foxonwheels

Just curious if anybody else out there thinks the back is a bit... Boring? Particularly for the SQ5. The front grille, headlights, and hood are a masterpiece, but the back pales in comparison as I see it. The tail lights remind me of strappy ladies wear, and the fake exhaust tips are the icing on the cake.

​​​​​​​I look at the Q7 rear and it oozes style. Maybe someone can help me see the SQ5's bum in a different light?

damnitBobby

Not at all. In fact the back is the best part of the car IMO. The taillights and the strip of lights on the rear bumper look awesome. At first I thought I would hate the "fake exhaust" look. But now as an owner I find it doesn't bother me at all and have actually grown to appreciate the design. It's clever and I don't have to clean any exhaust tips! If anything I find the front end a touch boring.

foxonwheels

Thanks for your thoughts Hank. I'm not an owner yet so I guess I still have time for it to grow on me! Looks like my homework is to look at more pictures and hopefully it will eventually click for me.

damnitBobby

I'll help you out some man. Here you go.

AndroidRobot

I'll help you out with another picture. This is some stock photo I found (same color as my car) since I don't feel like going and taking a picture of mine right now.

wdimagineer

If I had to nitpick one thing on the exterior it would be the lower taillights. Coming from my B9 allroad, where all exterior illumination is LED, I was disappointed that these still use incandescent bulbs in all positions, even the running lights.

A corporate colleague mentioned a possible running change to introduce an LED module, but I personally don't see that happening until a facelift or an entirely new model. These were held back as incandescent lamps across all current SUV models because the replacement cost is much lower. Q5 (and Q3 and Q7) owners - especially in the US - apparently love to back into things.

AndroidRobot

The front running lights are LED unless I'm mistaken? I know the rear fog lights and reverse lights are incandescent. It's a shame they didn't go full LED for those. I wonder if replacing them would void some sort of warranty

wdimagineer

The front running lights are LED. The rear running lights, which I was referring to, are not. You can replace the bulbs with a suitable LED (offering resistance) without voiding warranty.

AndroidRobot

Thanks for the reply. I'll look into some when I get a chance. Are you going to swap out those too? I'm sure you've already purchased the RoW taillights.

cakasky

I was told of some back history that was interesting about these second pair of rear turn lights. In short, the US laws prohibit turn lights on the rear hatch that can move. So Audi simply got around this by adding a second pair of turn lights that are active when the rear hatch is open.

Here is the article I read about it.

Anyways I thought it was kind of nifty and a neat thing to learn about Audi.