Audi SQ5 Review & Prices

The Audi SQ5 is the high performance version of the Q5 family SUV. It’s properly quick, has an interior loaded with tech and is very practical, but it’s not as fun to drive as a sporty model should be, and the interior quality isn’t up to par with its alternatives.

And there really are some capable, fast and luxurious alternatives in the BMW X3 M50i and Mercedes GLC 43 AMG. You can choose from some speedy, electric alternatives too, such as the Porsche Macan Electric, Polestar 4 and the Tesla Model Y Performance. The Audi SQ5 Sportback is an option too, if you prefer a coupe-SUV silhouette.

Think of the SQ5 as Baloo the bear in running shoes. It may look big and imposing, but it’s actually family friendly and - in this case - rather sporty.

It’s got a lot of road presence, even if the styling is a bit more ambiguous than Audis of old. The front end is dominated by the SQ5’s enormous grilles, which make the aggressive headlights look even slimmer and pointier than they already are. The back of the car is less bulbous, and the OLED light bar is a posh touch. Four large exhausts mark the SQ5 out from the normal car.

The interior is a tech-fest, with a dashboard dominated by an enormous triple-screen setup. The curved 14.5-inch infotainment and 11.9-inch driver display combo looks neat, but the 10.9-inch passenger display is a bit of a gimmick, and looks like an afterthought.

Audi has taken a step back in terms of usability with this new generation of infotainment too, because there are far too many menus and sub menus to navigate. It’s a bit of a faff, to be honest.

You get a pair of supremely comfortable heated and ventilated sports seats in the front, with loads of adjustability and colour-matched Alcantara trimming around the cabin. Unfortunately, the door handles, leading edge of the lower dashboard and centre console are all made from nasty-feeling plastic, spoiling the otherwise premium feel.

There’s plenty of space in the back, and you’ll easily be able to fit four six-footers in the SQ5. That being said, middle-seat passengers have a big hump in the floor to contend with, and the boot is smaller than that of the BMW X3 and Mercedes GLC.

It’s comfortable around town, because the SQ5’s air suspension does a fantastic job of soaking up potholes, speed bumps and rough roads. You get a suite of excellent 360-degree cameras which go so far as to show you a close-up of individual wheels while manoeuvring, which takes some of the strain out of parking.

Motorways are even more comfortable, and the SQ5 makes for a consummate cruiser. There’s minimal wind noise, and enough shove to never worry about overtakes or getting up to speed. The same goes for country lanes, because while its rapid acceleration will make you smile, its size can be disconcerting on a narrow lane.

It makes for a posh, comfortable and quick family car, and you can check out new Audi SQ5 deals on Carwow, or Audi SQ5 lease deals instead. There are used Audi SQ5s - as well as other used Audis - available through our network of trusted dealers, and Carwow can even help you sell your car when you decide to switch.

The Audi SQ5 is a good chunk more expensive than the plain-Jane Q5 models, especially as you can only opt for a bells-and-whistles-equipped Edition 1 version at the moment which starts at over £76,000.

That’s about the same as the Mercedes GLC 43 AMG, but the BMW X3 M50i is around £6,000 less than either of them - and it’s more fun to drive.

The SQ5 in Edition 1 spec does come equipped with plenty of kit as standard though, such as 21-inch alloy wheels, Matrix LED headlights, 360-degree parking cameras, privacy glass and heated and ventilated front seats. You also get one of the best active cruise control systems in the business.

The Audi SQ5 is faster than an SUV has any need to be, while remaining very comfortable, but it’s not as fun to drive as some alternatives

In town

You’d be forgiven for thinking that an SUV of this size is an unwieldy beast around town, but that’s not the case in the SQ5. Its air suspension positively flattens rough road surfaces, though being a sport model you do get bounced around a touch on large speed bumps. It never feels uncomfortable though.

A high seating position and slender rear-view mirror help with forward visibility, while the low window line and big rear window mean parking the SQ5 is easy. The 360-degree camera system can even show you how close an individual wheel is getting to a curb with proper clarity. Handy, given the SQ5 comes on a set of blingy 21-inch alloys.

The only gripe with the SQ5’s performance around town is that it can be tricky to set off from the lights smoothly, as the mild hybrid system sets off sluggishly. You’re then inclined to prod the throttle, waking up the powerful engine and jerking yourself back into the seat.

On the motorway

The Audi SQ5 feels right at home on the motorway, especially with the air suspension set in comfort mode where dips and ruts at high speed are barely felt. You’re very well insulated from wind noise, but the enormous wheels and tyre combo does drone a little through the cabin.

You get a beefy engine under the SQ5’s bonnet - a 365hp, 3.0-litre turbocharged V6 - paired to a seven-speed automatic gearbox which is quick to change through the gears when pressing on.

Audi’s lane-keeping active cruise control is a peach, and it makes steady motorway progress a piece of cake. It feels laser precise, keeping you centred in your lane well without the worry-inducing side-to-side weaving that you get in some alternatives.

On a twisty road

While it’s such a comfortable and docile cruiser around town, flicking the big Audi into sports mode makes it a much harder-edged vehicle. The steering becomes heavier, feeling responsive and precise without being a chore to turn and giving you confidence in how much the SQ5’s front wheels have.

