Every new 4WD that hits the market blurs the lines between on-roaders and off-roaders a little more. Although Audi has probably produced more 4WD vehicles than any of the “tough truck” makers, it hasn’t been known for producing vehicles with extreme off-road ability.

So where does that leave the new Audi Q5 medium-sized “soft-roader”.

Is it just a 4WD in name only, or can it get down and dirty when required?

First up, let’s see what it’s all about.

The “big brother” Audi Q7 is a huge vehicle, and it’s not very often you’ll see one leave the security of town and tarmac – although we have found the vehicle remarkably useful off-road for its ilk, equipped as it is with air suspension and an excellent 4WD system.

However these days big is not necessarily better, and we’re starting to get more medium-sized upmarket softroaders onto the scene taking their place alongside the BMW X3. Enter the Q5 as tested here, plus the upcoming Volvo XC60 and Mercedes-Benz GLK.

The Q5 comes in two versions, one with a 125 kW 2-litre TDI four cylinder, the other – and the one we tested – with Audi’s latest turbo-diesel, a second generation common rail 3-litre V6 producing a whopping 176 kW and 500 Nm of torque from 1,500 to 3,000 rpm.

Interestingly, the VW Group, of which Audi is a part, has until now resisted common rail for its diesel engines in a bid to avoid paying royalties on the technology, and instead developed its “Pumpe Düse” direct injection and built its TDI engines around that.

However second generation common rail engines have outpaced pumpe duse, and the latest turbo-diesel motor as found in the Q5 epitomises this.

Quite frankly, it’s one of the smoothest diesels we have driven to date, and it will take a lot to beat it for years to come.

The Q5 also comes with Audi’s latest seven-speed S Tronic double clutch gearbox, and this gave a completely new off-road experience, which we’ll tell you about later.

But first, what’s it got?

The Q5 has been developed on a wider and stronger version of the A4 car platform, although it’s styling is more towards that of the Q7. Still, it doesn’t have as high a roof line as its opposition, and this gives the Q5 a more lithe appearance.

Inside, too, there’s more Audi A4 than anything else. It’s all high quality, and the dashboard is clean and unrestricted, with real aluminium inserts where others use an ali-look plastic.

Fit and finish is superb, and everything is neatly and logically laid-out. Take for instance the three switches you’re most likely to use when venturing off-road – the kill switch for the park sensors, the ESP “off” button, and the hill descent control switch. All in a neat row close to the driver on the central dropdown.

Then there’s the MMI user interface for the multi-media system and sat nav controls. All on the centre console, with a mixture of buttons and a rotary switch. Still a bit too complicated for my liking, requiring far too many hand-eye movements for even simple tasks such as changing a radio station, but infinitely better than BMW’s iDrive or the latest copy-cat system from Mercedes.

And, of course, satellite controls on the steering column for the audio system, plus steering column stalks for lights/indicators and the cruise control.

Each group according to function.

Getting into the Q5 is easy, with an easy slide rather than a step up, and one is immediately struck by how comfortable the seating position is.

Electrically-adjustable leather-trimmed and heated front seats - with a memory function for the driver’s - plus a height and reach adjustable steering column, enable a perfect fit.

Vision is good all round, although the sharp drop-off up front can be a bit disconcerting in tight spots. Thank goodness for the parking beepers.

There’s plenty of room inside and an average male will find enough legroom behind another average male. There’s lots of cabin stowage, with a huge lidded box between the seats, plus decent-sized cupholders, and the boot is a decent size too.

With the 60/40 split rear seat in place this equates to a massive 540 litres, increasing to 1,560 litres once the seats are folded.

Dropping the seat, by the way, requires the simplest of actions – all you have to do is pull two release levers from inside the boot.

Luxury features abound – although you can specify a lot more if you want to keep adding to the price, from adaptive suspension to a panoramic sunroof, to different interior trim or a built-in phone.

The Audi Symphony audio system as standard in the 3.0 TDI has a six CD stacker and eight speakers, with iPod and MP3 playing abilities, while the air conditioning system has three separate zones.

There are also heated electric mirrors, light-sensing automatic headlights and rain-sensing wipers.

One special feature is a sensor in the ESP that identifies when a roof rack is fitted and then knows that the Audi Q5’s centre of gravity is higher – as it must be with up to 100 kg on the roof.

The ESP then compensates accordingly, with a much lower threshold, cutting in much earlier than it would without a roof rack. However it only works when an Audi approved roof rack is installed.

As with all Audis the heart of the Q5 is the quattro permanent 4WD system. This has an electronically operated centre differential which normally distributes power to the wheels in a 40:60 ratio front/rear, but can push as much as 65 percent of the torque to the front wheels or 85 percent to the rear, depending on conditions.

