension settings. It is still tuned for composure rather than the sharpness of an X3 or Macan.

A genuine improvement on the historically anaesthetised Audi rack: reviewers describe the new Q5's steering as delivering feedback and precision comparable to its German rivals. It remains light on center and short of a true feel benchmark, but it is no longer the weak point it was.

Brakes draw no complaints from first-drive reviewers — pedal response is firm and progressive with no fade noted on mountain routes — but there are no published instrumented stopping distances for the redesigned car to confirm a top-band result, and this is a conventional hydraulic system with no regen blending to get wrong.

The weakest link in an otherwise polished car. Once rolling the 268 hp 2.0T is smooth and the seven-speed S tronic shifts almost like a torque converter, but tip-in from low speed brings a perceptible pause while the transmission drops a gear and the turbo spools — a criticism that recurs across reviews, though some testers report no lurching at all.

The 2.0T is well isolated and inoffensive — quiet at cruise inside a cabin with standard acoustic glazing, with no coarseness or drone reported. It simply has no character to it; the good noise in this family belongs to the SQ5's V6, which reviewers call the best-sounding engine in its class.

A 38.8 ft curb-to-curb circle is mid-pack in the 34–42 ft SUV band — workable in a parking structure but nothing like the tight-turning EV crossovers with rear-motor packaging.

The upright greenhouse and commanding seating position survive the redesign and reviewers single out improved outward visibility as one of the new car's gains, with wide seat and wheel adjustment and a standard head-up display from Premium Plus keeping eyes forward. The demerit is that climate control moved into the touchscreen with no physical backup.

Pleasant rather than memorable. The chassis is the best a Q5 has had and the steering finally talks a little, but a muted four-cylinder, a comfort-first tune and a transmission that hesitates in the moments that matter mean nobody takes the long way home in one — that is the SQ5's job.

The third-gen Q5's entry Premium trim is well kitted for a German luxury base car — standard quattro AWD, the 11.9-inch Virtual Cockpit plus 14.5-inch MMI curved display on Android Automotive, head-up display, top-view camera, adaptive cruise, leather, heated front seats, heated steering wheel, tri-zone climate and wireless charging. It falls short of loaded because the panoramic roof is a $1,450 option and ventilated seats and the B&O audio require moving up trims, whereas a Genesis GV70 includes most of that at base.

At $53,495 to start and $57,995 for the volume Premium Plus, the third-gen Q5 asks roughly $7,000 more than the second-gen car it replaced while delivering one 268-hp powertrain and 22/30/25 mpg — competitive content, but the Genesis GV70 undercuts it with more standard equipment and far longer warranty coverage, and the 4-year/50,000-mile powertrain term and prepaid-only maintenance erode the ownership side of the value case. Fair rather than a bargain.

Three well-spaced trims (Premium / Premium Plus / Prestige) each available with S line appearance content and in SUV or Sportback bodies, with the SQ5 above — decent choice on equipment and shape. But the redesign collapsed the powertrain menu to a single 268-hp 2.0T quattro, dropping the 201-hp 40 TFSI base engine and, at US launch, the 55 TFSI e plug-in hybrid that the outgoing generation offered, so there is no budget entry point and no electrified option.

The Q5 is comfortably Audi's best-selling US model and roughly a quarter of the brand's volume, which is real market acceptance — but 2025 volume fell 19% even in a redesign year, against a brand down 16%, and the Lexus NX and BMW X3 outsell it in the segment. A steady, important seller with a declining trajectory rather than a riser.

Audi remains a genuinely aspirational German premium badge with strong design equity and a loyal quattro following, and the Q5 has been the brand's volume anchor for two generations. It sits a half-step behind BMW and Mercedes-Benz in US prestige and residual support, and a broad brand sales decline has taken some shine off, which keeps it below the top band.

Scored for buyer benefit: the Q5 is readily discounted and supported with factory cash and subsidized finance and lease programs, and the split 2025 model year left both generations' inventory competing, which widened discounts further. It stops short of the top band because the deals reflect a soft sales year rather than routine everyday generosity.

This is the launch year of the third-generation Q5 (arriving mid-2025 on the new PPC platform with Audi's E3 electronics architecture), so a 2025 third-gen buyer is at the very start of the cycle with essentially zero redesign risk. It is marked down slightly only because the mid-year changeover means the very same model year is also sold as the outgoing second-generation car, which complicates the used and residual picture.

Reviewers rate the new Q5 highly on cabin quality, refinement and the new display/infotainment suite, and it earned IIHS Top Safety Pick+ — but it is consistently reviewed as a strong contender rather than the class pick, with the Genesis GV70 and the latest BMW X3 taking the top spots in comparisons and rankings. Well-reviewed, rarely the winner.