With all of the safety tech on the XC60 and that amazing turbo straight six, I would almost pick that over the Q5. IMO the Q5 is actually worse looking than the not so good looking GLK.

 

It's an 05 last year of the BMW M62, I was waiting on a Java Black 07 with charcoal interior to come in. The only one they had was Java Black on sand. And I got a call from a friend who owns a dealer, he made me an offer I could not refuse. It has every option including the leather interior package.

 

Test drove the Q5 today and I got to say I was impressed. It has a lot of room inside, especially the rear seat. I easily fit and I'm 6'1". Its quick, quicker then I thought it would be with a small V6. I also took it offroad to try out the hill descent feature and see if it could handle it. I was surprised how well it did, it does need a little bit more ground clearance. We didn't realize it had an offroad setting on the ESP, might have done even better had that been selected. Nice fit and finish inside. Overall a very nice little SUV.

 

Good ride, I like their price point especially. I think I like the exterior of the GLK much better though, haven't been inside one yet. The Q5 does drive quite well.

 

The Q5 is so ugly on the outside IMO for an SUV. It almost looks like what an ugly last gen A4 allroad would look like. I can't believe its Volvo who actually has the best looking car in this segment!

 

Have you seen them both in real life? I'd take the Q5 based on looks. Just a darker coloured one.

 

Yep, maybe it was because it was white?

 

A white one is fugly indeed on the Q5. Dark blue / black and similar colours are better.

 

Unfortunately, this kind of money doesn't/didn't (with this economy) go far these days.

 

Dammit, germeezy! Get out there and test drive the Q5 and tell me if it's good or not . My wife drives a Q7 4.2 and she was thinking the Q7 would be more fun to drive if not so big.

 

I've driven both the Q7 4.2 and the Q5 3.2 both fully loaded. The Q7 is a little nicer inside, but the Q5 has more peep and is fun to drive.

 

Thank you for this comparison! I have resisted driving the Q5 because I can't resist buying a new car after test driving it. If you had a 3 and a 5 yr old and drove a Q7, do you think you would regret trading down to the Q5 (utility-wise)?

 

My wife prefers the looks of the XC60 plus the safety features, we also really liked our XC90. But the bottom line is its too small, with my daughters car seat in the middle we can barely fit people on either side in the Range Rover. I liked the LR2 it was a great drive, I wish it had the turbo 3.2 though.

 

Yes, the Q7 is more family friendly. There is a lot of room in the back seat of the Q5, but if I had kids I'd want more protection. Like an M1 tank, not to say the Q5 is not safe. If you had your family plus 1 more it would be tight inside the Q5.

 

Thanks again. The Q5 does look good to me, based on the A5 platform vs. an SUV platform. But it is all relative to other choices at the end of the day. I've owned pretty much every sort of Audi over the past 9 years, so to me this is a strong addition to their lineup. I love the Q7 for its utility, comfort, and with the S-Line it actually handles pretty well. But it's a pig performance-wise, and I hate the transmission at least on the 4.2. It's way too shift-happy. Keep it at a steady throttle from a stop, and you'll end up in 6th gear going 35 miles an hour. It's terrible. I'm guessing and hoping the 3.2 in the Q5 isn't that trigger happy.