Before we delve into the driving characteristics of the R1.5-million 2024 Audi SQ5, replete with Black Edition addenda, we should take a broader snapshot of the automotive landscape. These days, manufacturers believe the path to untold automotive riches comes from zero-emissions electric mobility for the permanently prosperous. And while that may ring true for the top two percenters who’ve sold their latest tech company, here in the real world, motorists are not done with fossil fuels.
Which is a good thing for the 2024 Audi SQ5 SUV, because the Ingolstadt-based firm has been producing and refining its mid-size premium SUV to perfection since 2008. The Volkswagen Audi Group (VAG) invested so much into – and thinks so highly of the Audi Q5 – it used the architecture for a host of other premium brands within its stable. Nevertheless, how do we get along with the new 2025 Audi SQ5 3.0 V6 TFSI quattro Black Edition?
2024 AUDI SQ5 TFSI QUATTRO
For the longest time, Audi South Africa only offered an oil-burner SQ5 TDI in our diesel-loving South African market. I test drove that diesel a decade ago and absolutely loved it. So much so that I still keep an eye out for used examples online. Now, the 2024 Audi SQ5’s drink of choice is unleaded petrol and boy does it like to indulge. And that’s not meant in a derogatory sense. If you’ve got a turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 sending power to all four wheels through quattro all-wheel drive, you might as well make the most of the drivetrain and ensure it performs with power and panache. Which this does.
Remove the Black Edition badging, grille and quad exhausts, and the 2024 Audi SQ5 would look like any other garden variety Q5. Any layman will probably think it’s just another SUV passing them by. Clean, new OLED daytime-running-light signatures front and rear with animated indicators definitely catch the eye, too. As do the painted brake callipers and optional 21-inch alloy wheels with low-profile Pirelli P Zero rubber smeared over them.
PRACTICALITY PERSISTS
The cabin of the 2024 Audi SQ5 is inoffensively German. That’s to say conventional, supremely quiet, unerringly comfortable and brilliantly concise. There’s true satisfaction in the way everything works just as intended. The rapid influx of Far Eastern cars is putting this simple pleasure into sharp focus. The quilted leather seats secure you in place and there is no mod-con missing, even if the dashboard hard-points have aged compared to the tablet-screened newbies.
Leaving the key in your pocket adds convenience, especially with the standard-fit electronic tailgate. Refreshingly, almost everything in here comes standard on the 2024 Audi SQ5. The latest MMI, Wi-Fi hotspot, Audi Drive Select, 360-degree camera and park sensors, flat-bottomed steering wheel with paddles and SQ5 badges. The rear accommodation and boot are massive, too. With the seats folded flat, it can hold any sort of lifestyle paraphernalia, from mountain bikes to surfboards and more.
SINGLE-PLY RIDE
Even if you toggle the Audi Drive Select, the sports SUV has a pretty firm ride though. Off-road and All-road modes will lift the ride height when you venture onto gravel (pictured). However, you’ll mainly feel the reinforced anti-roll bars and minimal suspension travel. Any fluctuations over road gaps or potholes are jolted firmly back to the driver. It really feels like a sports SUV and we have nothing but praise for the impressive handling and body control on tarmac.
Likewise, the precise steering geometry and electronic power assistance feels as well-judged as the body control. Quattro all-wheel drive’s basic distribution is 40:60 between the front and rear axles. Although the self-locking centre differential can send as much as 85% rearwards to ensure you enjoy a quick blast on a twisty mountain road to the fullest.
QUICK STICKS
In most sports SUVs there’s an inevitable and inversely proportional relationship between speed and fuel economy. Mash your foot to the floor and you suffer a fuel needle dropping with vivid intensity. Not so in the 2024 Audi SQ5 TFSI. Drive like you’re treading on eggshells and you’ll return good single-digit economy figures. The claim is 9.2 l/100 km combined, but you can beat that in ideal conditions. However, succumb to your need for speed and your average fuel consumption will live in the double-digit l/100 km realm.
Better still, the 2024 Audi SQ5 – with its tall seating position and instantaneous response – can divide and conquer traffic at will. You scout gaps out easily, and people tend to underestimate the SQ5’s accelerative talents. In fact, it’s so good as any everyday commuter, there’s a whiff of superhero about how it blows past traffic. 260 kW and 500 Nm is accessed through a closely stacked ZF eight-speed automatic gearbox. There’s no dual-clutch histrionics, you simply swell with speed and momentum as the revs rise. And both up- and down-shifts are seamless in any drive mode.
THE VERDICT
There you have it, the 2024 Audi SQ5 TFSI quattro is a sports SUV first, and an impressive, dual character daily commuter foremost. The sizeable standard options list is another endearing bonus from the Ingolstadt manufacturer. There is no shortage of choice in the mid-size premium SUV sector currently. But we assure you, there is no one that does the performance SUV with as much finesse as this. Decades spent refining the formula stand the 2024 SQ5 in great stead. Who needs a sports car when your everyday SUV does such a convincing job?
THE FIGURES
- 2024 Audi SQ5 3.0 V6 TFSI quattro Black Edition
- Engine: 3.0-litre, 6-cylinder, turbopetrol
- Transmission: 8-speed automatic
- Power: 260 kW @ 4 600-6 000 r/min
- Torque: 500 Nm @ 2 000-4 400 r/min
- 0-100 km/h: 5.4 seconds
- Top speed: 250 km/h (limited)
- Fuel consumption: 9.2 l/100 km (claimed/combined)
- Price: R1 541 000
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