Aeroboffin

About 3 months ago I leased a Q5 Hybrid. This replaced a Q5 2.0 which I drove for the previous 2 years. None of the test reports I read about the Q5 Hybrid were complementary of the hybrid system. One journalist concluded that the car only made any sense in Orange County (reduced emissions). And if an owner wanted to burn less fuel, then diesel was the best option. The report was testing an early version of the car and the journalist also remarked that Audi needed to address the juddering from the dual clutch system before releasing the vehicle onto the market. The Q5 Hybrid that I have judders, shudders and clonks, quite alarmingly at times when starting from rest. On the way home tonight, when leaving the highway and pulling up behind a stationary vehicle, when almost stopped, the gasoline engine suddenly fired-up and the car lurched forwards. I jammed on the brakes and narrowly avoided running into the rear of the stationary vehicle. The journalist also remarked that the brakes have quirks. I fully agree with this!!

My main problem is the Q5 Hybrid fuel consumption. The figure in the brochure (and pointed out to me by the Audi sales associate) for city use is 8.6 l/100km. My Q5 is using 14.6 l/100km (70% more than the claimed fuel consumption). Incidentally, the previous Q5 2.0 over the 40,000 km that I drove it, used only 1 l/100km more than the brochure figures for highway or city use. I concluded that 6 l/100km more than the brochure figure for the hybrid was excessive and there must be something wrong with the vehicle, especially considering that the daily use of the hybrid is exactly the same as the 2.0. Does anybody else have a Q5 Hybrid using excessive amounts of fuel? Yesterday I returned the Q5 Hybrid to the dealer. They said that their three technicians trained for the hybrid found nothing wrong with my Q5 Hybrid. Also they told me that in the winter months I should expect increased fuel consumption (they did not seem to think that 70% increase was abnormal) and in the spring, I will notice the fuel consumption reduce. If this is true, then why is Audi trying to sell this vehicle in Canada? Both Q5s were garaged at night and on checking the fuel consumption figures for the 2.0, this did not have an increased fuel consumption in the winter months (OK I acknowledge that this winter is more severe than the previous two winters). Clearly as my Q5 Hybrid is burning 3 l/100km more than the Q5 2.0, its claim to be environmentally friendly is obvious nonsense.

From my experience of the Q5 hybrid I leased, Audi took a good vehicle and ruined it!! Apparently the Q5 Hybrid is the first hybrid that Audi have attempted. Clearly Audi does not understand the technology. From my experience I would concur with the journalist, unless you live in Orange County buy the diesel if fuel consumption is an issue. Otherwise stick with the non-hybrid, have a smooth ride and save the planet!! It is not the first time that Audi have released a clonker. The TT when first released suffered several high-speed crashes and fatalities. All cars were recalled and modified. How long before I receive a recall notice?

Aeroboffin

After 6 months of my Q5 Hybrid, I had enough of the clonking, juddering, excessive fuel consumption and erratic behavior. So next week, the Hybrid Horror will be gone, preferably to the big garage in the sky but probably to another unfortunate person hoping to save the planet and his wallet by burning less gas. In the 8500 km that I drove the Q5 Hybrid, it used 30% more fuel than the government figures. This included the recommended 15% increase for highway driving and 10% for city driving above the Audi brochure figures which the government tests says give "more realistic" figures. The unexpected acceleration and decelerations frightened my wife so much that she refused to drive the car. But to be honest, I enjoyed driving the Q5 Hybrid. It made me feel young again!! It was like the clunkers that I drove in my teens. And I figured out that the best way to save gas was to keep the combustion engine running!! Really?? Just think about it. The hybrid generator, the power electronic control box and the hybrid battery are not 100% efficient (they get hot and have their own cooling systems). So once the hybrid motor has drained the hybrid battery, the combustion engine then has to propel the car and recharge the hybrid battery using additional gasoline to make up for the inefficiency in the hybrid components. Of course the hybrid battery can also be recharged by braking. That is the trick then, not to propel the car more than a few meters using the electric motor but charge the hybrid battery when braking. This stored power can then be used to power the HVAC (which contributed to the car using 70% more gas than the government figures, in the severe winter)!!

Every so often motor manufacturers release "a lemon". Audi, what were you thinking??

flightmedic

Yikes. Makes the TDI look like
a rockstar from this report

Aeroboffin

The TDI is definitely the one to go for!!

Sugarphreak

I've never been a fan of Hybrids. They try to convince you that you are saving the earth by packing cars full of heavy metal batteries from mines that cause some of the worst damage on the planet... no thanks.

Huge turn off about the X3 when I test drove it is the standard version has regen brakes and start/stop... what a bunch of nonsense. Give me simple and reliable... you can keep the 1mpg saving technologies and the excessive prices and unreliable performance that comes with them.


TDI is good... but again, not a fan of the overly complex emissions systems they are putting in them now. Those systems are going to be a huge PITA in about 5 years when they start to need work done.