Audi SQ5 takes diesel on a power trip

The powerful Audi SQ5 is an SUV boasting astonishing performance

ACCORDING to the 1978 edition of The Observer’s Book of Automobiles (unearthed by a colleague during a tidy-out), anyone in the market for a car with 300 or more bhp back then was limited to a smattering of V12-engined Ferraris and Lamborghinis.

The Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith II probably fitted the bill as well, but its maker didn’t disclose power outputs back then. What we now call the sport utility vehicle segment was represented by the Range Rover and Matra Simca Rancho. Diesel cars, the little book would have you believe, did not exist.

Slim pickings indeed. Wind the clock forward 35 years, however, and three worlds collide in the shape of the Audi SQ5 TDI. With 309bhp and a 70s-Lambo-crushing 649Nm of torque to propel it, this is the first diesel-engined car to wear Audi’s high-performance “S” badge. In fact, it’s the fastest diesel-engined SUV you can buy and faster than 99 per cent of 1978’s slow-moving metal.

To achieve this, Audi has lifted its BiTurbo diesel motor out of the A6 and plonked it under the bonnet of the Q5. Three litres, six cylinders, two turbochargers, eight gear ratios and four-wheel drive is a formula for astonishing performance. Zero-to-60 takes five seconds, and the top speed is limited – limited – to 155mph.

Is building a two-and-a-half-miles-a-minute SUV a sign that Audi – nay, the world – has gone stark raving bonkers, or testament to the irrepressible march of brilliant engineering? A bit of both.

What’s definitely brilliant is that the SQ5 doesn’t sound like a diesel. Thanks to some fancy acoustic engineering in the exhaust pipes, there’s a burble from the back at idle and a throaty thrum as the car picks up speed that would do a V8 petrol proud. Your passengers won’t believe they’re in an oil-burner until you stop for fuel, which, as long as behave yourself, won’t happen very often. A combined-cycle fuel consumption figure of 41.5mpg and a 16.5-gallon tank means the SQ5 is capable of 685 miles between fill-ups. Edinburgh to Paris, in other words.

It’s quite a stylish choice for a trip to Europe. The SQ5 sits 30mm lower on its springs than lesser Q5s, which makes it look more like a tall estate than something with off-road ambitions. What’s bad for ground clearance is good for handling, though, and the SQ5 fairly zips through corners. Body roll is well controlled and the ride, although firm, is not what you’d call uncomfortable.

The SQ5 sits four in comfort, five at a pinch. Lots of leather and soft-touch plastics make the cabin a good place to be. The driver can select from an array of driving modes that alter throttle response and steering feel. I liked “Dynamic” mode, for the way it firmed up the steering wheel. And because I like to think “Dynamic” could be my middle name.

Standard kit includes 20-inch alloys, leather upholstery, Our test car was fitted with £11,000-worth of options, including 21-inch wheels (£1,250), a panoramic sunroof (£1,125) and a 500-watt Bang & Olufsen sound system.

It also looked resplendent in its Glacier White paint, a £615 option. Skulking along the inside lane of the motorway, we thought we looked like undercover police, until the actual police went past in a silver Audi A4 Avant, reminding us that the rozzers don’t “do” white cars any more.

Not like they did in ’78.

VITAL STATS

CAR Audi SQ5

PRICE £44,055 (£55,070 as tested)

PERFORMANCE Max speed 155mph; 0-62mph 5.1secs

MPG (combined) 41.5mpg

CO2 EMISSIONS 179g/km