Audi Q5 review - Interior, design and technology
The facelifted Q5 cabin remains smart, functional and beautifully finished, with improved levels of standard equipment

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.
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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is dominated by a 10.1-inch infotainment touchscreen, while the previous Q5’s centre console rotary control knob has been replaced by a storage compartment.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.
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.
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