jjcuff1

I didnt mod my M35 much. Lexani custom rims, magnflow SS and tips. Looks great. I did try to add a stereo and it was utter failure with feedback ground lops, bluetooth echos horrible. I had it installed by 3 different shops and finally infinit inspected it and nothing worked just ripped it out. Speakers would cut on and off randomly side to side front to back all impedance issues due to the bose DSP and volume cutoff feature. I even added a Line Audio DSP and didn't help.

The stock stereo sucked, muddy with no bass. I added a smaller kicker and alpine amp. I be happy without anything if new cars have better stereo but I wonder is teh Audi easy to add aftermarket box or amp too? Is the $850 B&O upgrade worth it and all you need.

Dalancroft

I agree with those who say if you like power, you will NOT like the 2.0T. It's a great engine for what it is, but it's a small, blown 4-banger. I like mine fine but 85-90% of my driving is around town ferrying children to & from school, lessons, grocery shopping, etc. I barely break 20 mpg on most tanks, especially with the sucky winter gas we're subject to here in California due to our brutal weather (66 degrees and sunny here today). As they say YMMV.

14Q5

I guess we all have different priorities. Im not so much worried about getting to the speed limit 1 second faster, as I am concerned about fuel economy. I traded in the vw for a Q5 because it was bigger and better on fuel, and when last week I paid $4.62/g and have driven 31000mi in 17 months, fuel economy is my number one priority.

I like the 2.0, much better than my 2.0 from my VW.

Others don't. Oh well.

BlackSVT

14Q5, I don't think anyone here was intending to trash on the 2.0T, it is a great engine doing many things well! That said, the OP mentioned specifically the performance aspects being very important and wanting opinions. Well, there are some opinions posted now

idale

Depends on what you're looking for. Some complain that "there's no bass" on the B&O but that's a misrepresentation... it's just quality over quantity, and you can always turn the bass up if you need. Will it rattle the sheetmetal like some people want? No idea, I've got no interest in that but I like bass frequencies and am happy with the reproduction on my B&O system (it's there, but not in your face, but I've left it at +0 so there's room to turn it up more).

The bass quality on the stock system is terrible, doesn't sound good at all to me (I had to turn it negative to not have to listen to it be all boomy and muddy). If you only listen to FM then it may not be much different, but it was a no-brainer when comparing songs on SD card. Also, even if you don't end up keeping all the OEM speakers, opting for the B&O will upgrade the connection to the HU and give you extra speaker locations to work with so it might still be "worth it" in that case.

Again, trying to check out two vehicles (one with the base system and one with B&O) and listening to whatever source you commonly will listen to (FM, XM, CD, SD, whatever) can get you a feel for whether B&O's better (or worse) for you. After doing that myself there was no way I could place an order without the B&O since the base system was tolerable at best to me. Obviously YMMV.

jjcuff1

14Q5, nothing against the 2.0 at all. I know exactly what I will get with that engine. A great performance and mpg. MPG better then all other gas engines. So My question was how much worse is the mpg trade off for the added performance?

9/10 of the time I am doing 12 mile commute and 60% of that is stop and go under 60 mph. rest is 70 mph cruising. I am not a heavy footer during traffic time. do not race at reds I sit in left lane and try to cruise at plus 10 mph over limit when I can.

On weekends I do have a longer 80 mile trip (40 each way) that is 70-80 mph cruising 80% of the time, this is where I would really like the 20+mpg from a v6 that tradeoff alone for extra power would be worth it vs 17 I am getting now. I will take that tradeoff for power if hiway mileage performs. I find my old 5spd M35 is not geared right. The hiway mileage is worse then city it seems. I am at 3-4k cruising.

jjcuff1

I will have to test for sure, I guess it appears after loking at this forum that upgrading the audi stereo though is not that hard. I mean I had bad luck in my M35. The bose was sensitive to the ohms (less then 2) any more then that it would cut off that speaker or cut volume and base down. Then if you fed a sub source from rear leads to preamp out to feed an aftermarket the stock amp decrease the base signal output as you increase the volume for fidelity and protection. So I crank the gain up to get bass at one level only to have no treble and vice versa or the speakers cut off.

