Purchased a 2010 model in December 2009. Great car. Would buy again with-out reservation.

 

Dealer told me I could stream pandora via iphone....apparently cannot!!

 

Danm... that was the exact options I was looking for in that color (sea blue on light grey.) Had to settle with a black on black since there were no greys with those options coming in my area... and no sea blues with black interior. The 19" wheels were the main culprit.

 

I don't think it's crazy at all, FitzLA! I completely understand. I hope they valued your trade pretty high and didn't lose out too much.

 

Absolutely happy with my choice but you should be aware of a few things:

It's smaller than you think. I believe I had almost as much storage room in my Nissan Altima 3.5 SE-R. The Q5 is not as big as your brain will lead you to believe. Road trip for 2 weeks with 2 dogs, wife and a baby = pretty packed.

Not having mud flaps on my S-Line has caused me no end of grief. I understand they don't even make flaps that will fit on an S-Line. So until someone does, don't cheap out like I did and get the 3M body panels at least. I have brake dust, winter brake rust and tar from the front door to the spoiler on the back door. It's a damned mess. And on a white Q5.

The MMI/Nav System is not as intuitive as I would prefer. It works perfectly fine but most criticize that there are too many steps require to do many simple tasks and I'd have to echo that. That being said, I think every nav system out there has some drawback or another so you just need to choose the least of the evils.

In the end, and I can't remember all my research decisions, we settled on 2 finalists of the RX350 and the Q5. After test driving the RX350, I was terrified at how poorly it handled. Wasn't even a contest. But didn't test drive the other two models you suggest. Like I said, they were discounted before I got to the test driving stage.

 

Well, looks like you already made your decision, but I'll throw in some re-affirmation for you. I'm have owned lots of Audi's and BMW's in my day and currently have a Q5 and a 335i coupe, so I can understand your position. Sorry about your HPFP issues. Fortunately, I have had no such problems with my 2009 335i, but I was aware of the issue at the time I got the car and it is the reason I leased instead of purchased. As you know, it is a fabulous car, though I get your frustration.

I have to tell you that, after owning both over the years, I have a pretty strong preference for BMW's. HOWEVER, in my opinion, the Q5 is light years ahead of the BMW competition in its class. I tested the X3, X5, (including the diesel which I really wanted to love) and Gran Tourismo (a ridiculous vehicle IMHO), along with various other brands and found the Q5 to be a perfect combination of practicality and sportiness. So feel good about your choice.

My only complaints so far about the Q5 are the aforementioned brake groan, the hard seats (compared to my last two BMW's) and the fact that I needed to learn a new interface for the MMI. It gets kind of confusing going back and forth between the BMW and Q5. I will tell you, for all the grief BMW got for its iDrive early on, the latest version is elegant and my favorite.

Good luck.

 

Absolutely love the car...lots of Audis in my garage and a BMW. My wife and I fight over the Q5 and the TT only

 

I'm not too crazy about the MMI as well. Too many buttons. And it's a pain to enter numbers and street names with a dial (although it does have voice recognition). I personally prefer the touch screen, but it seems a number of folks are going away with the touch screen (like Lexus).

 

I have had my 09 Q5 since April, 09 and have had a few issues - some minor - DRL went out, one major - drains for sunroof clogged resulting in water backup into electrical system. Obviously, all corrected under warranty.
Quick history - last car/SUV - Lexus 350 RX x 27 months. Zero issues...or should I say zero maintenance/repair issues.
Minor quirks aside, if my Q5 were totaled/stolen tomorrow, way more than likely, I would get another one. Simply, the best handling car I have driven.
Go for it.

Bob