And in between corners, that V6 engine has enough shove to really pin you back in your seat - should you be liberal with your right foot. The brakes are mightily powerful, and confidence-inspiring as a result.

It’s just a shame that the SQ5 is so wide and heavy, because it really feels it when you’re travelling at the national speed limit on a narrow country lane with blind corners. It’s hard to place the SQ5 because of its rounded bonnet, and in sports mode the air suspension can struggle to keep up in bumpy corners, unsettling your stomach at times.

You get plenty of passenger space in the SQ5, but the back is tight for three adults and alternatives have bigger boots

The SQ5 comes with a superb pair of front seats. They’re comfy, supportive and highly adjustable making it easy to get comfortable - even for the tallest of drivers, because the seats go very far back. There’s a handy phone charging pad under the dashboard, and a pair of cupholders behind it.

There’s plenty of space up front, but storage for odds-and-ends is a bit lacking. You get an awkwardly-shaped cubby under the central armrest, and while the door pockets are large enough to hold big water bottles, everything else you put in there rests on top of the bottle, rather than next-to.

Space in the back seats

Rear seat passengers have plenty of leg space, with enough room under the front seats for your feet too - helpful on long journeys. Headroom could be better though, because while two tall rear passengers are fine, having a third in the middle means you’ll be rubbing your head against the sloped headlining.

There’s a huge hump in the floor too, meaning three passengers will be playing footsie in the footwells. On the flip side, the middle seat backrest flips down, with a handily-placed pair of cupholders that still lets you rest your arms next to any bottles or cans.

The front seat backs have a pair of cheap-looking and feeling storage nets, and the door pockets are the same odd design as the fronts. Spacious, but with such a shape that you can’t fit much else in alongside a water bottle.

Boot space

The SQ5 actually has a smaller boot than its non-S counterparts, at 470 litres compared to the Q5’s 520 litres. It’s also put to shame by the BMW X3’s 570-litre boot, and again by the Mercedes AMG GLC 43 with its gargantuan 620-litre cargo capacity.

It’s well shaped though, with a tiny bit of underfloor space, and there are some handy touches such as the buttons to lower the air suspension when loading in heavy items, and a quartet of handles for lowering the rear seat backs. That means you can fold the rear seats down from the rear doors or from the back of the car.

There are far cheaper - but still sporty - options which have more boot capacity though, such as the BMW X1 M35i and the Tesla Model Y.

The Audi SQ5 has a handsome interior, but the trio of screens are overwhelming and some of the plastics are disappointing

The SQ5 hasn’t escaped Audi’s current fascination with screens, with the Q5’s dashboard home to not two, but three large screens. You get a lovely curved, rounded dual-setup which contains the infotainment system and the driver display, while your passenger gets their very own screen plastered to the side of the main pair.

It just feels unnecessary, breaking up what is otherwise a lovely dashboard design, and throughout our testing, no passenger used a function of their screen that they couldn’t have done on the main infotainment display.

Speaking of which, the infotainment system is a bit too complicated to use. There are far too many menus to flick through to get to the car’s settings, media display and climate controls - which is frustrating on the move.

You get a shortcut bar at the side of the screen, but it doesn’t do much to help, and while Audi’s voice command system is surprisingly capable, you really have to simplify your sentences for the car to understand what you’re after.

There’s a bit too much tech going on with the steering wheel and the windows too, because the haptic touch-sensitive buttons attract fingerprints like a fish bowl in a classroom.

The biggest interior disappointment is the build quality though, because where modern Audis typically feel as though their interiors are made of granite and marble, the SQ5 feels far too cheap and flimsy in places - especially on the lower dashboard and around the door handles. It’s a shame, because the rest of the interior is a mix of lovely Alcantara and leather trimming

Being a high-performance family SUV, the Audi SQ5 isn’t particularly fuel efficient. We saw fuel economy figures of 22-26mpg around town in our testing, while we only managed to meet Audi’s claimed 33mpg figure on motorway drives.

Brace yourself for the road tax though, because the SQ5’s CO2 output of around 193g/km means it sits in one of the highest bands for first-year Vehicle Excise Duty. You’ll also have to pay the luxury car supplement on years two-six of your ownership.

Company car users are far better off with an electric SUV such as the Audi SQ6 e-tron, because the SQ5 also sits in the highest category of Benefit-in-Kind payments.

The Audi SQ5 has the same Euro NCAP score as its more-sensible Q5 siblings, meaning it earned the highest possible five-star rating when tested in 2025. Its child occupant and adult occupant safety scores were particularly impressive, at 86% and 85% respectively.

You get three ISOFIX child seat anchor points in the SQ5: two in the back and one in the front, which is ideal for a parent travelling with a single child.

The SQ5 comes with a suite of driver safety systems, including a driver attention warning system, traffic sign recognition, lane-keep assist, automatic emergency braking and a fancy camera system that peeks out at blind junctions for you.

While the current generation of Audi Q5 is too new to have earned a reputation for reliability - or a lack thereof - Audi didn’t fare very well in the 2025 Driver Power survey for owner satisfaction. It placed 19th out of 31 manufacturers entered; not a confidence-inspiring result.

The three-year/60,000-mile warranty which the SQ5 comes with is the typical period you’ll find on a German car, though you can extend it to five years/90,000 miles for a price.