Audi Q5 Named Best Luxury Compact SUV For Families By U.S. News & World Report

The 2014 Audi Q5 has been named Best Luxury Compact SUV for families by U.S. News & World Report. The Q5 took the top prize in one of 19 automotive categories that highlight vehicles which make driving for families easier.

A variety of factors, including professional auto reviews, safety and reliability ratings and family-friendly features, were evaluated in determining the winners of each category. The award was announced on the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Cars website.

Additionally, the Audi Q5 topped a consideration list in a recent luxury survey conducted by GfK, the brand-consulting firm. For the first time, the Q5 led all its competitors in both “good opinion” and “would consider buying the vehicle” categories. The Audi Q5 beat the BMW X3, Lexus RX and Mercedes M-Class in each measure. GfK determined results by surveying American luxury consumers who were in the market for a vehicle in the segment from October through November of 2013. The survey is conducted twice a year.

GermanNut - 3/13/2014 7:05:02 PM

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This is a great honor for Audi and not surprising considering the Audi Q5 is the best-selling SUV in its class.

cidflekken - 3/13/2014 8:34:58 PM

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Um, in the US, the Acura RDX bested the Q5 in 2013 and so far in 2014.

JRobUSC - 3/14/2014 12:48:09 PM

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year to date so has the X3.

CarreraS - 3/16/2014 12:29:04 AM

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The RDX sucks harder than Tyler Perry at a bath house.

Terry989 - 3/13/2014 8:27:44 PM

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Nutty - - - I'm not sure how you can justify the Q5 as the best selling SUV in it's class? It certainly is the best selling SUV for Audi, driving more than 25% of their sales, but compared to the competition in the US it's a laggard. In the "Good Car Bad Car" summary it ranked number 40 out of 85 SUVs in sales volume, barely breaking the average. In its class, it was bested by the Buick Enclave, Acura MDX, Mercedes M-Class, BMW X3, BMW X5, Acura RDX and Buick Encore.

cidflekken - 3/13/2014 8:37:00 PM

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These "awards" and "surveys" can be so annoying. They surveyed buyers from October and November 2013. That's it?? Not taking anything away from the Q5, which is a great SUV, but what kind of representative sampling is that? Ridiculous.

GermanNut - 3/14/2014 12:10:53 PM

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Terry989, I don't include Acura or Buick as competitors. The Q5 outsells both the BMW X3 and Mercedes-Benz GLK for the purposes of my comparison.

Terry989 - 3/14/2014 12:37:50 PM

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Nutty - - - Well of course not - - - silly me. When you have no competitors in class, or you hand pick the competitors to justify your outrageous humping of the Audi rings, then the Q5 must be number one in it own class.

GermanNut - 3/14/2014 1:02:27 PM

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Buick Encore and Buick Enclave? Acura MDX? Terry, how many people do you know look to cross-shop a BMW, Mercedes-Benz or Audi with a Buick or Acura?

We can uses different definitions of "class" to justify our claims but some of the competitors you listed are probably cross-shopped by less than 1% of buyers.

BMWm4 - 3/14/2014 1:39:40 PM

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Nuttie ... In the US, the BMW X3 6,000 units outsold the Q5 at 5,417 units year to date. Which figures are you speaking about as the Q5 doesn't outsell the X3?

Terry989 - 3/14/2014 2:17:02 PM

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Ahhh - - - now you pull the cross shopping card. Call it cross shopping or no shopping, there are plenty of people that that could well afford a German SUV, but for what ever personal reason, prefer the Buick to Acura to the Jelly bean shaped Audi. I'd say it's a fair guess that you and Audi's marketing department are at odds with each other. You believe people who buy a Buick or Acura SUV over an Audi would NEVER(<1%)buy an Audi, yet Audi marketing views these a part of their target SAM.

GermanNut - 3/14/2014 2:36:47 PM

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Audi is more concerned about attracting BMW and Mercedes-Benz customers than Acura customers. Notice that Audi regularly discusses its "competitors" sales results and Acura is never a part of that. Way to try and bring in non-direct competitors into the equation to twist the argument in your favor. I prefer to make the group smaller for purposes of "truer" competitors.

http://audiusanews.com/newsrelease.do;jsessionid=384E73BBC03C65520AD0ED46FA95FC65?&id=3645&mid=1

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bmw-group-us-reports-december-and-2013-sales-238625731.html

For 2013 YTD, the Audi Q5 outsold the BMW X3 in the U.S. by 9,732 units.

The 2013 YTD figures only include data for January and February.

So BMWm4, yes the Audi Q5 outsold the BMW X3 for the last full year of data and in percentage terms the Audi is ahead by almost 32% - that's a big difference.

BMWm4 - 3/14/2014 3:14:15 PM

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For 2013 that would be correct, yet for 2014 so far, the X3 has outsold the Q5

BMW 6,000 units year to date for 2014 & that number will grow larger with the 2015 model arriving soon in the new design.

Audi so far in 2014 is only at 5,417 units putting it behind BMW by 600 units already

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49596

BMWm4 - 3/14/2014 3:26:14 PM

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If you want to use past results, then in 2012 the Q5 only sold $28k units in the USA. The X3 on the other hand sold 35,700 units.

GermanNut - 3/14/2014 2:37:43 PM

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* 2014 YTD figures only include data for January and February.

BMWm4 - 3/14/2014 3:17:18 PM

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and so far this year the X3 has outsold the Q5

GermanNut - 3/14/2014 3:41:17 PM

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BMWm4, your 2012 figures are not only outdated but they help support the amazing success of the Audi Q5. The Q5 increased its sales by some 12,000 units from 2012 YTD to 2013 YTD, which equates to an increase of nearly 43% - that's a huge improvement.

Let's see if BMW's X3 can keep its lead over the Audi Q5 for 2014 YTD. I highly doubt the BMW X3 will make up a 32% or nearly 10,000 unit deficit in one year.

BMWm4 - 3/14/2014 4:15:41 PM

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yet they will with a New design and then introducing the most Fuel efficient Small Suv in the market with the X3 2.8d with an estimated 41 mpg highway ...

GermanNut - 3/14/2014 5:12:08 PM

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Let's wait and see. Audi also has the diesel and hybrid Q5 models to compete. Should be interesting but I predict the Q5 stays ahead of the BMW X3 for 2014 YTD.

cidflekken - 3/16/2014 5:33:58 PM

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So, this is what's interesting about this outcome:

The Q5 is actually ranked BELOW the Acura RDX in US News' overall ratings of compact SUVs (overall score of 8.6 for the Q5 vs 8.7 for the RDX). Granted, they are ranked #1 and #2 for all compact SUVs. AND, it received a reliability rating of 2.5 out of 6, whereas the RDX received a reliability rating of 4.0 out of 6.

As a buyer, which would be more important to you? Using their in-depth review and rating of the Q5 and its reliability rating, or questions asked of shoppers within a pretty narrow time frame? (Not that US News' rating of any car would sway my decision, but I think you get my point).

cidflekken - 3/16/2014 5:39:39 PM

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And let me add that this Audiworld article is a bit suspect in its write-up. It states that the Lexus RX and Mercedes M-Class, two formidable competitors were bested by the Q5.

I call foul. US News lists BOTH the RX and ML as midsize SUVs, not compact SUVs. Why would a writer for an Audi site cite the Lexus and Mercedes as bested by the Q5? Well, you can generate your own opinions there, but I think it's pretty clear to me.