Audi Ups Power In Redesigned 2017 Crossover Q5

For Audi, the Q5 crossover has been an important vehicle. In the eight years since it has been on sale, the automaker has sold more than 1.6 million of them globally. So, the new updated Q5 introduced at the Paris Auto Show is of prime importance to the Volkswagen subsidiary.

Paris Show Introduction

The redesigned Q5 sits on a longer wheelbase. The redesigned crossover sports a body that is longer, wider and taller than its predecessor. Assembled at the automaker’s new assembly plant in Puebla, Mexico, the crossover Q5 uses Audi’s new platform, the MLB Evo. It is the platform Audi now uses for vehicles with longitudinally mounted engines (inline).

For Audi, the redesigned Q5 is a key vehicle. A class-leader, the crossover was the “world’s best-selling SUV in its class,” Rupert Stadler, the chairman of Audi, said it was “no easy task to design its successor.” He said that the automaker had taken the best-seller “had set the bar a notch higher.” He called the whole process “very exciting.”

In Europe, where diesel vehicles make up a larger percentage of a model’s run, the Q5 will be offered with four diesel engine options. There Q5 will also be offered in the U.S. with a turbocharged gasoline engine. The U.S. version gets a new 252-horsepower, turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine. The new more powerful engine produces 32 more horsepower more than the current offering.

The redesigned Q5 uses the same technology found in in the A4 sedan and Q7 large crossover. In addition, the Q5 uses the same driver-assist system. Also, the restyled crossover offers:

• Audi’s virtual cockpit digital instrument cluster
• Audi’s latest MMI infotainment system
• Adaptive cruise control
• Lane-assist

Limited Hands-Free Driving

An interesting feature is traffic-jam assist. Partially autonomous, traffic-jam assist allows limited hands-free driving at slow speeds.

Audi also plans to offer a sporty version, the SQ5 to buyers. The model will be equipped with a turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6. Sales here will begin in the first half of 2017. Most likely, Audi says, sales will be in the second quarter. European deliveries begin early next year.