Audi Q5 test drive since 2008 SUV

Audi Q5 Hybrid Quattro. Transition period

Audi Q5 Hybrid Quattro. Price: Not defined. On sale: from the second half of 2011

In the spring of 2011, sales of the new gasoline-electrical Audi Q5 Hybrid Quattro will start in Europe. We managed to get to know the novelty in her homeland in Ingolstadt ahead of time

Test pilot
Mikhail Medvedev, 34 years old, automobile journalist, driving experience of 14 years, personal car - Mazda3

No, it is impossible to get used to it! Which once again driving a hybrid car and once again I feel like a green newcomer. And here again, or rather again ... I press the engine start button, but nothing happens. Fasten, and you can go, the Audi instructor smiles from the right chair, who, of course, has long been accustomed to not be surprised.

Well, of course, you can! I curse myself with the last words. After all, like many hybrid models, the Audi Q5 touches only with the help of a silent electric motor!

But it’s really late to tear your hair on yourself, it's time to go. I add gas, and the car smoothly takes from a place in respectful silence and without the slightest hint of vibration. For a moment, you feel that you are deaf. For fidelity, I lower the glass, and everyday sounds immediately burst into the salon, along with cool autumn air: a distant highway noise, the rod of a diesel heel that had passed towards the ginger, and the quiet speech of pedestrians. Yeah, it means that everything is in order with the drum membranes and thanks for that!

Invisible and silently, we make our way along the narrow paths of the modest Bavarian district center called Ingolstadt. We must notice us, no one pays the slightest attention to the gift that the Q5 Hybrid has not yet entered the sale. It is logical, however. Outwardly, the hybrid is no different from the usual, long -familiar bunny streets. It is not surprising that the organizers of the test drive, in order to allocate a car from the stream, decorated it with stickers with an unambiguous Hybrid Latin. And so, if you ignore stickers and nameplate, you will not even guess what kind of car is in front of you.

But you should get behind the wheel, you immediately understand this Q5 unusual. Attention is drawn by the dashboard, or rather the left half of it. On the right, everything is as usual, the speedometer and the indicator of the residue of the fuel, but the place of the tachometer was taken by a much more sophisticated device with drawn green and orange zones. Instead of divisions showing the speed of rotation of the crankshaft, the power of the motor is indicated here in percent from 0 to 100%. In words, this seems difficult for perception, but in motion everything becomes clear.

As a matter of fact, as on all the so -called parallel hybrids, that is, machines that can move both using only a gasoline engine and exclusively on an electric motor, a green tachometer zone means the most environmentally friendly mode. By the way, you can go up to 3 km to Ku-Pyu (of course, provided that completely charged batteries) can only go to the energy of electricity. But the main thing and this fact is very proud of Ingolstadt by the electrodegus allows you to squeeze the speed of as much as 100 km/h. Although at the same time the course of the course will decrease. Nevertheless, the same Lexus RX450H is not capable of this. But if you go with all the money, then the index of environmental friendliness from the green zone will crawl into the orange. Everything is simple and clearly.

Otherwise, the Q5 Hybrid is hardly fundamentally different from Japanese counterpart. Yes, Audi, where a pair of a 2-liter TFSI TFSI with a capacity of 211 liters. With. It makes up a 45-horsepower electric motor, accelerates the German crossover to hundreds in just 7.1 seconds by 0.7 seconds faster RX450H. At the same time, the average gasoline consumption is only 7 liters no worse than a super -economic turbodiesel. However, there is nothing fundamentally new in the design of the Ingolstadt hybrid. And when the first charm passes from the same silent start or luxurious animation on the display of the side compound, demonstrating the operating modes of the hybrid power plant, you begin to be slightly sad.

The Germans especially rest on ultra-light lithium-ion batteries weighing only 38 kg, as well as the trunk, which, despite the lot of additional equipment associated with hybridization of the car, remained as roomy and convenient as on the usual Q5. Great, of course, but not so significant, agree. Given that the Audi Q5 Hybrid will only go on sale, and the same hybrid crossover of the Lexus brand is sold already
since 2005, it remains only to guess why in Ingolstadt so hesitated with the development of a modern car with a gasoline-electrical drive.

However, there is one very significant but. The fact is that the Q5 Hybrid is only the first and, one might say, the most modest Audi step in the Crusade for the Ecology. In the coming years, several truly revolutionary models with four rings on the radiator grille will make their debut at once, which, according to the creators, will bring Audi into world leaders of hybrid and electric cars in the premium segment by 2020. Intriguing? But we will talk about these machines next time.

Who is the first?
If you come to find yourself in the company of car geeks of people obsessed with stamps, models and technologies, conduct an experiment. Ask your all -knowing interlocutors, as the first hybrid car was called in the world. Surely you will be called Toyota Prius or Honda Insight. In any case, this is the wrong answer. After all, the unique gasoline-electrical Lohner-Porsche Mixte is still a very young Ferdinand Porsche at the 1901 Paris Motor Show! Moreover, the amazing machine was by no means a concept or prototype of the Mixte hybrid could be bought and driving on it. At the dawn of the automobile age, however, the amazing development of Porsche did not attract universal interest. So in Europe the appearance of the next car with a gasoline-electrical power plant had to wait 96 years long. What was it called? And here again not Prius! Correct answer: Audi A4 Avant Duo, which debuted in 1997. In addition to the 1.9-liter 90-horsepower turbodiesel, this station wagon also had an electric motor with a capacity of 29 liters installed behind. With. I must say, Duo did not use much popularity. Due to very heavy fuel batteries, the hybrid saved a little, but it was much more expensive than the usual diesel Avant. So the entire circulation was limited to 60 copies.


Driving
The magnificent dynamics of the hybrid already conquers on the first trip, and thanks to the low equipped mass, the silver -shaped controllability of the model has not suffered.

Salon
As usual, Audi has no complaints about amazing interior for execution and cannot be.

Comfort
Add cool noise insulation to excellent smoothness. In addition, the car moves completely silently in electrostrophy.

Safety
And again the upper class!

Price
Not determined.


We do not love
The smoothness, burden and efficiency of the hybrid power plant is impressive. Impressive

The intricate pattern of LEDs is a corporate element of many Audi. Effective

All data on the work of the hybrid on the instrument panel. Clearly


Advantages and disadvantages
+ All advantages of the Audi Q5, multiplied by modest fuel appetite and low carbon dioxide content in the exhaust.
- in theory higher than that of the gasoline version, the price


Specifications
Mark and model - Audi Q5 Hybrid Quattro
Dimensions - 4630x1880x1650 mm
Engine - gasoline with turbocharged, 1984 cm3, 211 hp/4300 min -1 + electric motor, 45 hp
Transmission - automatic, 8 -speed
Dynamics - max 222 km/h; 7.1 s to 100 km/h
Competitors - Lexus RX450H.


Our opinion
Let the Audi Q5 Hybrid is not a new word in the development of hybrid technologies, it is enough that it is fast, economical and convenient. At the right price, this crossover may well squeeze in the Lexus RX450H market. In any case, the Q5 Hybrid is essentially a transitional model from traditional vehicles with ICE to completely new ones, which we have to drive, if not tomorrow, then the day after tomorrow.

Author: Mikhail Medvedev

 

Source: Magazine 5 wheel [January 2011]