My Q5's first 1000 miles
 

So the other day I passed 1000 miles in my new Q5.

Some quick notes.

(1) I got a black/black 2011 3.2L Q5 with every package imaginable: luxury, S-line, MMI, B+O sound system, etc.

(2) I like the car a lot. It does have some quirks.

(3) I haven't learned all the features, and I'm not sure what many do yet.

(4) Horrible gas-mileage. I have averaged about 13.5 mpg so far. Really really disappointed. I live in La Jolla, CA and almost all of my driving has been local, and the local geography is all hills. One would think that if you take the car out from home, drive somewhere, do stuff, and drive back the exact same route, that the uphills would balance out with the downhills. But in reality, once inside a 3.2L Q5, it seems that the uphills are somehow the majority :-) I get about 240 miles per tank (18 gal capacity). That is shameful.

(5) The transmission is annoying. It wants to stay in 1st gear when in "D" going up many hills, and I find I have to manually press the + button on the steering wheel to get it into M2 just so I am not driving at 3500 RPM. I also find the transmission is sticky in other situations, where it stays in a low gear too long, and once again, high RPMs have to be dealt with by touching the + button.

(6) The iPod integration is awesome. However, my ears hurt.

Congrats on your new car.

Thanks for the update. I'd love to know if your Q5 is having any other issues.

Also, I think the Q5 has a 19.8 gallon tank.

Not sure why your gas mileage sucks so badly. I was always under the impression that the 3.2 isn't bad.

Sucks to hear that you are getting 13.5 mpg.

I just broke 1000 miles last week on my 3.2 as well and averaging around 17mpg with mixed driving. I think this was def due to keeping the car below the 4krpm due to break in period. I am worried if I drive a little bit more aggressive then I am sure to get poor gas mileage

It gets A LOT better gas mileage on the highway if that helps.

Tranny is annoying, just manual shift it.

Enjoy

q5newbie, there are city driving and then there are city driving :) What I am trying to say is that there are different type of city driving. I can be cruising nonstop on a staight flat road at 35 MPH and its consider city driving or I can zoom up a hill for 10 feet and have to jam on the brakes and sit at a stop light for 5 mins. and it is still consider city driving.
When we drive in the inner city, we only get about 14.5 MPG. Considering your car only have a 1000 miles, the gas mileage seems reasonable. Of course spending all that time in 1st gear on a hill definitely dont help.

Because I have the 8 speed tranny, I have the opposite issue: it always wants to upshift. But that's not a problem because there's plenty of torque in the low RPM range. In the city, i usually get 17-20 MPG, and 30 MPG on the freeway. What do you get on the freeway?

q5newbie, are you driving with transmission in S or D mode?

Mine only holds the gears if it's in S mode.

That was exactly my thought. Seems as though he might be in Sport mode which will hold gears a lot longer and would also account for dismal fuel mileage.

It depends on how steep the hill is, it is normal for the Q5 to stay in 1st or 2nd when climbing a steep hill. q5newbie's low mileage can be cause by short trips too, nothing kills gas mileage more than short trips on hills.

im at 1400 miles and drive 60miles round trip 4-5 times a week all freeway. Ive been doing 75-90 and got 18mpg all 3 times i have filled up. My stop and go traffic is very minimal as i work nights and i live off the freeway... and im in houston so its as flat as it gets around here