Audi Q5 review - Interior, design and technology

The Q5 is well resolved, with decent proportions, and the facelift in 2020 offered only a few minor tweaks to the already classy exterior. These included new LED headlamps, a reshaped radiator grille and a restyled front bumper with larger air intakes. Audi has also fitted a pair of reprofiled side skirts – while at the rear there's some updated trim.

Audi also offers a few trim-specific exterior differences for the revised Q5. For example, the Sport model comes with a chrome grille surround and silver skid plates, while the S line variant features a honeycomb grille and chrome strip for the rear diffuser. Audi has also added a pair of new paint finishes to the Q5’s colour palette – District Green and Ultra Blue.

You can choose from 18- to 21-inch wheels and from nine paint colours. Brilliant Black and Ibis White are solid finishes and offered as standard, with the rest coming as metallic options at an extra £675.

Inside, the Q5 builds on the dashboard architecture that we’ve seen on the A4 by using a very similar design, but featuring even higher-quality materials. You’ll have to poke around pretty hard before you start finding any unpleasant plastics; everything that’s visible or regularly touched looks and feels superb.

The dashboard is dominated by a 10.1-inch infotainment touchscreen, while the previous Q5’s centre console rotary control knob has been replaced by a storage compartment. It’s an ergonomic set up but doesn’t look as sleek as the same screen integrated into the dash on Audi’s newer models like the Q4 e-tron. 

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Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment

Audis no longer come with a trackpad and control wheel to operate the MMI Navigation system, and the set-up in the Q5 is purely touchscreen. The display offers a clear layout with useful shortcut buttons and it has decent graphics, although the mapping looks a little dated.

The touchscreen is used for everything but the climate controls (which are laid out below), and the screen responds to your inputs with a click each time you touch it. The system is easy to navigate and offers lots of information, while Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard, along with a three-year connected services subscription.

Also included is Audi’s Virtual Cockpit 10.25-inch digital dash, which still delivers a hi-tech edge to the interior and impressive functionality.

DAB radio and Bluetooth are standard, along with two USB ports for charging up your devices. For around £1,900 you can add Audi’s ‘Technology Pack’ which consists of LED headlights, an LED interior ambient lighting, an upgraded Bang & Olufsen sound system, wireless charging, park assist and a rear USB charging port.