Audi Q5 - Practicality, comfort and boot space

If you’re wondering whether the Audi Q5 is big enough to accommodate four adults and their luggage, let us set your mind at rest: there’s decent space inside for those grown-ups, and the boot is just about big enough for three big suitcases and a couple of overnight bags.

The plug-in hybrid versions feature a flexible rear seat system that can alter the seat base fore and aft, and adjust the seat back angle to prioritise either cabin space or the boot capacity. The key benefit is that you can squeeze another 60 litres of boot space on top of the standard 550 litres. It’s available as a reasonably priced £360 option on the regular petrol and diesel model and is worthwhile specifying.

That aside, it’s hard to fault the package; the view out of the driver’s seat is excellent, it’s reasonably easy to place all four corners of the car in tighter manoeuvres, and there’s even some clever tech that knows when you’ve attached a roof box and adjusts the stability control systems accordingly to reflect the fact that you’ve got some extra weight higher up than normal.

Size

The Q5 is about par for the course in the premium SUV segment. Its length and width – 4.66 metres and 1.89 metres – are within a few millimetres of the BMW X3’s and Mercedes GLC’s dimensions. The Audi’s roofline does sit a little lower than the BMW’s, though, at 1.66 metres.

Perhaps more significantly, the second generation of the Q5 gained a few millimetres in wheelbase, so it’s now 2.82 metres. That’s still far from the longest in the class, but it does give the Q5 a fighting chance against the likes of the GLC when it comes to cabin space, particularly rear legroom.

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Leg room, head room and passenger space

Four adults will be extremely comfortable in the Q5. There’s bags of shoulder space and headroom up front, and the tapering roofline doesn’t manage to make it cramped for six-footers in the back. There’s really enough space, in fact, for the Q5 to cope with five adults on more than just a short journey; that’s a decent effort in this class. Despite the sloping roofline of the Sportback coupe-SUV model, it’s still perfectly fine for adults.

Getting in and out of the front seats is easy, thanks to the raised ride height you typically get in this type of SUV. Adults can slide in and out of the rear seats with relative ease, although the thick C-pillar means taller passengers may have to duck just a little to avoid bumping their head.

Audi offers a pair of ISOFIX points in the outermost rear seats, but there’s no real scope for this car to accommodate three child seats across the second row. This isn’t unusual in the class, though.

Boot Space

The Q5’s 550-litre boot is large enough to hold three decent-sized suitcases, with a couple of overnight bags squeezed in around them. But it’s not quite up to the class best in terms of capacity. By comparison, Jaguar’s F-Pace has a whopping 650 litres on offer, the new Mercedes GLC has up to 620 litres and the BMW X3 has 550 litres with its (fixed) rear seats in place. 

Fold down the rear seats completely, and the Q5’s capacity extends to 1,550 litres, which is 190 litres down on the Jaguar’s. 

However, it's worth noting that there’s a 14.4kWh (useable) battery under the plug-in hybrid Q5’s boot floor, which eats up a lot of boot space. With the rear seats in place, the Q5 PHEV (pictured below) offers 465 litres of cargo space, and 1,405 litres with the sliding 60:40-split rear bench down. There’s no under-floor storage either, so the charging cable also takes up some of the boot.

There are a couple of hanging hooks at the side of the Q5’s boot, and Audi offers a luggage net that does a decent job of keeping things clamped down to the floor on twistier roads.

The boot aperture is excellent, with a nice, wide opening – although there’s quite a high lip to lift items over. The tailgate operates electrically on all models; it’s activated by a button on the boot lid or the key fob, although there’s an option that allows you to perform the same function by waving your foot below the rear bumper.

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Towing

Those thinking of using the Audi Q5 to tow will welcome the 2,400kg, which should be more than enough to pull a caravan or some form of hobby vehicle. This doesn’t change between petrol, diesel, or body styles.

There is a slight reduction for the plug-in hybrid, but 2,000kg is still competitive.