The New 2025 Audi SQ5 Needs To Be Angrier

As an automaker, regardless of the badge on the grille, there's an inherent danger in updating your midsize SUV. Invariably the mainstay of your range, there's always the risk of an overambitious redesign turning off loyal customers. When you're Audi, considering changes to what's by far the best-selling model in your line-up, the downsides to screwing up the 2025 SQ5 and Q5 are huge.

And yet update Audi must, because while the Q5 has a strong lead over all other models in the stable, sales had nonetheless been shrinking. Striking a balance between "reassuringly familiar" and "refreshingly upgrade-worthy" takes a careful touch, and so the new SUV — here seen in sportier SQ5 form — gets a sleek aesthetic shared with the latest Audi EVs, plus the newest cabin tech, but without leaning too hard into the gadget-overload some rivals could be accused of.

Chris Davies/SlashGear

Despite the styling, what's under the sheet metal is very different from recent electric Audi launches like the Q6 e-tron. The new Q5 uses the Premium Platform Combustion (PPC), replacing the MBL Evo of before, though U.S. spec cars lack the 48V mild-hybrid assist of their European counterparts.

The 2025 SQ5 is a handsome SUV, though arguably a little too sober in this Daytona Gray paint ($595) with the optional Black Optic package ($1,650). The latter swaps the usual silver exterior trim, mirror housings, and roof rails for black versions; adds dark chrome exhaust tips; matching Audi rings; and switches the standard 20-inch alloys for 21-inch multi-spoke S-design rims with summer tires. The result is subtle, but also draws attention to how little of the front grilles and vents is actually open and functional.

Audi gets credit for throwing some colorful and more interesting finishes onto the options sheet this time. Yes, there's the usual black, white, and gray (and indeed solid Arkona White is the only free paint), but $595 will also get you Ultra Blue or Grenadine Red metallic — both charmingly bright — or the slick District Green metallic.

Chris Davies/SlashGear

LED headlamps and taillights are standard, but the Prestige trim swaps the rear clusters for Audi's clever — but functionally hamstrung in the U.S. — OLED versions. The same package also includes acoustic front glass and a panoramic sunroof.

Inside, Audi's latest dashboard tech looks just swell. There's an 11.9-inch digital driver display paired with a larger, 14.5-inch center touchscreen; navigation and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard. The Prestige trim gets a Bang & Olufsen 3D audio system, upgrades to the LED ambient cabin lighting, and a head-up display which uses optical trickery to make graphics like upcoming speed limit changes seemingly float toward you on the road ahead.

Chris Davies/SlashGear

It also includes the 10.9-inch front passenger touchscreen. That allows control over navigation and multimedia, as well as apps like YouTube. Sadly, there's no way to move the whole CarPlay UI to that screen.

Chris Davies/SlashGear

Leather is standard, though the Prestige swaps in nicer, Nappa leather; adds ventilation and massage to the standard heated front seats; and includes heated rear seats and a heated steering wheel. Even at its maximum intensity, I found Audi's massage to be a little on the gentle side. Tri-zone climate control is standard, and there's a wireless phone charging pad in the front and several USB-C ports front and rear.

It's a spacious SUV, Audi making good use of the two-row layout. Up front is obviously most pleasant, though second row legroom and headroom aren't disappointing as long as you're not in the middle spot. There, the combination of the drive tunnel and the way the center console protrudes adds some knee-smacking hard plastic angles to contend with.

Chris Davies/SlashGear

Falling in-between the Mercedes GLC and GLE in exterior dimensions unsurprisingly means the SQ5's interior straddles that competitor's lines, too. The Audi has more rear legroom (38-inches) than a GLC (37.4-inches) but less than the GLE (40.9-inches); its 27.6 cu-ft trunk bests the 21.9 cu-ft of the GLC but trails the 33.3 cu-ft of the larger GLE (and that also offers a snug optional third row). Drop the SQ5's second row seats down, and the trunk expands to 57.1 cu-ft.

Chris Davies/SlashGear

Meanwhile, the SQ5 is rated to tow up to 4,400 pounds (versus the 3,500 pounds of the similarly-powerful GLC 43 4MATIC, but short of the 5,060 of a GLE 450 4MATIC; both are roughly the same price as this SQ5 as-tested) with a tailer hitch a $650 option.

