2011 Audi Q5 Consumer Reviews

The best vehicle I’ve ever owned. I’ve owned wrangler, Land Rover sports, jaguar, jeep Cherokee, chevy ss, ford bronco, mercury cougar (now I’m telling my age) my q5 beats them all; Reliable, great gas mileage, low maintenance, great comfort ride on the highway and style. The greatest mention: I’ve had brakes replaced only once (front and back). With the others I had brake replacements every other year.

My 2010 3.2 liter white is the best car I’ve ever owned. Looks like a new car. Bought a A6 All Road last year. Great car but just can’t bring myself to sell the Q5.

I bought this 1 year used, and for the most party for about 7 years it had no issues at all, just brought them in for recalls that never gave me problems where the dealership took good care of me. Only after year 7, things had to be repaired like the CV boot, coolant hose. Smooth ride, nice roomy trunk, some people say the backseat is roomy. Drawback is that parts are very expensive to fix and sometimes even your local specialized mechanic can't do it so you have to take it to the dealer, which is even more expensive.

I wasn't really looking into buying a white 2012 Audi Q5, but to my surprise, I purchased a Prestige...thinking it was a premium plus. Which means, I received an upgraded 14 speaker B&O system with 505 watt sub. I have the S-Line which I think, has 20 HUGE wheels, sportier frame and darker rear tinted windows. There's even a warm and cold cup holding area. This is my first FANCY grown up car ( I'm 55 buy has had a 2005 Ford truck with NO bells & whistles) This SUV is large enough for 5 but feels/drives like a luxury sedan. It's so smooooth and responsive. I purchased used BUT because I've heard of incidents ruining engines and belts due to infrequentl oil changes, purchased a 2yr. bumper to bumper warranty. I know there is a faulty blind spot issue AND though rear hatchback is adjustable when opened( normal opening is WAY too low, I CAN'T get it to hold memory when elevated higher..its frustrating!!!! BUT I'm IN LOVE with the interior and dashboard design; the sound system is Deafening (Incredible!!). The real leather seats are buttery soft and comfortable for those long trips. I was religiously keeping my truck up with servicing and will continue with this White beauty, HOPEFULLY, for many years of driving bliss.

I bought a 2016 Audi Q5 premium Plus 2.0T AWD in 2020. I will say I wish I had done more research on the vehicle and brand before I bought it but it was all you could ask for in a luxury vehicle (leather seats, panoramic sunroof, comfortable, smooth drive, etc.) until it wasn’t. I got all my recommended maintenance done at an Audi dealership since I purchased the car. I really enjoyed driving it until I started to notice the car was having oil consumption issues in late 2022. I took the car to a dealership and explained about the light jumping on and the dealership brushed it off and said a car typically needs the oil topped off between recommended oil changes. They topped it off free of charge and then I was on my way. A few weeks later, I had to take my car back to the dealership because the “Add A Quart of Oil” symbol/message popped up again. This time the dealership listened to me and began running oil consumption tests on my vehicle. The car went from needing a quart of oil every 300 miles to needing oil every 100 miles at times. The guy at the dealership finally told me, “ It’s an excessive oil consumption issue. It’s known to Audi. The fix would be replacing the piston and piston rings. It’s about a $12,000 job. We have one in the back now.” My jaw dropped but I was not too disappointed because I bought a service contract but that route didn’t work out because they wanted me to pay for half and I’m still paying on the car. I was disappointed because Audi had a previous recall for this for model years 2009-2011 and I noticed last year a class action suit was in the works which initially included my model year (2012-2017). However, it was settled a few months ago and they only agreed to cover 2012-2014 Audi Q5 model years. I have read message boards where other people with 2015, 2016, and 2017 model years are in the same boat as me. I am going to have to get a new vehicle and it won’t be an Audi. I say all that to say this puts this vehicle low on the reliability scale for me and for the money you pay out for it, the issues that have been known since 2009 should not still be unaddressed in 2024.

I took delivery of my 2014 Audi Q5 (3.0TCFI C6) new on 3/3/14. It now has 58,663 miles. I like the looks of the car and how it drives, but I don’t like a long-standing problem related to the check engine light and the secondary air port. It is a problem that Audi is aware of, but refuses to help with. In an online forum (https://forums.ross-tech.com/index.php?threads/33670/), one expert (Jef at the end) posted in an August 2022 thread: “There is a design flaw with the 3.0 and 3.2 V6 engines, we get calls on this fairly often. In a nut shell, around 80K miles or so the bores in the heads need to be steam cleaned with that special tool as noted in the TBS” (https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2019/MC-10155651-9999.pdf). It is a problem Audi was aware of in the past; in fact, they extended warranties for “2009-12 Model Year Audi vehicles with 3.2L engine, and certain 2009-2013 Model Year Audi vehicles with 3.0T engines” to cover “cleaning of the engine cylinder head secondary air ports to remove carbon buildup under specific conditions to 10 years or 120,000 miles” (https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2013/MC-10124621-9999.pdf). They don’t seem to have fixed the issue for 2014 cars. I first had trouble with the CEL in 2019. I had a diagnosis on 7/23/19 that indicated a secondary air injection system code (P244200) which would require further diagnosis; they did this on 8/30/19 and recommended replacing the Bank2 combination valve outlined in the TSB 2040403/5. This work was done on 9/6/19. On 2/14/20, I again brought the car in for the CEL, and the tech found “sporadic fault for bank 1” but found the valve working and ports sounding fine, so he said he would readdress the issue if the light came back. It didn’t come back on for quite a while. My next record of the CEL problem is on 1/27/23. The tech found “passive/sporadic fault P049100 for AIR system insufficient flow bank 1.” They cleared the code and test drove, but code did not return, so they didn’t recommend service. The CEL was sporadic that fall, but it wouldn’t stay on long enough to get into service at Thelen for the codes to be read. I worked with Kyle on this for a few months (making appointments but having to cancel them due to the light going out). They finally stayed on long enough for an appointment on 3/29/24, which began the process resulting in the replacement of the passenger side bank1 combination valve and gasket on 4/22/24 due to codes PO491 and PO492. When the check-engine-light (CEL) came back on and I returned to Thelen on 4/29/24, the tech indicated the secondary air port cleaning needed to be done (the tech cited the TSB2033001/26). This was finished on 5/31/24. Diagnostic charges for this problem have been expensive and the repairs even more so (about $4,000 so far). I hope the last repair worked but probably won’t know until colder weather. The fact that Audi refused to stand behind its problem is why I will purchase an American or Japanese car when it is time to replace this one. (I have a 2016 Ford Edge Sport that hasn’t had any non-covered issues so far.)

It’s nice but when it comes to 2015, they do use a foil every 600 miles are going to be out of premium oil. It only takes premium gas on 2015‘s actually has engine issues. But the biggest problem with this car is the Sideview mirror magically on the driver side is a major Blindspot. Mirrors oversize so unless you were like 511 or six, but you’re not gonna sit in the seat at the right height to see around the mirror and create danger.

Really great midsize SUV. I'm a long time car guy and really enjoy all aspects of this car/suv. 2.0t engine has decent enough fuel economy, While also providing very good power (220 hp/258 torque) because of the turbo and the six speed DSG gearbox. AWD is nice especially In places like where I live… high Rocky mountains of Western Colorado.