Sunday Drive: BMW X5 and Audi Q8

Friday, 22 March 2019

**AUDI Q8

Base price:** $149,900.

Powertrain and performance: 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel with 210kW/600Nm, 8-speed automatic transmission, four-wheel-drive, combined economy 6.6 litres per 100km, 0-100kmh 6.3 seconds.

The Q8 sets the design path for future Audi SUVs. Looks like a pretty good path to us.

Vital statistics: 4986mm long, 1705mm high, 2994mm wheelbase, luggage capacity 605 litres, 20-inch alloy wheels.

**BMW X5

High tech and stylish, the Q8's interior feels like it should be in an electric car.

Base price:** $135,200.

Powertrain and performance: 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder turbodiesel with 195kW/650Nm, 8-speed automatic transmission, four-wheel-drive, combined economy 6.2 litres per 100km, 0-100kmh 6.5 seconds.

Audi nails the 'SUV coupe' better than most. It's still not a coupe though.

Vital statistics: 4922mm long, 1745mm high, 2975mm wheelbase, luggage capacity 650 litres, 20-inch alloy wheels.

Applaud them as technology masterpieces or take sneering umbrage with their conspicuous consumption. Either way, accept that the Audi Q8 and BMW X5 are too immense – physically, technically, as status symbols – to stand chance of being unnoticed.

Traditionally handsome, but with a very large grille, the BMW X5 is all about being imposing.

Is this a clash of titans? Not totally. X5 aims more at Audi's Q7, though sharing the latter's platform, Q8 really competes with the BMW X6.

**READ MORE:

A far more conservative affair inside the big BMW, but no less luxurious.

* SUV? Coupe? The Audi Q8 doesn't care what you call it

* High-riding SUV is now BMW's most hi-tech new model

The BMW X5 is quick, comfortable and big. Very big.

* A fast wagon for the gamer generation**

Another job is set a design course all future Audi SUVs will follow, next being the e-tron. I'm energised by both. Q8 has huge visual panache, looking partly to history (original Quattro haunches) but mainly ahead; with frameless doors that pull themselves electrically shut and ambient LED strip lighting. Future-now continues within; relatively minimalist control centres and 32 inches of high-definition screens in widescreen formats are wonders that'll have modernists drooling.

Tech-wise, it gets an impressive array of active safety equipment and though the spending buck stops short of buying everything the A8 limo has, more's the pity, a 48-volt electrical architecture to form a mild-hybrid system that eases fuel burn and ensures the stop-start system fires the engine smoothly is an impressive involver.

You'll ask how well a diesel acquits in enabling a sporty feel. Fair to say anyone seeking bladder-emptying performance need await impending petrol V8 variants. Still, it steps off smartly and the substantial torque blasting through is enjoyable and makes passing easy.

Also it does a good job of cornering. On dry seal, 60 percent of the engine's torque goes to the rear axle for a rear-drive feel, yet the proper centre diff-based, torque-vectoring quattro and four-wheel steering assure deftness, enhance sure-footedness off-road and lend an A3-equalling turning circle.

Quick or secondary road driving asks for the height-adjustable, sports-tuned adaptive air suspension to be snipped from the demure Comfort into the alter-ego Dynamic, which increases steering weight and brings more tautness to the suspension, enough unfortunately to transmit coarse chip textures.

The cachet of the Q8 is that it is expensive-looking; the catch is that it is costly and embellishments that make it look better cost even more. This car came in the $8000 S-Line package, adding oak trim inlays and four-zone air con. Yet the biggest slice of the $24k extras bill were the 22-inch alloys at $11,500. The same size (in a nice style) on the BMW? Just $3000.

In costing as much as a mansion in Gore, or a small shed in Auckland, can the X5 present true value? Within elite confines, possibly. Numerous extras only lifted the tester to the point where the Audi began. Bog standard, it is almost $15k less.

Ultimately, this edition plays second fiddle to the performance-fettled M50d – same 3.0-litre turbodiesel inline six, but with different turbocharger count (four versus one). The power output is 15kW below the Audi's but it has 50Nm more torque. Massive muscularity in a smooth and refined manner and pleasingly quiet, effortless driving reminds the latter matters more.

Zero to 100kmh in 6.5 seconds makes it almost as fast as the Q8; not bad for such a substantial, hefty machine. For sure, the adaptive suspension was earning its keep on more challenging secondary routes, but ultimately your only concern is remembering it's a lane-filler. That width helps stability, yet it takes some getting used to.

Where BMW deals a bit of a knock to its Ingolstadt pal by basically matching on every core comfort and assist then banging in extras Audi has yet to add.

Driver assistance tech is all the rage, and BMW is at the sharp end with five radar sensors, 12 ultrasonic sensors and seven cameras to watch for trouble. The lane keep is sharper and it alerts for errant cyclists as well as pedestrians.

X5 is the first candidate for the latest iDrive 7 user interface; everything's just slicker usability-wise. An updated layout, third-generation head-up display and a 12.3-inch fully digital instrument cluster also captivate. This car also had remote start, a WiFi hotspot and adaptive LED lighting.

All very snazzy, yet even though the setting for all this is classy comfort-wise, the ergonomics are flawed, with fiddly buttons, and somehow a dash that's as angled and contoured as the exterior just doesn't have the same wow-ness as Audi's.

Eyeballing the exterior also raises comment: It's generally handsome and certainly more complex, but shame about the massive grille, right?

You can't knock the roominess offered by an XL-sized X5. The whole passenger zone feels roomier and airier than the old car. And though boot space doesn't alter, a new electrically operated split tailgate increases practicality and versatility.

You could sneer at these products for being so overtly capitalist, but that's short-sighted. The quality and advancement represented here is sure to spread to the mass market over time. Great days lay ahead for us all.