Audi Q5 Sportback Review & Prices

The Audi Q5 Sportback is the sporty-looking, coupe-SUV version of the Audi Q5 family SUV. That means you get a choice of smooth petrol and diesel engines and a tech-heavy interior, but it doesn’t feel all that posh inside and you lose space in the back compared to the regular Q5.

Much in the way you can buy some rather swanky furniture from Ikea, the Q5 Sportback looks the part and does exactly what you need it to. It never feels all that sturdy to the touch, though.

The Q5 Sportback has some rather compelling alternatives in the BMW X3, Mercedes GLC Coupe, Polestar 4 and the more affordable but just as stylish Renault Rafale.

But none of those cars have quite the same imposing looks as the Q5 Sportback, because Audi has managed to fit more grilles on its front end than you’ll find in a park on a summer’s day - especially on S-Line models. The roofline is suitably rakish, the sides have some nice curves and you get slim, pointy lights at the front and rear.

The interior isn’t quite as convincing, because while there’s a good underlying design, the dashboard is dominated by Audi’s latest generation infotainment system. There’s a two-in-one curved touchscreen and driver display combo - which looks great - while passengers get their own optional 10.9-inch display tacked on to the side - which is a bit of a gimmick.

If you don’t opt for the third screen, you get a block of plastic in its place. It’s awful to look at, quite frankly, and that sort of ‘it’ll do’ attitude seems aplenty in the Q5 Sportback’s cabin. While the seats are comfortable and the buttons on the dash feel nice, the door handles, lower dashboard, door cards and centre console all feel woefully scratchy for such an expensive car.

It’s a shame, because the previous generation Q5 Sportback had one of the most solid-feeling interiors of any SUV on sale, but at least there’s plenty of space up front with decent storage. Rear-seat passengers have lots of leg room, but headroom is at a premium and middle-seat passengers aren’t going to have a good time. The boot is a decent 515 litres, though the hybrid model’s boot is smaller.

You get a choice of two mild hybrid motors - petrol or diesel - which will be joined by a plug-in hybrid model. Both options are plenty quick enough for everyday use, and the Q5 Sportback is comfortable to drive around town - especially with the optional air suspension.

Motorways are a piece of cake, with a well-insulated cabin keeping wind and road noise away. Country lanes are stable, drama-free environments in the Q5 Sportback; not as fun to drive as a BMW X3, even in spicy SQ5 Sportback trim, but it’s a great car to take on comfy, long-distance road trips.

You can check out our new Audi Q5 Sportback deals, or Audi Q5 Sportback lease deals to get one of these comfortable family SUVs on your driveway. There are used Audi Q5 Sportbacks for sale too, or other used Audis for sale through our network of trusted dealers. Carwow can help you sell your current car too, when it's time to switch.

The Audi Q5 Sportback starts at a fraction under £54,000, placing it in between the cheaper BMW X3 and the more expensive Mercedes GLC Coupe.

Sport models are equipped with the intricate LED lights at the front and rear, 19-inch alloy wheels, adaptive cruise control, heated front seats and leatherette trim. S-Line models get much more aggressive bumpers, 20-inch wheels, sports suspension and a flat-top-and-bottom steering wheel.

You can opt for the top-of-the-range Edition 1 trim level, which builds on S-Line cars with enormous 21-inch wheels, matrix headlights which you can personalise the look of, 360-degree parking cameras and the passenger display in the cabin. The exterior trims are blacked-out too, but you’ll still have to pay a premium for the air suspension, which is a shame considering the Edition 1 is around £6,000 more than the Sport model.

The Q5 Sportback feels comfortable at home on the motorway or in town, but twisty roads aren’t much fun

In town

Around town the Audi Q5 Sportback is easier to drive than its size would lead you to believe. While its rounded corners and bonnet creases can make it tricky to place at times, its 360-degree parking sensors do take some of the stress out of parking in tight spaces.

It’s well worth opting for its 360-degree cameras though, because it shows you close-ups of the wheels and sides - super useful when parking, especially considering the poor rear visibility as a result of that sporty roof line and thick pillars.

Regular Q5 Sportbacks do a good job of smoothing out bumpy city roads, though not as well as cars equipped with the optional - and excellent - air suspension. The mild hybrid electric boost smooths out the lull in acceleration when changing gears, but the brake pedal takes a while to get used to, as it’s easy to come to an abrupt stop at low speeds.

On the motorway

Motorways are the Q5 Sportback’s forte, because it feels even more comfortable at high speeds than it does around town. There’s very little in the way of wind and tyre roar, and the cabin is well insulated from engine noise - even when accelerating.

Speaking of which, there’s plenty of shove from either engine option, which makes it easy to get up to the national speed limit or perform overtakes.

Overall, motorway driving is a stress-free experience in the Q5 Sportback, as its comfortable, supportive seats take the strain out of long journeys - as does the excellent active cruise control and the clear, easy to see blind-spot warning lights on the inside of the door mirrors.

On a twisty road

While there are sportier alternatives, the Q5 Sportback feels stable and planted on a twisty road thanks to its Quattro four-wheel drive system and wide, grippy tyres on all four corners. There’s little in the way of body lean, and the steering feels less numb than you might expect from such a tall, heavy car.

