The most reliable years for the Audi Q5 and some years to avoid, according to owners

There are several car manufacturers that have built a reputation over the years for producing very reliable cars. These companies are typically based in Asia, such as Japanese automakers Toyota and Honda, or in South Korea, such as Kia and Hyundai. Once you get past these reliability stalwarts, it can be a little more difficult to determine which cars will last you a long time, especially if you’re buying them from the used car market. Let’s take a company like Audi. This German brand may have a reputation for style and luxury, but how much do you really know about the durability of its cars?

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Let’s take a look at Audi’s best-selling car in the US: the Q5. This The compact crossover SUV first hit the market for the 2009 model year. and gradually increased its prominence in the company’s lineup, becoming its flagship model, with 2023 being its best sales year to date. However, just because a car becomes popular doesn’t necessarily mean it’s worth your investment, and overall, SlashGear generally doesn’t recommend the Audi Q5 on the used car market. However, if this is the car you want and you’ve considered everything you need to know about the Q5, there are several decent models available. Here we look at six different Q5 models. Three of them earn high ratings from drivers for their reliability, while the other three are models from years that should be avoided at all costs.

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In contrast to the large number of cars that hit the market, reliability ratings were decently high in the first few years. However, there are not as many sources as one would like to have a complete consensus on recommending these cars. That’s why the earliest model to make the list is the 2013 Audi Q5. It’s currently the highest-rated SUV model in terms of reliability, according to driver reports provided by Consumer Reports. They gave it overall average score 62 out of 100which is the second-highest figure for any Q5 model year.. Drivers surveyed by J.D. Power gave it even higher marks, giving it an average quality and reliability score of 80 out of 100. The Audi Q5 is second to that year’s Mercedes-Benz GLK as the best car of its time, according to both publications. class, and the difference in scores between them is negligible for both publications.

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The 2013 model year saw a slightly higher number of driver complaints on CarComplaints, especially due to some instances of excessive oil consumption. However, it’s sandwiched between two truly terrible model years—both of which will appear later on this list for negative reasons—and compared to them, this year is simply top-notch, as reliability ratings elsewhere are consistent with. At a time when the Q5 could go completely off the rails, the 2013 model looked like a pretty well-built SUV.

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As mentioned earlier, The 2013 model received the second-best reliability rating from Consumer Reports.. For the Audi Q5 to outperform this model, you have to jump forward six years for the 2019 SUV, which marks the third year of the second generation Q5. The difference between the two is pretty small, but this one has a reliability rating of 65 out of 100 from Consumer Reports. However, JD Power drivers were slightly less positive than they were for the 2013 model, giving this model an average quality and reliability score of 76 out of 100. Three points higher on one side and four points lower on the other. essentially averaging to the same overall score.

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2019 saw a significant step forward in how many (or more accurately, how few) problems with this model were reported on CarComplaints. Surprisingly, there are only two owner complaints on the website: one about problems with the steering and one about a leaking sunroof. Any model year of any car that has only two complaints on CarComplaints is incredibly surprising. Even the number of complaints filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is small, at just 30. That compares to 62 in an average year like the 2016 model year.

(Image credit: Woxford via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and rescaled | CC BY-SA 4.0)

While there is no model year after 2019 that has achieved that year’s reliable highs, there is another model year that has performed well in its short time of use. This will be the 2023 Audi Q5. Even though this is a relatively new car, there is ample evidence that this is definitely the best it has been in years.. This is the final year of this generation of SUV, and according to drivers surveyed by Consumer Reports, it’s the only model year of this generation (excluding 2019) that is capable of breaking the meager 40 out of 100 threshold when it comes to reliability. Meanwhile, JD Power drivers gave it an overall average score of 75 out of 100 for quality and reliability, up six points from the previous year’s model.

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Beyond these ratings, the true test of an SUV’s reliability is how few complaints you can find about the 2023 Q5. There are currently no driver complaints listed on CarComplaints. Meanwhile, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration received only six complaints from drivers during its two years on the streets. At that time, the car had also only been recalled once. The model, released just a year earlier, received a total of 25 complaints and four recalls. Even the new 2024 model has been recalled twice. In a rather mediocre period for the Audi Q5, 2023 will be quite a bright spot.

