Audi Q5 45 TFSI (2025) Review

The Q5 is the least dramatic way to spend this money and a lot of buyers want exactly that. The build quality is the best in the segment, with switchgear that still feels precise after years of use and a cabin design that avoids fashion entirely. Quattro all wheel drive plus the 261 horsepower turbo four gives it genuine all weather confidence and enough pace to never feel slow, and Audi kept a physical climate panel below the screen when its rivals did not.

Ride comfort is good and refinement is better. What it does not do is stand out. The styling is anonymous, the chassis is tuned for security rather than involvement so it understeers safely and tells you very little, and the platform underneath had aged past its rivals by the end of its run. Ownership needs the usual German caveats. Carbon buildup, water pumps and timing components are known items on this engine family, specialist labour is expensive, and depreciation on compact luxury crossovers is steep. It is a lovely object that costs more to keep than its Lexus equivalent.