Charlie25

Hi all,
Long time lurker, first time poster.

Coming over from the VW TDI world, which I currently own two....my sister recently purchased a 2.0t Q5 and I was very impressed with the vehicle.

I am seriously considering ordering a 2015 3.0 TDI early next year.

I understand that for 2016, the Q5 production is moving to Mexico. My dealer says that the end of March 2015 would be the latest I could place an order for a 2015 Q5. Does this seems right?

The Q5 would be my daily driver, approximately 25,000 miles per year. How many of you are using your Q5 for that duty? I can purchase an extended warranty through my car insurance, and I understand the Audi Care for the first 55,000 miles is a fair deal.

Thanks for the input!

idale

The 3.0 TDI's an awesome engine, though not directly comparable to the VW 2.0 TDI at it's got enough power to be a good performer rather than a slower workhorse engine (not that there's anything wrong with the 2.0, my wife loves her 1.9 TDI Golf even though it's "slow" to 60). If the capabilities of the TDI align with your needs and your budget, it's a great option.

Ordering typically closes near the beginning of April usually, from what I recall, so assuming the end of March would be a safe bet.

That being said, I think that it's CY2016 and not MY2016 for the Puebla factory to come on line, so that'd be MY2017 that should be the generation and factory changeover (at least here -- it's possible MY2016 next-gen Q5s might be available in Europe, but we sometimes lag on introductions so they could continue building the current-gen for us even if the local markets have moved on). So MY2016 Q5s will likely still be the current-gen Ingolstadt version, but depending on when Puebla comes on line and how their production goes it's possible that MY2017 could be an early release which would mean that ordering for MY2016 could close early.

Safest bet of course is getting in on a 2015, but if you miss the close in spring then when it reopens in early summer (June/July) you should still be able to order the current known-quantity version instead of being stuck with the unknown new generation, new factory version. (Granted the next-gen should have additional features that might be nice, but it's always safest to let the bugs in anything new be worked out unless you're on the lease treadmill or something where you hopefully have less risk exposure.)

Audi Care goes to 45K (15, 25, 35, 45K services included), but it's definitely worth getting as my TDI's 15K alone was going to be something like 2/3 of the cost of the package. You can purchase at any time, though, so you don't have to get it at vehicle delivery if you don't want to.

As for mileage, I'm only about 15K/year but I know there's at least several with high-mileage commutes (at least one guy recently was something like 30K+/yr) that seem to have been doing fine and still liking their Q5. Shouldn't have any worries there, and the TDI at least should be a good fit for putting a lot of miles on with the extended range.

Don Keener

Question for ya... Have you ever had to add AdBlue between regular maintenance points?

idale

Not yet, at least, went the full 10K between the first and second without the warning tripping (and almost managed to do it without the oil refill tripping). As I was covered under Audi Care the "invoice" that I get isn't necessarily useful from seeing the amounts used, and I believe the units on the AdBlue was "3" which doesn't seem meaningful given typically liquid units are in liters and the tank is 24L and if I only used 3L then something's not right. So it's hard to say just how much they put in to refill it, to get an idea of how close I was to tripping the refill warning (at 15% capacity, I think?).

10K should be easily achievable without topping up unless your fuel consumption is abnormally high, as as I recall DPF is supposedly consumed at a fairly constant ratio to fuel used and I'm on the higher end of consumption at least from Fuelly results (my driving patterns tend to result in closer to EPA city estimates, though I'm a couple mpg above in the TDI).

rbradleysd

Congrats! I also came from the VW TDI family (Golf 2.0 TDI) and the difference in torque is staggering (I never considered the 2.0 underpowered either)

I got the Audi Care because for that price it's a steal. I do the same as you 25-30k a year but I elected against the extended warranty for now

Totally loving my TDI and so glad I went with the TDI over the 2.0

hitchens97

We just got a TDI Q5, and the engine is a beast. It's a little hesitant off the line, but once you get going the torque at almost any speed is off the charts.

- B -

Once you get used to it, the Q5 TDI will launch quickly off the line. Unlike gas motors, the TDI prefers not to have the accelerator mashed down, instead only gradually press on the accelerator and it will jump off the line. By the way, make sure your in Dynamic mode.

Charlie25

Good info, thank you everyone!

idale

Yep, the behavior in D is to avoid giving you a lot of power right away (especially if start-stop had activated and the engine is restarting as well); S has no such qualms and can fly off the line easily. But I drive in D normally (to avoid the 2-3mpg hit) and it's possible to work with its behavior, you just have to get used to how much throttle it'll accept before it assumes your foot slipped and gives you less.

Not that you need the engine to pick up very much before you're in torque land, but if you mash the pedal it'll take a couple of seconds before D decides you really mean it and gives it to you. I think that D will probably always be slower than S, but if you're working with it instead of against it then it shouldn't be by all that much, and I can still fly up to speed pretty quickly (certainly much quicker than the rest of the road wants to).

hitchens97

Thanks. What is Dynamic mode?