Diamond For The Rough
The Age
Saturday April 26, 2008
THE Q5, the car that marks Audi's entry to the compact crossover vehicle segment, had its worldwide debut this week in Beijing, the host city of this year's Olympic Games.
Keeping up with the sporting parallels, Audi's design team has blended the nose of a boxer with the muscle of a weightlifter with the hunched up stance of a 100-metre specialist at the starting blocks - albeit one that will finish somewhere in the middle of the field rather than at the front of it.It's the Q5's innards that give us a clue as to what to expect from the German luxury car maker over the next few years.Both the bonnet and vertically opening tailgate are made from aluminium to cut down on weight. The engine - at the moment potential buyers have the choice of a 2.0-litre petrol or 2.0-litre four or 3.0-litre V6 diesel powerplant - is mated to a seven-speed, twin-clutch gearbox.It has also made the competitor of the BMW X3 a driver's car. The Q5 will come standard with Audi's quattro all-wheel-drive system which, like the old RS4 and new A4 and A5 versions than came before it, has the front differential sitting in front of the gearbox. This gives the Q5 a more even weight distribution.The Q5 even heralds some new electronic trickery. A sensor built into the roof can tell if a roof rack is mounted, and automatically lets the Q5's safety systems know that it needs to fire the stability control system earlier than normal. It also automatically retunes the electronic safety system for off-road driving, suggesting that despite its urban pretensions, the Q5 won't be scared of getting dirty.Production of the Q5 should start early next year but we're not likely to see it in Australian showrooms until the second quarter of next year. Expect prices to be around $70,000. -- BARRY PARK
© 2008 The Age