Audi Q5 Sportback review

Once again, the interior of the Sportback will be very familiar to anyone that’s au fait with the facelifted Q5 SUV. We’re still not over Audi ditching the revolving clickwheel that controlled its old infotainment during that update, and sadly there’s no triumphant return here. 

That means the 10.1-inch central infotainment unit is a slightly laggy touchscreen, although at least there’s still a gloriously simple climate control panel with physical buttons and knobs. Great stuff. 

There’s Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard, and the 12.3-inch ‘Virtual Cockpit Plus’ is also included on all models. Audi does excel at interiors and this is no different. The materials are top quality – even the little dial below the steering wheel that adjusts the optional head-up display has a beautiful feel to it.

The only letdown is the plastic covers on the back of the front seats. There’s huge amounts of rear legroom back there so you’ll never have your knees pressed up against them, but the plastic used is super cheap and scratchy. Shame. Our test car came with brown leather, light blue stitching and wood inserts – or in other words, the perfect spec. 

We touched on practicality earlier on, but just to reiterate – the Sportback takes a 40-litre hit in the boot space department when compared to the standard SUV. It is quite a bulbous coupe-style shape though, so there’s plenty of headroom in the rear seats despite a 17mm lower roofline. Even six-footers can sit back there and still look through decent-sized side windows.