Fred D

Hey all, first off, happy thanksgiving!

I have had my Q5 TDI for two weeks and we made a 6 hour trip to see family. Two adults, two kids driving on state routes at about 60 mph with temps in the higher 20s.

Impressions:

1. Very comfortable, especially the seats. More comfortable than my previous mercedes or lexus.
2. Good in the slushy conditions with windy roads. Handling much, much better than the M class.
3. Very impressed with the mpg!

Filled up with about a half tank left (visiting Canada and wanted to avoid fill up there, so we filled up just south of the border). That first half included about 100 miles of driving in 50/50 city/highway at home first and about 180 highway. Trip computer said 30.5mpg, and Fuelly app said 29.2mpg. Then from there on was primarily highway for the next 150 miles or so and average is about 33mpg for trip computer, which I'm pleased with as there was some slower driving behind trucks and also cold weather conditions decrease mpg as well.

My guess is that when the engine is fully broken in and we do the drive in warmer weather that the numbers will get even better.

Definitely a Q5 TDI fan at this stage!

Mark P

Congrats - I agree on all accounts! I'm looking forward to my next road trip already

JBDinTX

Yes. I just made a 700 mile trip in my SQ5. Averaged about 23-24 MPGs. Car was loaded down. Seats are great and a smooth ride

DennisMitchell

That is very good mpg for a performance SUV. Enjoy.

Fred D

Update.

Using my Fuelly app, I obtained some more data. The majority of the trip was highway driving, but 20-30% city. Was averaging 32.2 mpg per the trip computer and fuelly app says 30.4, which is reasonably close IME.

Using the second trip computer fir just the drive home without the city miles, the trip computer averaged 35.1 mpg, which likely translates to 33mpg by the fill the tank method and see how much diesel was used (fuelly).

Outstanding IMO, as there were 4 people in the car and loaded up with stuff....

914Audi

Hi Fred

Several folks find the trip computer errs on the high side. Using actuals, I find the trip comp is about 6% higher than reality. I think Mark found he was closer to 10%. We both have fuelly accounts.

Even with the error, it's still great economy and performance.

Btw, I use GasBuddy to find my nearest Tier1 diesel.

Fred D

Thanks, yes I've seen those discussions and agree with your 6% figures.

Here is the challenge though.... I've also read that the odometers in most cars aren't always precise either. Some have measured speeds with GPS and they are different than the speedo in the car. This would imply that there could be errors in the odometer in many cars. My assumption, is that the vehicle over estimates our mpg.... But I'm suggesting that the method that we consider the 'gold standard' (Fuelly type method) might not be perfect either if odometers aren't as accurate as we think they are..?.

mhughett

Don't assume that because speedometers are often 5-10% above actual speed as calculated by a GPS that the odometer is also off by similar amounts. Car manufacturers always make the speedometers read high to help keep drivers within speed limits. However it is my understanding that the odometers are accurate. The fuelly method is definitely the most accurate way to measure fuel mileage.

MP4.2+6.0

We had the Q5 in Europe for 2200 miles. And while in Germany post break in-window, we did as the Germans do... The car was delivered with a temporary Garmin GPS, which meant we had the GPS speed reading on a quality display right there constantly with the speedo (as opposed to juggling some iPhone), plus we could lock in the vehicle speed with the cruise control. Well, up to its max permitted cruise speed anyway... Bottom line was at any rational US highway speed the error was either 0 or a single MPH. I typically only saw an error between 1 and 2 MPH in the 105-110 type speeds that worked on a lot of the more open Autobahn stretches and I don't recall ever seeing more than two consistently even all the way up to the governor the few times the road opened up and was reasonably straight. We were driving in "kph" of course, so the numbers are here are post the conversion; in the native displayed speeds, we didn't see any errors above 3 kph at fairly sustained speeds that would be an automatic trip to the pokey here.

Net, at least on our 2013 Hybrid with factory 19's as delivered it was about as accurate as I have ever seen in the recent Audis and some other vehicles I have been able to check against a GPS.

rarewolf

Corrections to the odometer notwithstanding, my correction (stock tires) was 7% ...