The upper echelon of the compact luxury crossover SUV class is a dog-eat-dog world. Everyone competes for a best-in-segment accolade as a means to an end. The end result is sales, so care to guess what does the 2018 Audi Q5 have to pride itself on? MPG.
Indeed, ladies and gents, Audi of America is proud to announce that the all-new Q5, which is manufactured in Mexico despite President Trump’s policy of making America great again, offers the highest gas mileage in its class. If the EPA is to be believed, you can wring out as many as 25 miles per gallon combined from the all-new Q5, which is 3 mpg better than the former model.
The nearest competitors in terms of gas mileage are the BMW X3 xDrive28i, Lexus NX 200t AWD, and Mercedes-Benz GLC300 4Matic, all of them being rated at 24 mpg combined. The trick to this improved efficiency, according to Audi, is a new variant of the 2.0-liter TFSI inline-four turbo. Coupled to the seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch automatic transmission, the Q5 has 252 hp and 273 lb-ft to play with. It’s also capable of sprinting to 60 mph in 5.9 seconds, which is 1.1 seconds quicker than what the first-gen Q5 can do.
Another trick comes in the form of quattro with ultra. In Audi talk, that’s the name of the latest evolution of the company AWD system. It’s not designed for maximum capability off the beaten path, but what quattro ultra is good at is saving fuel. An electronically controlled multi-plate clutch along with a decoupling rear axle differential are the things that make it tick, allowing for intelligent proactive control, as well as fully variable torque distribution.
The quattro with ultra tech all-wheel-drive system is of the electromechanical variety, and it can be fully engaged in under 250 milliseconds. In the United States, quattro ultra is also available in the A4, A4 allroad, and A5.
The nearest competitors in terms of gas mileage are the BMW X3 xDrive28i, Lexus NX 200t AWD, and Mercedes-Benz GLC300 4Matic, all of them being rated at 24 mpg combined. The trick to this improved efficiency, according to Audi, is a new variant of the 2.0-liter TFSI inline-four turbo. Coupled to the seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch automatic transmission, the Q5 has 252 hp and 273 lb-ft to play with. It’s also capable of sprinting to 60 mph in 5.9 seconds, which is 1.1 seconds quicker than what the first-gen Q5 can do.
Another trick comes in the form of quattro with ultra. In Audi talk, that’s the name of the latest evolution of the company AWD system. It’s not designed for maximum capability off the beaten path, but what quattro ultra is good at is saving fuel. An electronically controlled multi-plate clutch along with a decoupling rear axle differential are the things that make it tick, allowing for intelligent proactive control, as well as fully variable torque distribution.
The quattro with ultra tech all-wheel-drive system is of the electromechanical variety, and it can be fully engaged in under 250 milliseconds. In the United States, quattro ultra is also available in the A4, A4 allroad, and A5.