The big Audi is never quite as fun as the BMW X3 though, which feels markedly sportier than the Q5 Sportback when carving through corners on a country lane. You’re also conscious of the Q5’s size when carrying speed on a narrow, hedge-lined road.

Loads of space up front, but tall rear passengers can feel claustrophobic

Getting comfortable in the Q5 Sportback is a piece of cake up front, with loads of adjustment in the supportive seats and premium-feeling steering wheel. You get plenty of room too, but the Q5 could do with a few more storage solutions in the cabin.

There’s a deep cubby underneath the middle arm rest, but it’s neither very long nor wide, a pair of cup holders and a wireless phone charging pad in front of them. The door pockets are well sized but oddly shaped. You can fit big water bottles in with ease, but anything else in the door bins will either get in the way or pile on to the bottles.

Space in the back seats

Rear passengers get loads of legroom and foot space under the front seats, but it’s headroom where the Q5 Sportback disappoints. You don’t even need to be six-feet tall to feel your hair-do tickling the headliner, and the middle seat is even tighter.

With the middle seat of the bench being around an inch taller, and the rear light control panel being right above you, the middle passenger in the back will often turn the cabin lights on with their head.

There’s also a huge transmission tunnel hump in the floor, so three adults in the back will have to share the foot wells. Cosy.

The rear doors open very wide, making it easy to load in a child seat, but the door cards have the same awkwardly-shaped bins as in the front. You get a pair of cup holders in the well-sized flip-down arm rest, too.

Boot space

At 515 litres, the Q5 Sportback only loses out on five litres of cargo space compared to the Q5 SUV. That seems impressive, but the truth is none of the Q5 family has a particularly impressive luggage space, not when compared to the 545-litre Mercedes GLC Coupe and the 570-litre BMW X3.

Cars equipped with air suspension get a button to lower the rear, making it easier to lift in heavy items, while there are useful handles in the boot to fold the rear-seats away in addition to the ones by the seat bases. The Q5’s low roofline does get in the way if you’ve got particularly bulky items to carry, though.

A good looking interior is let down by overwhelming tech and flimsy build quality

The Q5 Sportback’s interior is near enough identical to the Q5 SUV, meaning you get a rather handsome dashboard layout with a curved, rounded dual-screen display housing the 11.9-inch driver display and 14.5-inch infotainment screen.

The graphics are crisp on both and the touchscreen is responsive to your inputs, but there are far too many menus and sub-menus to sort through - especially when trying to change the car’s settings. It’s a bit fiddly to use, and distracting when you’re on the move.

It's the optional third screen which isn’t as convincing as the main displays, because your passenger gets their own 10.9-inch touchscreen on their side of the dashboard in top-spec Edition 1 models. It’s just a bit pointless, really - more of a gimmick than a tool - because there’s nothing on the screen that can’t be controlled through the central infotainment display.

And in a cheeky move, Audi doesn’t have a second, clean dashboard option for two-screen models, instead replacing the passenger display with an ugly block of black plastic.

Plastic is the word of the day for the Q5 Sportback’s interior, because you’ll find a lot more nasty materials in the cabin than you ought to in a car that costs over £50,000. The lower dashboard, centre console, air vents and even the door handles feel cheap to the touch, which is a shame because the previous generation Q5 felt as though it was chiselled out of stone.

It’s not all doom and gloom, as the steering wheel and buttons on the dashboard feel suitably premium, but it’s all a bit overshadowed by the scratchier materials.

Audi has forgone physical buttons and switches for haptic window and steering wheel controls, which again not only feel less premium than in the previous Q5, but show more fingerprints than an episode of CSI Miami.

There are two 2.0-litre engine options for the Q5, a petrol and diesel, both with mild hybrid assistance, and both producing 204hp.

The diesel suits the car’s character better, not only offering more shove around town and a slightly brawnier feel, but returning a claimed 44mpg. Expect to see around 40mpg in the real world. The petrol Q5 is 0.2s faster to 62mph than the diesel, and it costs around £1,600 less than the diesel model too, though you’ll struggle to see more than 32mpg in day-to-day use.

Audi is developing a plug-in hybrid Q5, but until that lands the Q5 Sportback is a rather expensive option to tax. Every version is subject to the luxury car supplement from years two to six, as well as a hefty first-year tax, and sits in one of the highest bands of Benefit in Kind tax for company car buyers.

The Audi Q5 Sportback shares its Euro NCAP score with that Q5 SUV, meaning it has a full five-star safety rating from its testing in 2025. Its child occupant safety scored the highest at 86%, with adult occupant safety closely behind at 85%.

All Q5 Sportbacks come with a trio of ISOFIX child seat anchor points, including one up front which is handy for a solo-parent travelling with a young child. A suite of driver assistance tech comes as standard, and can be controlled via a dedicated menu.

Audi came 19th out of 31 manufacturers entered into the 2025 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, and while that’s not hugely confidence inspiring, it is a huge improvement over their 27th place finish in 2024.

You get a typical three-year/60,000-mile warranty with a new Q5 Sportback, though you can extend it up to five years/90,000 miles as part of the car’s options.