sjuhawks19

I got my 2.0 Premium plus with 19s for less than $40,000, so you can get a pretty good deal on a great vehicle in my opinion. I think the oil consumption thing is a bit overblown. Just get your oil changed regularly or add a quart every 5000 miles you'll be fine, takes 2 minutes.

The water pump issues were apparently in the first model year and are no longer an issue.

Muray

Thanks for your replies. I want the Q5, she likes the styling too, but she's questioning the German reliability. Getting one around 40K would be great and that might be a deal maker.

dcortez

I have a 2011 Q5 2.0T and live in So. Calif. My Q5 has 5000 mi on it. I love the car but do have some complaints or observations for those thinking of buying one:

1. Milage has been 15 mpg city/freeway driving. I expected much better from this small engine.
2. The car oil added at 3000 mi. The dealer told me this is normal. He topped it off but said some dealers will charge for this. Said I can add the oil myself. This was a surprise and disappointed me.
3. The 20T engine is quite responsive and in S mode moves quickly. But it is not as smooth as the 3.2 engine and does hesitate occasionally. The new 8 sp trans helps, but this is still a small turbo not as strong as the 6 engine.
4. When I back uphill (my driveway) the engine sounds like a washing machine. Dealer says this is normal but will try to tighten the linkage. Still does it but guess I just live with it.
5. I like the MMI system but it does have some problems. Voice recognition is not reliable .. requires lot of training. The search for local addresses is very difficult. Map is great but traffic is intermitant. Must payfor Sirrius to get traffic reports. When it works, it is great. Radio and unlimited presets is great. But AM reception is poor. HD radio reception is very poor compared to FM and AM reception.
6. Can download CD music from Premium Plus model. One CD only, no download to jukebox. I placed lots of songs on a SD card and loaded them into the Jukebox ..works but searching for songs is difficult. IPod, IPhone works fine.
7. Unlike standard model, no audio in line in the center armrest (our lexus does that!). So can feed streaming internet radio from center armrest. Dealer that sold the car told me this cannot be done in a Q5. I went to another dealer and he said it can. You have to buy a audio cable for $70 that fits the adaptor in the glove box. So now I can listen to Pandora in my car ... if I hide my IPhone in the glove box. But it is far away, can view it while driving like in the Lexus. But it works .. if you work hard and figure it out.
8. The Contact book would load only a few hundred of the contacts in my IPhone. Dealer could not figure it out. I did some research an discovered it is designed to limit your contacts. I got around it by DL my contacts from my Outlook/IPhone to a SD card and then loaded them into the Audi MMI. It worked. But it would only search by FIRST NAME. Voice recognition sometimes finds the names and phone no, but it is far from perfect.

I like the car and bought it for $400 under invoice. I will keep the car for my 36 mo lease. I saw the Q3 at the Shanghai Auto show last week. I love it. My next car will be an Audi in 2.5 yrs but not a Q5 20T unless they fix some of the problems above.

Doug

dcortez

Despite my complaints in my original post, I would still buy the Q5 over the Lexus RX. RX is softer and less fun to drive. Q5 feels like a German car. The styling inside and out is much more attractive to me. As a SUV the Q5 is more practical, better space allocation. The 8 speed trans in the 2.OT is fun to shift or drive in S mode.

dcortez

quick follow up. I now have 11k mi on my Q5 20T. All of my "complaints" in May 2011 have not changed. The car still uses oil every 5K but I can live with it.
I still find the NAV hard to use. My voice recognition is useless. The map does not show detailed streets even when you zoom in close.
Mileage is still 15 City, 18 highway. I expected better.

I have had no reliability issues. The car runs great and have found no defects so far.

Dealer service is mixed. Not up to Mercedes BMW but I can live with it.

Would buy the Q5 again and recommend it. In 2 yrs when my lease is up, I will check out the competitors and see if the Audi is still a winner.

Doug