Road Trip: A quick look at the Audi Q5

With the South Coast of NSW suffering in the wake of recent bushfires, we made the decision as a family to take a road trip to spend some money in the local areas hit hard by the tourism downturn.

So rather than fly to the Gold Coast as I had planned, we jumped in the car and headed down the coast.

The chosen drive for the trip was an Audi Q5 – frankly, I was worried it would be too small for a five-person family with enough gear for four days away plus beach visits.

As it turned out – it was just right. Not quite full to overflowing, but it was a fair game of Tetris both times I had to pack it.

The space in the back didn’t cramp the kids, but it had them close enough together to niggle at each other – though I don’t think anything bigger would have made much difference.

Triple Zone climate control gave the kids access to air of their own choice, while up front I could switch the whole car to sync if things got testy around what temp to choose.

On the highways we averaged in the low 8’s for fuel economy, while in the shorter stints it pushed the high 9’s. It only required a single fill up for the whole trip though which was great.

Up front we had Apple CarPlay to keep us entertained and keep my hands on the wheel when messages came through, and overall the fit and finish here is really top notch – despite this being a very low spec variant with a lower grade door trim for example.

Driving was a breeze, smooth acceleration and power when needed, plus excellent radar cruise control, lane guidance and a simple head-up display gave me all I needed on the road.

It’s silly but a couple of times I hit the next track button on the steering wheel by accident because it’s on the lower side of the wheel arm – and the constant reminder that my “Mobile Phone is still in the vehicle” because it was Bluetooth connected did become a bit of a running gag, given it was always in my pocket – unless I had it down on the wireless charger.

At roughly $70,000 – it’s out of my price range, but considering plenty of small to mid-sized euro sedans are at around that price – the cost of sitting higher and having the extra boot space seem quite appealing to me.

A great vehicle on the road, and a stunner too. Highly recommend it for a test drive if this is in your search range for size and price.