And if you try to feed the preamp the front speakers output they do not have a bass signal it is filtered out in the amp. so no luck there

if you do a DSP to blend and make a full signal (like I did) with all 4 channels and spit them back out you get the impenedence issue again and then your bluetooth wont work.

finally you can try to bypass the stock amp and take leads direct from rear of HU, the catch the volume still goes through the stock amp. SO you would have to keep the stock amp, as a pseudo gain, run it to your new amps and build a custom volume controller and mount it somewhere on your dash OMFG!!!

I ripped it al back to stock, the kicker amp on the rear sub option did work but the volume flip flop was crazy I had a all bass system or nothing.

Long story short, I am hearing from this forum you can easily swap speakers and upgrade amps with line outs with minimal impact to the stock HU functionality or effecting sound output expect improving it. Can you bypass the stock amp?

jjcuff1

Well I test drove a White prestige TDI last night and all I can say is WOW! I was surprised, impressed with the overall quality of the Q5, the inside space was bigger then I had hoped, thought it would be small like a q50 or qx50 in back the s line had more then enough sport compared to the sq5 and it has the cool wheel and the tranny was awesome. I looked at the A6 as well but didnt have time to drive but for the value and looks the q5 to me has it all, other then more space in back and different interior (didnt appear any nicer although the center console by shifter is nicer) it will be a tough decision. Especially since the q5 is cheaper.

So I heard of the torque of the TDI is awesome and people still love the performance of the Sq5 but outside of the track and top end, I feel like the TDI was amazing for daily commute. The torque offline and at low speeds was brutal. Head snapping fun. 0-60 was gone in flash had to be under 6 seconds! And you get insane gas mpg to boot.

So is the TDI beat the standard 3.0 in around town performance it think it has to at 274/294 numbers? Anyone compare or have experience between sq5 and tdi? What about the chips for the TDI do they make it sq5 contender? better gas mpg?

They had a white sq5 there as well and side by side I didn't see any difference (rims and mirrors) that I would pay for or that was worth it. Inside other then the shift **** and white stitching on seats they looked similar. Price was close though 59 vs 61

I guess the real question is drive the 3.0T loaded and what is that price and is it worth the mpg penalty for less cost vs diesel fuel cost. The TDI had the driver assist package I would check that box for the cost as well as the nannies that I would use so I think that is another 3k to save. which means a 3.0T might be low 50s new

The moonroof was awesome and the screen was darker then I expected which was good it felt like a roof when covered.

Don Keener

At first my Q5 order was a 3.0T but I switched it to TDI a week later. The TDI had such incredible torque and allows for great range. Great acceleration without all the drama. It did cost $2100 more but... well worth it in my opinion.

idale

Q5's definitely a great value. While based on the A4, you get access to engines and options the A4/A5/allroad don't. You don't quite hit the level of the A6, but it's a step up from what you would otherwise have access to, and pricing is pretty good considering that. A6 is bigger and a little different inside, which could be good or bad depending on what you want. If you want sport seats, the A6 doesn't really have that as an option, for an example.

TDI's an awesome engine, the combination of the 3.0 V6 and the Q5 is pretty spectacular for getting really good performance (not as quick to 60 as the 3.0T siblings, but should be quicker off the line which tends to be better for city driving). I think it was C&D who tested at 5.8 seconds to 60 (vs. 6.5 estimated). I can only imagine what the S could do since it's rated at 5.3 in petrol form (5.1 for the diesel version which has to be insane from a stop).

At least APR has a program for the 3.0 TDI, not sure what numbers are like since they're using info from their Euro branch and it's got things like the A4 3.0 TDI as samples, and their example is a 236/406 instead of the 240/428 version we've got. Presumably similar, but you never know. The chipped A4 put up SQ5 TDI peak numbers (same 479 torque, 309 vs. 313 HP), but without the second turbo that peak's not available from 1400rpm and so you won't see that 5.1 sec 0-60. How much you'd shave off, I'm not sure. From my experience with the stock 428 ft-lbs of torque, you'd want some good tires on that thing to help handle the 479.

Pretty much just have to try one and see how it stacks up for you. Diesel should cost less in fuel, but will probably have (at least slightly) higher maintenance costs with the DPF and everything else involved that isn't on petrol vehicles. So it would likely even out in the end, I figure. So it just comes down to what each individual likes and thinks is worth it.