1 February 2026

Audi's Q5 would be easier to pick over BMW's X3 ... if you could actually use the driver's door

1 February 2026 | By James Coleman

The 2026 Audi Q5 is available in mild-hybrid or PHEV versions. Photo: James Coleman.

In most modern cars, designers have decided you should be hunting down by your right knee whenever you want to adjust the lights, or unlock the doors, or open the boot.

But in its new Q5 mid-size SUV, Audi has made all these controls much easier to reach. They’re right there, on the driver’s door, arrayed on a gloss-black panel that looks very coolly like a keypad on Dr Evil’s chair. It’s brilliant – whenever you want one of these controls.

See what I mean? Photo: James Coleman.

However, the rest of the time – when you’re trying to open the door, or close the door – it’s annoying.

Audi has provided a grab handle, but because of the keypad in the middle of it, it’s enormous. Certainly wider than my cossetted, office-spec, keyboard-fondling hands.

There are other flairs of design I don’t like on the Q5. Happily, there’s plenty of substance here to make up for them.

Photos: James Coleman

What is it?

Technically, the smaller Q3 is Audi’s best-selling model in Australia, and if we dug through the stats, we’d probably find real estate agents are largely to blame.

The Q3’s popularity is closely followed by the Q5 – Audi’s answer to the BMW X3/X4 and the Mercedes GLC.

The Q5 is available in two forms: the traditional SUV wagon, or – if you have $3500 more to spend and slightly less stuff to put in the boot – you can get the more coupe-like, slopier-roofed Sportback like this one, with a rear that now looks almost identical to the Mercedes. And more worryingly, BYD’s Sealion 7 (Google it, if you dare).

For 2026, all models are now electric in some way, from the ‘mild-hybrid’ petrol and diesel engines that add in a 48-volt battery system, to an ‘e-hybrid’ PHEV.

Mine, with its four-cylinder turbo-diesel mild-hybrid and vaguely sporty ‘S-Line’ badges, starts at $97,600. But add in metallic ‘District Green’ paint, 20-inch wheels, a “black exterior package” and privacy glass, and you’re paying $103,000.

What’s it like to live with?

The Q5 has always had a distinctive look, with sharp lines and triangular rear lights. Less so this time. It’s now more of a bubble. I’m not sure which I prefer, but if it’s getting confused with a BYD, that’s either a miss for the $100K SUV or a hit for the $50K one.

A big screen, but not all of it is actually a screen. Photo: James Coleman.

The interior is quintessentially Audi – hewn from a lot of grey and black rock with the finest tools. Except for a couple of areas.

For instance, you’ve already paid circa-$100K for an Audi, but there are clear reminders you should have spent more. Like blank pieces of plastic by the door handles that look like they’re standing in for a button. Or the slab of piano-black plastic on the passenger’s side of the dash, which on other posher models is a touchscreen. Here it’s just tacky.

Yeah, that slab of black plastic does nothing. Photo: James Coleman.

You also expect a visual feast from the massive touchscreen sweeping across the dash, only for a small rectangle between the steering wheel to light up with your dials and other info. The rest is just blank, black plastic.

And this is before you get to the grab handles.

Photos: James Coleman.

Styling oddities like these are surprising from Audi. Germans are meant to be functional. Italians are for silly flair like this.

The S-Line badges would have you believe this Q5 is also a bit sporty, and it is true that the suspension is appropriately stiff. But the steering feels a bit dead, and it’s really not that quick (0-100 km/h takes 7.4 seconds). The lane-keeping assistance is also far too snatchy, tugging at the wheel when I was just trying to put the car through a corner.

But there is plenty of good here, too.

I think this is the first sporty diesel I’ve driven. I was sceptical of how well this would work, especially when diesels from the VW Group have historically sounded like several trays of Goliath’s cutlery rolling past.

But it’s a very silky engine, doing its best impression of a petrol in how it doles out the power – especially when you put it in ‘Dynamic’ mode.

It’s not exactly advertised very strongly – there are no hybrid badges – but you can really feel the effect of that electric motor when you first take off, ironing away any jerkiness from the dual-clutch gearbox.

Being a diesel, it’s also incredibly fuel-efficient. Not to sound like a dad boasting around a BBQ about his new leaf blower – but I was averaging 6 litres per 100 km on the highway between Canberra and Sydney, and then 7 around town. That’s RAV4 Hybrid good. Even if it’s not the average of 5.4 litres that Audi claims.

Is the Sportback worth the $3500 extra? Photo: James Coleman.

The verdict

The Q5 feels like Audi attended the same design class as BMW did for its latest X3, where the teacher was a bit more arty-farty and prone to extravagant blue-sky wondering about things that should really be simple, like how to close a door.

The BMW is probably a sportier drive. And the Mercedes is still there if you want class. But even with its flaws, the Audi still feels better built than both of them. And for about $20K less than the equivalent diesel X3 (the BMW 40d xDrive starts from $108,900).

But maybe that’s only fair if it looks like a BYD.