The Audi Q5
receives a more potent diesel motor and we take its top-end avatar to the land
of sun and sand to see how much has changed. How exactly did it take the heat?
Read on to find out.
It’s not every
day that we find someone who is fun to be with, loves speeding things up
without a second thought and doesn’t blink or leave you wanting when the going
gets rough. It is true that there are a few good ones, some have small hearts
and some have big ones. The Audi Q5 has become quite the popular SUV, what with
its 2.0-litre diesel motor delivering miles and smiles to buyers, while keeping
them and everyone they care about in a safe and comfortable environment to top
it all. However, the 2.0 TDI isn’t the only one there; for those who want more
of everything, Audi have had the solution since the beginning of the Q5’s
existence. The updated car with the more powerful V6 has even greater numbers
and more thrills up its sleeve, er, sleeves.
The Q5 is an
SUV that brings all the parameters into one cabin: performance, luxury and
sportiness, you have all in one combination
The new Q5 3.0
TDI packs a powerful 3.0-litre V6 diesel motor and is available only with the
S-line trim package. While the power is up by a single-digit figure, the torque
gain is massive. The revised styling, more notably the new layout for the LED
daytime running lights, is quite distinguished. The big 19” wheels and S-line
badges are hard to miss as well. This was a special car indeed and we figured
the city and its outskirts had seen enough of us, so we decided to take the
road we usually hit, but this time avoid the U-turn and go the distance. That
meant none other than Goa, a tourist hot spot, yes, but it was also a great
time to head there.
Bags packed
and stuffed into the big boot, we set off in the wee hours while daylight’s
alarm still hadn’t begun warming up. The Q5 has always been an extremely
refined, smooth and dependable car, and when travelling, it becomes more than
that; it becomes a companion. Spending long hours at the wheel over hundreds of
kilometres at a stretch can lead to all sorts of
discomfort for the driver and other occupants as well, and having the right car
can make or break the whole experience of the journey together. That’s where
the Q5 ticked all the right boxes.
S-line trim is
evident from the badges and special 19” wheels giving more than subtle hints
The seating
position is quite high, but the cabin feels familiar and luxury-sedan-like. The
airy roominess of the cabin is something all will appreciate and the climate
control. The big V6 turbo-diesel makes so much torque so low down the rev range
that the whole process of getting a move on seems effortless from the moment
you begin. The huge 75-litre fuel tank meant we wouldn’t have to stop anywhere
en route. The highway leading out of Pune and past Satara
and Kolhapur was dismissed in a mere couple of hours or so. With the traffic at
hand, the power from the motor was more than adequate to blast past. With the
added grunt, it takes less than three seconds to roll from 40 to 80 km/h.
Standstill to 100 km/h also is just over seven seconds away. At no point did
the car felt like it was running out of breath, because considering the rate it
breathes, we knew we really weren’t anywhere near the limits of its
performance.
Wing mirrors
are large and offer a good view of all you leave behind
Under the
bonnet, the 3.0-litre V6 TDI diesel motor makes 245 PS between 4,000 and 4,500
RPM and a hefty 580 Nm of torque from just 1,400 RPM, which stays up until
3,250 revs. That engine is paired to the seven-speed S-Tronic transmission and
the signature quattro all-wheel drive, which, with
the car’s smart onboard electronics, optimize power delivery to suit every road
surface and give the driver a feeling of complete control while ever so gently
reassuring the fact that the car is indeed capable of more. The drive is split
40-60 front and rear, but can be varied to suit traction levels within
milliseconds of any detected slip due to a change in road surface.
