Rlk1

Certainly a very positive review overall. Wider why they show a picture of the interior without the flat bottom steering wheel.

scrmorling

I think these are Audi's press release pics. Steve

markcincinnati

Well, since you first posted this question, a Google search will turn up both print and video reviews aplenty.

We just turned 2,000+ miles in our SQ5 and 3,000+ miles in our S4. My wife and I both wanted the Magma Red leather seat options and we have a black SQ5 Prestige and a white S4 Premium+ in our garage -- giving me the opportunity to compare the two vehicles side-by-side.

We ordered our cars and our dealer was able to find cars already on the boat, after we had ordered ours that were available earlier than our ordered cars. The issue we had with my wife's SQ5 was that is had one option that we considered a deal breaker: the 21" wheels and summer only tires.

Luckily, another of our dealership's customers had ordered an SQ5 with the 20" wheels and he wanted the 21's. So we ordered four Continental DWS UHP A/S tires to fit the 20" wheels and we swapped our 21" wheels/tires for his 20" wheels and tires and had the new DWS tires mounted and road force balanced so that when we picked up the SQ5 it had EXACTLY the configuration we wanted.

Well, not exactly true, we had ordered/wanted gloss or metallic black, didn't matter (just as long as the interior was Magama Red) -- the SQ5 on the boat had the Panther Black option ($1,075 -- gulp) on top of the thing being a Prestige model, pushing the MSRP over the low $60's. Thank god for the Audi Car Club 6% discount -- apparently SQ5's rarely get more than a token discount (at least here in River City), and we were fortunate enough to get both the 6% discount and $1,000 owner loyalty bonus -- the 2.37% interest rate on our FIRST EVER purchased car (out of 31 Audis) sealed the deal too. I leased my S4 -- but it seems worthwhile to consider keeping it based on what appears to be an even higher quota of fit and finish.

In any case, the SQ5 -- as we now have it configured is probably the quietest Audi ever (although the 2014 S4 with the all season tires is basically just as quiet). . .until it is asked to accelerate with abandon (i.e, full throttle).

Both the SQ5 and the S4 make everything they do, everything you ask of them seem effortless. No car I have ever had, including both my long gone S6 and A8 felt as if resistance -- if it could even be felt -- was futile.

In Prestige trim the SQ5 is both a luxury car and a sporty car (or CUV) that seems to have been imbued with so much of both that compromise was rendered unnecessary.

And even though not as fully loaded with features, the Premium + S4 is also luxurious and an irresistible force -- a sharp and hot knife through warm butter kind of thing.

The 8-speed Tiptronic in the SQ5 is THE perfect transmission for this car and its larger (than the S4's) gas tank, it feels close to the smoothness of the S-Tronic in the S4, but doesn't seem to need to be in S mode to get the best out of it around town. The S-Tronic, while probably a better transmission, seems to be most rewarding if left in S -- especially around town. When left in D, the S-Tronic seems often to be one-gear too high and requires a quick pull on the left paddle shifter to get the most out of the torque band. Maybe that's just a personal preference.

The SQ5, even more than my 2003 2.7T allroad (with 6-speed manual) is a Swiss Army Knife, seemingly able to do everything asked of it without ever leaving the driver feeling there's a "tool" missing.

In both cars, the Individual program seems to provide the best all-round set up if the steering is set to Auto, the Engine/Transmission set to dynamic and the exhaust sound set to YOUR personal preferences (I set mine to Comfort and my wife keeps the SQ5's sound selection on dynamic to goose the fart noises just a few db higher under moderate acceleration; I keep mine set as noted thinking it is more of a "stealth" mode choice.)

I assume the more expensive and I would think less well-built Jeep SRT 8 is the closest thing mere mortals can afford that can out gun the SQ5 -- but that's not really a fair comparison. The Jeep is a brute, somewhat blunt, instrument. The level of civility that seems to match the SQ5 requires close to double the price in a Porsche Cayenne. The Volvo XC60 T6 type-R is also an interesting option, perhaps worth considering, but neither the performance nor the luxury of the Volvo comes close to the Audis.

I have to imagine that it is only a matter of [short] time before one of Audis rivals (BMW comes immediately to mind) will attempt a coup d'état bringing forth their own ultra-high performance X3. Mercedes, too, would almost certainly consider bringing a high-zoot CUV to market (at the $55-60K price point, that is.)

Mean time, after having left the Audi fold for some 30+ months (she for an Infiniti FX35 and me for an Acura TL SH-AWD Advance), we ask ourselves, "what were we thinking?"

It's good to be in Audis again -- it feels like coming home.

scrmorling

Mark, very nice cars and a very nice comparison for us. Many thanks, Steve