2025 Audi Q5 Review and Test Drive

Don't call it a reboot: The 2025 Q5 is improved but not reinvented.

Tim Stevens | 

Jun 11, 2025 | 7 min read

Tim Stevens

The Audi Q5 is a cornerstone of the automaker's overall success and strategy. Of the nearly 200,000 vehicles that Audi sold in the U.S. in 2024, more than one-quarter were Q5s. That's not surprising: With a starting price of just over $45,000, the Q5 is among the most affordable Audi models.

Audi can't afford a misstep with the redesigned 2025 Q5, which sticks to the established compact luxury SUV formula. Unfortunately, to pay for the 2025 Audi Q5's significant updates, the base price has increased to nearly $54,000 after destination. In addition to a more powerful standard turbocharged four-cylinder engine, the all-new 2025 Q5 boasts more interior room, added cargo space, a subtly sharper sense of style, and a sweeping set of new displays. Both the refreshed and pre-refresh versions will be sold as 2025 models.

In isolation, no single upgrade substantially changes the overall Audi Q5 experience. However, taken as a whole, I think the new 2025 Q5 represents a substantial step forward over the occasionally forgettable SUV that immediately preceded it. It's more engaging to drive, loaded with features, and feels worth the extra expense.

Tim Stevens

About the 2025 Audi Q5 Review Vehicle

The redesigned 2025 Audi Q5 is available in three trim levels: Premium, Premium Plus, and Prestige. You can choose between the standard SUV body style and a shapelier sportback version, which features a sloping roofline. Base prices range from the mid-$50,000s to the high $60,000s, including the destination charge to ship the SUV from the San Jose Chiapa, Mexico, factory that builds it.

For this Q5 review, I test-drove the standard model with Prestige trim in Aspen, Colorado. Options included Glacier White metallic paint and 20-inch wheels, which helped bring the manufacturer's suggested retail price to $63,290, including the $1,295 destination charge. Audi provided the vehicle for this Q5 review and paid for airfare, lodging, and meals during the evaluation period.

Tim Stevens

The 2025 Audi Q5 Offers Big Changes on the Inside

Viewed from afar, there's not much new about the 2025 Q5's design. Get closer, and you can spot the differences, starting with the dramatically revised front and rear lighting.

All Q5s feature LED headlights recessed in a slimmer housing than before. That, combined with a bigger grille, gives the Q5 a subtly more aggressive appearance. A set of LED taillights is also standard, but on the Prestige trim, Audi enhances them with a series of intricate OLED (organic light-emitting diode) panels. The result is a mesmerizing array of light surfaces, which drivers can customize through the Audi smartphone app or the dashboard display to give the SUV a distinct look.

Tim Stevens

There's more OLED to be found inside. Much more. The new Q5 features the same sweeping layout of displays that Audi employs in the new Q6 E-Tron, with an 11.9-inch digital instrumentation screen sitting to the left of a 14.5-inch infotainment touchscreen. The OLED technology provides truly black blacks and bright, beautiful colors, producing graphics a level above the typical LCD screens found in most vehicle interiors.

Those displays integrate into a dashboard featuring a flowing but basic shape with a few tasteful wood highlights. Materials throughout the interior are generally of good quality, featuring a mix of plastics, fabrics, and leathers that blend nicely. In the Q5, you have your choice of three upholstery colors. The Pearl Beige in my test car looked fresh and modern.

Tim Stevens

The front seats are comfortable and plush, offering heating, ventilation, and a basic massage function in the Q5 Prestige. There's plenty of head, shoulder, and legroom up front, plus a good range of adjustability. The rear seats recline, and there's decent headroom back there. However, I found legroom somewhat limited.

A 40/20/40 split-folding rear seatback allows you to carry long items and passengers simultaneously. You can drop either side of the seatback quickly by using a release located in the cargo area, expanding the 27.6 cubic-foot trunk to 56.9 cu-ft.