This recommendation for the 2013 model year mentioned that the years surrounding it were particularly problematic. Well, as the first model year with which drivers found a lot of problems, we’ll look at the 2012 Audi Q5. While a reliability rating of 44 out of 100 from Consumer Reports isn’t the worst score to come out of the fifth model year, it’s the very first year that the publication has actually polled enough drivers to get a proper rating, and as such, it’s a little hard to see how much benefit the drivers gave doubts. The reason for such statements is that the actual number of problem reports received this model year is quite high.

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Of each model year, the 2012 Q5 had the second-most problems based on vehicle complaints. the engine is the main culprit of these complaints. A surprisingly large number of drivers report that the engine used oil incredibly quickly, and the average repair cost was around $900. Drivers have filed more than 150 individual complaints with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the model has been recalled six times over the years. For these drivers, airbags accounted for more than 50 percent of the problems, be it airbags that did not deploy in a crash or a sensor that detects an occupant not working. There are simply too many question marks about the 2012 Audi Q5.

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After the improvements made to the 2013 model, things went poorly again with the 2014 model, one of the worst models Audi has ever produced. While Consumer Reports’ reliability rating rose slightly to 46 out of 100, the 2014 Audi Q5’s owner satisfaction score dropped from 3 to 2 out of 5. However, an important metric that has increased is the number of problems submitted by drivers to CarComplaints, as the 2014 Q5 has the highest number of complaints of any model year. Again, Excessive engine oil consumption caused the biggest problems. What’s worse is that the average estimated repair cost soars to more than $3,200. This price alone could be between a quarter and one-third of the actual cost of a used car in the fifth quarter of 2014. Naturally, CarComplaints rates this year as the worst year for SUVs overall.

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The number of complaints received by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration decreased slightly, with a total of 84 complaints filed. Instead of the airbags being the main problem, the largest percentage of complaints are related to the engine, including engine failure and the aforementioned oil consumption problems. The vehicle has been subject to a total of dive recalls, two of which were caused by a potentially faulty coolant pump. Overall, it’s not a safe bet in the used car market.

(Image credit: Woxford via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and rescaled | CC BY-SA 4.0)

While CarComplaints rated the 2014 model year as the worst year for the Audi Q5, a very strong argument can be made that it’s actually the 2018 that ranks near the bottom of the list when looking at the overall consensus for the model. The previous year was the final year of the SUV’s first generation, and it competed with the 2013 model, which will represent Audi’s best years on this list.

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The transition to a new generation does present some bumps in the road, and while the initial review of SlashGear drives was very positive, 2018 ended up showing a lot of bumps. The 2017 model had just 36 driver complaints filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, but with this new model that number has jumped to 150. almost tripling the number of complaints. You can also see a significant jump in year-over-year comparisons on CarComplaints.

The problems were mostly related to the SUV’s electrical systems, and the consequences ranged from non-functioning turn signals to random warning lights or the engine being unable to start. There have been six different model recalls this model year, and if you were to find out which ones, on the NHTSA website you would see a giant warning: “URGENT: DO NOT DRIVE THIS VEHICLE.” If drivers have found enough problems to warrant such a warning, then purchasing a 2018 Audi Q5 is out of the question.

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(Image credit: Woxford via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and rescaled | CC BY-SA 4.0)

To determine the reliability of the Audi Q5 of various model years, a number of different factors were taken into account. At the most basic level, there are reliability ratings that publications like Consumer Reports and JD Power have assigned to these model years based on the experiences of the drivers they surveyed who actually own these SUVs and use them in their daily lives.

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While that’s a decent starting point, the biggest factor in compiling this list was based on the number of actual reported problems that drivers have encountered with their Q5s, as well as the severity of those problems. They were determined by drivers filing their complaints with an organization like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and websites like CarComplaints. After all this data was collected, three recommendations for suitable vehicles and three recommendations for avoiding them were selected.

(Image credit: Woxford via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and rescaled | CC BY-SA 4.0)