The 2025 Audi Q5 enters manufacturing quickly – for a market launch early subsequent yr – and we’ve simply gotten our first have a look at it. Now, whereas Audi’s lineup immediately competes with BMW’s, the fashions don’t fairly meet on the badges; the Q7, for instance, extra immediately competes with the X5 however nonetheless presents a 3rd row. The Audi Q5, due to this fact, most intently competes with the BMW X3. As luck ought to have it, the 2025 BMW X3 will even be the primary of a brand new era. Right here’s how the 2025 Audi Q5 compares to the 2025 BMW X3.
Exterior Comparability
At first look, you may assume the 2025 Audi Q5 adopts an evolutionary quite than revolutionary design. You’ll be fallacious, as a result of the outdated (as in, 2024) mannequin seemed historic, regardless of a redesign in 2017. The brand new one seems to be extra just like the newer Audi fashions you could be pondering of – i.e., the Audi Q8 and even the RS6. The brand new Q5 will get narrower headlights, extra angular air intakes, and a little bit of a hood bulge. Each the BMW and Audi get funky designs on their grilles and modernized lighting signatures.
Across the again, the brand new Audi reveals off a really Porsche-like mild bar that stretches the size of the rear hatch. Rear deflectors are built-in horizontally on the Q5, and vertically on the X3. Notably, the X3 (in non-M guise) lacks exhaust ideas completely, whereas the Audi touts twin ideas. Albeit, they’re in all probability only for present. Regardless, the brand new Q5 seems to be a long time newer than its predecessor.
Inside
Inside, the 2025 Audi Q5 will get fairly a bit fancier. The largest addition is a newly out there passenger-side display screen. New gauges, a much bigger central display screen, and a very redesigned heart console freshen issues up, and the automaker lastly dispels with bodily local weather controls – sadly. Total, it’s a significantly extra trendy and opulent place to spend time than the outdated automotive.
The 2025 BMW X3 will get a a lot cleaner and easier format. There’s general much less happening from a design standpoint, regardless of the 2 SUVs having minimal bodily switchgear. The X3 additionally options trim on the door panels, which the Audi doesn’t. We just like the look of the Audi steering wheel a bit of extra – the usual two-spoke design on the bottom X3 isn’t as sporty.
Efficiency
Each the 2025 X3 and 2025 Audi Q5 come normal with 2.0-liter four-pots. The Q5 makes do with a 201-horsepower variant (at the very least in Europe; that mannequin received’t make it to the States). In comparison with the bottom X3’s 205-horsepower (additionally unavailable within the US), it ought to really feel related. Each fashions include all-wheel drive as normal; BMW counting on RWD-biased xDrive and Audi using Quattro.
For North America, the bottom Audi Q5 launches with 268 horsepower. It’s nonetheless shut between the 2, with the bottom X3 creating 255 horsepower. High trim fashions each depend on six-cylinder engines, and the Audi could have a slight drawback. Particularly when you think about BMW’s entrant is the mighty B58 engine, now creating 393 horsepower. We count on the BMW to be a extra dynamic driver general.
Expertise
Each SUVs include the connectivity stuff you count on. So, cellphone connectivity, navigation, voice instructions, app integration, the works. The 2 even share structure, with Audi’s latest software program constructed upon Android Automotive OS. For the reason that two will seemingly share many options, the variations will actually come right down to ease of use and UI. BMW’s iDrive system is fairly well-received, critically. Nobody has had in depth hands-on testing with the Audi system, but – so we’ll have to attend and see.
What do you assume? Does Audi’s bread-and-butter SUV measure as much as the BMW X3? Which might you place in your storage?