Tim Stevens

Big Displays and Big Tech in the New Q5

Those OLED displays are the big highlight on the tech front, literally and figuratively. Audi's Multi Media Interface (MMI) infotainment system powers them, offering much the same look and feel as before, but with some new customizations.

For example, you can add shortcuts to frequently used portions of the interface to an easily accessible grid. You can also configure the instrumentation display, cycling through pages of information or disabling them altogether. Still, I think the overall experience from behind the wheel is underwhelming compared with what you'll find in most BMW and Mercedes-Benz models.

Thankfully, you can easily augment the software experience by using the wireless Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Additionally, a wireless charging pad and several front and rear USB-C ports keep everything fully charged.

Tim Stevens

The 2025 Q5 Prestige adds a 10.9-inch display on the far right side of the dashboard for passenger use. It provides an alternative way to interact with the MMI while also adding a few extra apps, the most notable being YouTube. Whenever a video is playing, the display appears blacked out from the driver's seat. It's a neat trick, but it's hard to see many passengers preferring this interface to simply reaching for their smartphone.

On the safety side, every 2025 Q5 comes standard with numerous ADAS features. Adaptive Cruise Assist is one of them, pairing the adaptive cruise control system with lane-centering assist. During my drive, this hands-on driver-assistance system performed exceptionally well, keeping the SUV perfectly centered even on stretches of asphalt with aging, faded paint. A hands-free driving-assist system is unavailable on the new Q5.

Tim Stevens

The 2025 Q5 Offers Relaxed Driving With Improved Feel

For the redesigned 2025 Q5, Audi has discontinued the previous 40 TFSI model and the plug-in hybrid version. That leaves a single turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, similar to what Audi installed in the old Q5 45 TFSI. The company's engineers managed to eke a little more oomph out of it, and output increases to 268 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque, up slightly from 261 horsepower and 273 lb-ft.

That power flows through a new seven-speed dual-clutch transmission to a standard Audi Quattro all-wheel-drive system. Dual-clutch transmissions can be harsher than automatics in some applications, but that's not the case here. The new Q5 pulls away smoothly from stoplights and skips from one gear to the next without fuss. It feels every bit as good as a conventional automatic when driving casually, while offering more responsiveness when you push the Q5 harder.

Tim Stevens

But not too hard. Despite the extra power, the new Q5 is far from a rocket ship. It accelerates quickly and cleanly, but the throttle response is relaxed. There just isn't a lot of urgency to the driving character, even when you've switched into Dynamic mode, the SUV's most aggressive one.

That said, it has an engaging feel. Audi revised the steering system, and while the resistance is low, the feedback is actually quite good. The Q5's ride quality is also excellent, thanks to the Prestige package's air suspension, which raises or lowers the SUV based on the driving mode and provides good compliance despite the 20-inch wheels and low-profile run-flat tires on my test vehicle.

Regarding fuel economy, the EPA rates the Q5 to get 25 mpg in combined city and highway driving. During my testing at altitude in the Rocky Mountains, my Q5 Prestige performed slightly better, averaging 25.8 mpg.

Tim Stevens

Is the 2025 Audi Q5 a Good SUV?

Audi's all-new Q5 may adhere to an established formula, but I think it's a significant upgrade in most respects, enough to keep it competitive with alternatives like the BMW X3, Genesis GV70, and Mercedes-Benz GLC. The increase in cost is unfortunate, but at least it comes with numerous upgrades, which should ensure the Q5 can maintain its position as Audi's bestselling model.

Tim Stevens

Tim is a freelance automotive and technology journalist with more than 25 years of experience. He is a frequent contributor to major domestic and international online, print, and broadcast news outlets, sharing his insights and perspectives on everything from cybersecurity to supercars. Tim also serves as a juror for the World Car Awards and regularly acts as speaker and moderator at major industry events such as CES, Web Summit, SXSW, NAIAS, and AutoMobility LA. He formerly served as editor-at-large and vice president of content at CNET. Before that he was editor-in-chief of Engadget and editorial director at AOL Tech.