Audi SQ5

Audi sticks with the fast diesel treatment for its mid-sized SUV. Is it a winning combo?

MODEL TESTED SPORTBACK TDI QUATTRO

Price £61,945 Power 337bhp Torque 516lb ft 0-60mph 5.1sec 30-70mph in fourth 5.0sec Fuel economy 29.0mpg CO₂ emissions 215g/km 70-Omph 47.8m

We like .

• For the most part, it has a likeable, brisk but laid-back temperament
• It combines sporting pace with responsible touring economy cleverly
• Cabin is broadly practical, pleasant and easy to interact with

We don't like

• Audi's habitual luxury focus blunts the driver appeal somewhat
• Ride comfort isn't quite what you would expect
• Second-row passenger space is only just about adult-appropriate

Bring to mind one of Audi's S-model fast executive cars and you are likely to picture a more traditional example - an S8 limousine, perhaps, or an S4 Avant performance estate. Quite understandably, since they are among the ones we have known for the longest. But in 2022, Audi's more familiar go-faster options are being commercially outperformed by its newer-groove models, one of which is in our road test crosshairs this week.

The SQ5 Sportback entered Audi's UK showrooms in early 2021, along with the rest of the Q5 Sportback model line-up. It has since become one of the strongest selling of all Audi's modern S cars. Among the firm's classic, long ways front-engined, four-wheel-drive performance execs, only one outsold the SQ5 in the UK market in the first half of 2022 (if you combine volumes for the regular Q5 and the new Sportback) - and that was the SQ7.