STYLING | 8 out of 10
Expert Quotes:
classy interior design
Edmunds
A resemblance to the larger Audi Q7 is evident, but the Q5 also looks like a Volkswagen Tiguan dressed up for a night on the town
Cars.com
Unmistakable with a big black nose and rounded shoulders, the Q5 is distinctive without being flashy.
Forbes.com
A cohesive take on the compact crossover, the Audi Q5 has some of the loveliest lines and spares us all the overuse of lines and details that shout "SUV" from the rooftops of some other crossovers. It's pretty, and it's elegant--it's almost an Allroad, for better or worse.
At the front, the Q5 adopts some of the light touch-ups applied to the rest of the A4/A5 family of vehicles. The grille is reshaped with some chamfers at the top corners, and the headlamps are slimmed down (and trimmed with LED daytime running lights, tube-style). Subtly curving, car-like roof lines tail off toward a rear end capped by new LED taillamps. It's rounded and somewhat blunt--to its core, German.
Inside, the Q5 offers a well-executed driving environment, with the sort of stylish simplicity—trimmed with rich materials that add a luxury undertone—that Audi still seems to do better than anyone else. Just as in most other models from the Audi lineup, there's a rather wide center console, clearly differentiating the driver and front passenger areas, cockpit style, yet the dash itself isn't all that curvy or claustrophobic--rather, it's more upright and forward, helping maximize a sense of space. A beautiful layered oak trim is now an option, elevating bits of the dash with a furniture-like finish.Audi frames all this in metallic trim, wood, and coordinated leathers and plastics to give the somewhat cluttered dash a unified look. About our only complaint about the design is that, at least directly around the driver--even with the MMI interface--there are a few too many buttons.
Conclusion
Smoothly shaped and spare of detail, the Audi Q5 wears enduring metal and rich materials, inside and out.
