New-look Audi Q5 coming in 2021

The wraps have come off a significantly upgraded Audi Q5 sporting a new look, more equipment, a revised touch-screen infotainment system and some cool new techno doodads including world-first OLED tail-lights that ‘dance’.

Set to renew its attack on the BMW X3 and Mercedes-Benz GLC luxury SUVs, the facelifted 2021 Audi Q5 arrives in Australia from around February 2021.

Pricing and specs will be announced closer to the launch date early next year, but the upgraded Q5 is expected to come with similar prices to the current range – $66,900 to $101,500.

The Mexican-built Audi Q5 will be offered with a similar array of engines to the current range, with a pair of 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbos – petrol and diesel, the latter with mild-hybrid tech to reduce fuel consumption. The 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel will also return.

The German brand has also confirmed the the SQ5 is on the menu and an Audi spokesperson from Germany said it will be available “only as a diesel”. That could spell the end of the petrol powered 260kW V6 SQ5, which has been on sale in Australia since 2017.

Currently Audi’s second most popular model in Australia, behind the smaller Q3, the Audi Q5 is a crucial vehicle for the brand and this update is designed to keep it modern and relevant.

The freshened exterior design comprises new bumpers and lighting at both ends. The reworked front-end styling getting a wider, lower octagonal grille and updated headlight clusters with a new LED daytime running light motif.

Likewise, the rear-end has also been re-sculpted to make it look tougher and wider, like the bigger Q7, while the OLED tail-lights add a bit of razzle-dazzle.

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Audi says the fitment of OLEDs (organic LEDs) to the Q5 represents a world-first. The intelligent lighting system interacts with other road users automatically, such as when a vehicle behind the Q5 comes too close (within two metres), at which point they start actively strobing and changing their pattern.

Allowing Audi’s designers “to create different light designs and signatures from a single item of hardware”, the optional OLED tail-lights operate in three different modes and even change their appearance depending on the selected drive mode, such as comfort or dynamic.

Naturally, the fancy OLED tail-lights are matched with dynamic pulsing indicators, and there are two new exterior paint colours (district green and ultra-blue) to join the existing 12. Wheel sizes range from 17- to 21-inch.

The interior of the 2021 Audi Q5 is unchanged in terms of dimensions but it features an all-new infotainment system inspired by the systems from the Audi e-tron and Q7 SUVs.

That means it’s all activated by voice or touch-screen; there’s acoustic feedback, but the rotary dial and input buttons have been banished. This creates more storage areas between the front seats.

The central 10.2-inch touch-screen is joined by a 12.3-inch virtual cockpit, or digital instrument panel, with Google Earth overlays.

The 2021 Audi Q5 uses the brand’s third-generation infotainment OS and new processors, which makes everything run faster, look sharper and adds things like lane-by-lane traffic information, Amazon Alexa voice activation, a new menu system and advanced voice control.

It also gains car-to-infrastructure communication functionality, allowing it to find available car parks and drivers to “surf the green wave” by providing advance intel on whether a traffic light is going to change.

Audi Australia corporate communications manager Shaun Cleary said the traffic light tech is something the brand wants to offer locally but won’t be available here initially.

“We can see the advantage and we want to bring it to market, but in this phase it’s not likely to arrive any time soon,” he stated.

The underpinnings and platform architecture of the 2021 Audi Q5 are unchanged, but the German car-maker has made running changes to improve ride comfort and road holding.

Multilink suspension front and rear comes with four settings in Europe – although Aussies may get fewer options. All up, there are standard, standard adaptive, sport and adaptive air suspension.

Various driver assistance systems are also offered including autonomous emergency braking (AEB) – or ‘pre-sense city’ in Audi-speak – as standard, along with collision avoidance, turning and exit warning assistance systems, plus adaptive cruise control and active lane-keep assist.

In terms of powertrains, the Audi Q5 40TDI takes the previous 140kW/500Nm 2.0-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder and adds a 12-volt mild-system to lower fuel consumption from 5.5L/100km to 5.3L/100km. Power rises to 150kW too.

Audi Australia has not yet confirmed its exact engine line-up, but Cleary said the brand is unlikely to make a large departure from the current trio of variants: 40 TDI (150kW/400Nm), 45 TFSI (185kW/370Nm) and 50 TDI (210kW/620Nm).

As previously mentioned, the Audi SQ5 will return but probably only in 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 form (255kW/700Nm).

The five-seat 2021 Audi Q5 measures in at 4.68 metres long, which is 1.9cm longer than before due to its larger bumpers. Width (1.89m) and height (1.66m) are unchanged, as is the wheelbase (2.82m).

This means interior space is largely unchanged, with up to 520 litres of space available with the adjustable rear seatbacks up, extending to 1520 litres with the seats folded down.

A powered tailgate and variable folding floor are also offered, and an options list as long as your arm will also be forthcoming.

Once Australia’s best-selling mid-size premium SUV, the original Audi Q5 was first launched in 2008 and found more than 1.6 million customers by 2016, when the second generation arrived.

To May this year, the Audi Q5 is the fourth most popular mid-size luxury SUV in Australia, with 1045 sales and a 10.5 per cent share of the market segment.

Meantime, the top-selling Mercedes-Benz GLC has a 17 per cent market share (1688), followed closely by the BMW X3 (16.8%, 1664). Audi will be hoping the facelifted Q5 leap-frogs the third-placed Lexus NX (12.4%, 1233) in 2021.