The 2014 Audi SQ5: What the critics say

Automobile

Meet “the new Cinderella of the suburbs.” Smaller than a standard SUV but big enough to easily haul five people and their gear, this performance edition of Audi’s Q5 crossover is “a yuppie dream machine”—fashionable, fast, and plenty luxurious. The “formidable” engine under the hood, a supercharged V-6, delivers 30 percent more power than the most potent motivator in any other Q5. Push this car to triple-digit speeds and it can still carve up canyon roads “with almost spooky ease.”

Autoblog.com

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

Its handling can’t quite match that of Audi’s S4 sedan, but with its stiffened suspension, slightly wider track, and instant throttle response, the SQ5 proves “more fun to drive than a crossover has a right to be.” Granted, the steering “lacked the feedback we want from such a sport-oriented model.” But that’s a small thing. With 57.3 cubic feet of cargo space when the rear seats are folded, this hot hatch even qualifies as “a good grocery-getter.”

Road & Track

“You have to look hard” to notice how the SQ5 differs from a commonplace Q5. Audi went subtle on the upgrades to the exterior styling, adding quad exhaust pipes, silver-toned trim, and little else. “But the SQ5 is pretty special,” capable of shocking a lot of other performance-car drivers who dare line up against it at a stoplight.