The big reason to go for the SQ5 over the regular Q5 is its extra cylinders, unsurprisingly. Out goes the 2.0-liter turbo-four with its 268 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque; in comes a 3.0-liter turbo-V6 with 362 hp and 406 lb-ft. It's paired to the 7-speed S tronic dual-clutch transmission and Quattro all-wheel drive.

Chris Davies/SlashGear

The result is a trimming of the 0-60 mph time from the 5.8 seconds of the four-cylinder to 4.6 seconds with the V6. Top speed climbs to 155 mph (assuming you have the optional summer tires; it's 130 mph with the standard-fit all-seasons). There's also sport adaptive air suspension and slightly larger front brakes (14.2-inches versus the Q5's 13.3-inches; the rears stick at 13-inches).

A 2025 SQ5 Premium starts at $66,095 (including $1,295 destination), or a roughly $12k premium over the entry-level Q5; the delta narrows slightly, to $10k, when you compare the top-level Prestige trims.

Hotter, though not scorching, describes the SQ5 well. In Comfort mode, it ambles like a reasonably powerful SUV on air suspension should. Pickup is just fine, and there's minimal roll in the corners without things getting unduly firm or crashy on low-quality road surfaces. Balanced mode brings in a little extra grunt when you push harder.

Switching into Dynamic mode — the most potent setting, since the SQ5 lacks an "RS" mode like some of the automaker's even feistier SUVs — promises the most aggression, automatically flipping the transmission into "S" mode, too. Certainly, it's more eager when you graze the accelerator (in Comfort mode the V6 is almost languid in how it wields its torque) and it feels more urgent. The steering weights up nicely, too, seeming more direct and connected to what's going on beneath you.

Chris Davies/SlashGear

All the same, despite the power numbers, the SQ5 doesn't seem too inclined to silly behavior. It's poised and swift, but there's none of the giddying mayhem in, say, Audi's RS3 (yes, that's a dinky sports sedan, but it has about the same starting price as an SQ5). Meanwhile, the soundtrack — from either what's under the hood or the quartet of tailpipes out back — isn't particularly sonorous.

Opting for the bigger engine comes with an economy penalty, though not one as large as you might expect. The SQ5 is rated for 19 mpg in the city, 26 mpg on the highway, and 22 mpg combined; the Q5's inline-four nudges those numbers up slightly, to 22 mpg in the city, 30 mpg on the highway, and 25 mpg combined. My own, mixed driving in the SQ5 saw just over 19 mpg.

There's a lot to like about the SQ5. It's handsomely styled — without being too ostentatious — along with practical and spacious inside, and the tech is generally well-presented. I like Audi's new infotainment system more and more each time I try it, and while I wish there was less glossy black plastic, and I'm still not convinced by the passenger display, as a whole this feels like a mature, solid luxury SUV.

Chris Davies/SlashGear

Problem is, having reviewed the SQ6 e-tron, Audi's 3.0-liter V6 doesn't feel quite so special. The SQ5 has a decent amount of torque, but the EV has more; it feels fast, but the SQ6 feels faster. And while the sound electric vehicles make remains controversial, I can't say I'd miss the underwhelming, grumbling whine from the gas-powered SUV's exhaust system. Audi definitely knows how to make a great sounding set of tailpipes — the RS Q8 Performance is evidence of that — but the SQ5 sounds half-hearted in comparison.

Not everyone is ready (or willing) to go electric, of course. Nor, for that matter, spend the $74,740 final sticker price of this particular SQ5 on a midsize luxury SUV, regardless of how slick it might be. For most drivers, the regular Q5 may not have the V6 power, but its lower cost of entry is far easier to justify. Even a top-spec Q5 Prestige with 20-inch wheels and metallic paint lands $11k under the example you see here.

As it is, the SQ5 feels like it occupies a compromise spot in the line-up: more than a Q5, certainly, but with the full commitment that an RS Q5 would represent. Audi apparently doesn't have one of those in mind, though, or at least not for the moment. I'm not asking for anything too extreme — and nor, I suspect, is the market — but at times the SQ5 simply feels a little too apologetic about its gas-powered nature.