There’s no low ratio, but the Q5 gets traction control as standard – it’s part of the electronic stability programme – as well as hill descent control, which holds speed below 30 km/h.

Both the ESP and the ABS brake system have been specially mapped for off-road driving, and you can select the ESP to allow some wheelspin before finally cutting power, and the ABS to allow some wheel lock in sand and on gravel to help slow the car better in these conditions.

All you do is briefly press the “ESP off” button and the system switches to a mode in which it concentrates on maximising traction. The ABS analyses the surface conditions on the basis of wheel vibrations and selects the ideal control strategy for sand, gravel or scree.

Ultimately, though, there’s an “off” switch for the ESP for better off-road control.

The parking brake, though, is an electro-mechanical pull switch which is either on or off. This gives more space in front, but it doesn’t allow the ability to “ease” a vehicle that a proper mechanical handbrake gives.

Under the skin the Q5 has a sophisticated suspension, with a five-link front setup featuring aluminium wishbones and an anti-roll bar, plus a trapezoidal-link full independent rear suspension, again with an anti-roll bar. 
This results in superb on-road handling, assisted by a new direct steering layout which is quicker and more positive than more conventional layouts. The normal 4WD bias towards the rear gives it fantastic on-road handling, and you can be forgiven for sometimes forgetting you’re in a sizeable tall station wagon.

There’s even a touch of allowable tail out when pushing really hard, though the ESP quickly reels it in if things start to feel interesting.

And the S Tronic dual clutch gearbox allows lightning-fast gear changes using the manual mode and paddle shifters, or an acceptable (though not as smooth as a torque converter) automatic mode.

At the same time the classy suspension system allows for excellent ride quality, among the best we have encountered on a 4WD vehicle per se.

However you pay for the anti-roll bars when you go off-road as they limit suspension travel, and it’s oh so easy to get a wheel in the air at the slightest provocation.

Audi in fact makes a lot of play on the Q5’s off-road ability in its literature. “The Audi Q5 also excels on rough terrain” it says.

Backing this up is climbing performance of 31 degrees, angles of approach and departure of 25 degrees, and a ramp breakover angle of 17.6 degrees.

Ground clearance is 200 mm and wading depth a useful 500 mm.

We went out to Extreme4WDPark in Helensville to give the Q5 a workout. The weather was dry so we decided not to deflate tyres, especially given that low ground clearance and the deep overhangs front and rear.

Our first test was a steep, deeply rutted and sharply twisting track, and as we cut the corners we felt the rear wheels kick upwards and momentarily grab air as that stiff chassis and the anti-roll bars limited suspension travel, though there was no impediment to forward motion, thanks to the traction control.

Then we decided to have a go at a steep sandy hill with a deepish hole near the top. This has been the nemesis of many an SUV and we’ve lost count of the number of failed hill starts it’s produced.

Most of the time the problem is one of getting enough speed to keep going while ensuring you’re not so fast that you whack the vehicle’s underside as a wheel drops into the hole.

The net result is that usually you’re too slow the first time, and end up spinning uselessly, eventually having to ease it back for a faster attempt.

We had expected the huge torque of that 3-litre V6 to give us an edge, and so duly switched off the ESP, selected second gear manually on the S tronic gearbox and set off.

True to form we got to the hole, the front wheels started spinning, then the engine stalled and went into neutral.

Fortunately we managed to brake before the Q5 slid backwards down the hill, restarted the engine, and reversed back down.

The second time we gave it a bit more power, and got almost to the top, feeling for grip by moving the steering right and left as the wheels spun – and stalled again!

We were ready this time, and reversed back for our third attempt.

This time even more power, and up she went like a champion, no fuss, no stalling. And we didn’t touch the underside even when the left wheel plunged into that hole.

Going back down again showed the hill descent control works very well, and we liked the fact that you can adjust its speed below a maximum of 30 km/h.

All you do is press the button at the speed you want to descend, and it will hold it there, with the speed selected displayed in the multi-function panel in the instrument panel between the speedo and revcounter.

We found the Q5 extremely capable on Extreme’s steep and grassy paddocks, and even though the tracks are badly rutted in other parts of the farm, didn’t once bottom the undertray.

So…what did we think?

First up, as a daily vehicle the Q5 is without equal, giving lots of room for its size, great ride comfort, and a long feature list, albeit at a sizeable price.

It is certainly NOT an Audi version of the cheaper Volkswagen Tiguan, being wider, longer, more powerful, and built on a totally different platform. Even the engines are installed differently – the Audi’s is north-south, the VW’s transverse.

And they use totally different 4WD systems, too.

The Q5 is more at home on tarmac than virtually any SUV we can think of. But it CAN take you places a normal 2WD station wagon just wouldn’t dare attempt, while the ability to plunge through a river half a meter deep puts it in a bracket not normally the territory of “softroaders”.