Audi SQ5 alternatives?

[tigger73]

Well I think you may have gone over your initial budget but I'm sure it'll be worth it

[Kachingg]

Congratulations happy wife happy life

Now for the stage 1 tune

[Lucas_R]

Well I think you may have gone over your initial budget but I'm sure it'll be worth it

Yes we did blow the desired budget out......you only live once though. She wasn't having any part of any non-SQ5 alternatives that i was proposing....even an Audi S4 got brushed off.

Congratulations happy wife happy life

Now for the stage 1 tune

Thanks - yes that's the saying....let's hope it's true Its due for its 3rd service (boring i know) and there's a recall for the heater coil apparently, so ill have to get that out of the way before i look at a tune. But it already goes very well....im not sure it really needs one to be honest.

Apart from the service and recall, it will be getting a good polish and tidy up and some low dust brake pads as my first few priorities.

[Lucas_R]

[tigger73]

Nice!!!

I can see why your wife would love it.

I’m sure it’ll come up like new once you’ve finished a full inside and out detail.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[markh]

Congrats Mate!

IMHO - Thats the colour to have.

[Kachingg]

Looks very nice indeed i am impressed can see why your wife would not budge

Good call on the low dust pads i have ATE ceramics on my car and love the feel and lack of dust

[ZR36]

Have you done the stage one tune yet mate?
That blue one we looked at is still for sale. It's now back at Newcastles cheapest cars ha! Droped it all the way from their original price of 53. To 37,900.
Lots of SQ5s are under the 40 mark now.
I've been flowing them for so long now that they actually looking really old even though they are only 4ish years old. Probability because Audis of the same age have already moved into the next generations sharper shape.

Having ongoing issue with the EGR valve on our Q3 btw.

[Lucas_R]

Hi - sorry for the late reply. Haven't looked on here much in the past few weeks.

I have been looking into the stage 1 tunes from Superchips which claims around 25kw and 90nm gains, but i would like to look into disabling the EGR via both the software and also a blanking plate - so i need to speak to them and see if they can offer this in their software. I would have probably had the tune on the car by now had i not had some issues in the past 4-6 weeks with the DPF and also the P2006 error which was the throttle plate being stuck closed due to carbon buildup.

These issues made me lose some trust in the car overall so after getting these fixed i am a bit skeptical to spend $900 on a stage 1 tune for the car if we do not keep it long term.

Wow so that dark blue one is still for sale? I bet they are sick of that sitting around. If they do not have the bigger wheels, nicer seats and sunroof they are much less desirable to buyers....plus that one was pretty rough (hadnt been cared for) and had done quite a few km's which wont be helping the situation.

Yes i agree that the Q5/SQ5 is showing its age, but don't forget the base shape in the Q5 has been out since 2008/09 so its a 10 year old platform now. Same goes with my Lexus IS-F, that base shape came out in 2006 in the IS250, but it wasn't until 2008/09 before the IS-F was released so that shape was already 3 years old. They kept making the IS-F until 2014, there is no way i would have paid $130k for one brand new in 2014 when it was well and truly out-of-date compared to it's competitors.

The good thing about the new generation Q5/SQ5 is that apart from the new front end, the sides and rear of the car looks very much the same IMO. I was walking along the foreshore over the weekend and there was a new SQ5 in a slightly lighter shade of grey to my car and i had a good look at it. Obviously the interior is much newer in its design, but i felt the exterior wasn't much different.

So what issue(s) have you had with your Q3? They are the 2.0TDI correct?

Have you done the stage one tune yet mate?
That blue one we looked at is still for sale. It's now back at Newcastles cheapest cars ha! Droped it all the way from their original price of 53. To 37,900.
Lots of SQ5s are under the 40 mark now.
I've been flowing them for so long now that they actually looking really old even though they are only 4ish years old. Probability because Audis of the same age have already moved into the next generations sharper shape.

Having ongoing issue with the EGR valve on our Q3 btw.

[ZR36]

Sounds like there are some pretty common issues with the Audi diesels.
Ours is the 2.0T but there are 2 version form memory the 103kw and the 130kw we have the 130kw. The issue with ours is the P0402 EGR which came on only 2 days after we bought it.
My mechanic convinced me it just needed a clean out as he had done one on an Amarok just the week before, but to do it on the Q3 the subframe has to be dropped out so it was a 600 dollar job just for a clean, and guess what that wasn't the issue. So I was pissed at him cuz the light only came back on after I'd already paid. So he replaced some flow sensor for free but that didn't work either. So the next step is to replace the value which I'm not convinced that this is the issue and it's like 1400dollars so I'm not willing to spend that on a maybe solution as every thing else he suggested hasn't worked so far. I have a scan tool so I just clear the code every so often and sometimes the light doesn't come back for weeks other times it back straight away.

I would hate to spend 50k on a second hand car and have ongoing issues. So I'm concerning the less expensive Amarok but I can't bring myself to do it cuz of the lack of tech and lux not to mention the handling and the acceleration or lack thereof.

Re: the Blue on your spot on... I reckon they will have to drop it at least another 5k for it be worth it.

[ZR36]

They just dropped It another 1k. It's now the cheapest on carsales.
I can't believe they originally listed at 53k.

[Lucas_R]

They just dropped It another 1k. It's now the cheapest on carsales.
I can't believe they originally listed at 53k.

For that price is a bit of a bargain to be honest. There are plenty other SQ5's with more km's on them, so it cant be the km's. I think it's the fact that the car is a bit rough overall and is lacking options. But im sure at the new price it won't hang around too long.

[ZR36]

Other than the 21inch wheels and the stitched seats.... What are the options?

[Lucas_R]

Other than the 21inch wheels and the stitched seats.... What are the options?

There are quite a few.

- Radar cruise control (radar is in an odd spot near the drivers side foglight)
- Heated seats
- Bang & Olufsen stereo (only easy way to tell is look for the speakers on the front doors/upper dash)
- Black out pack (black grill and black window trim)
- Panoramic sunroof
- Carbon fibre interior trim pieces (standard trim is a brushed silver which looks pretty bland)
- Rear window blinds
- Bigger wheels (as you mentioned)
- Diamond stitched seats (as you mentioned)

I might have missed one of two others but those are the main ones. I believe some of these options were bundled together as tech packs or comfort packs etc for a lump sum of money.

Basically most people want the bigger wheels (until the realise how much the tyres cost), the diamond stitched seats, and the sunroof. Most of the other options are nice-to-have's.

We got all of the above on ours except for the rear window blinds and the black out pack.

[Lucas_R]

Gave the old girl an oil change the other day. It was serviced about 7 months ago/8,000kms ago (by Pete @ Newcastle VW Centre) but i always like doing 6 month oil changes so i figure ill do one myself in between each "log book" service.

I enjoy doing the oil changes myself, and it gives me a change to study the engine/driveline and inspect for any issues/leaks/worn items. The sump, swaybar, subframe and undertray were a bit grotty (presumably from previous sloppy oil changes as there are no leaks) so i gave everything a good degrease and clean while i was in there.

The cabin filter was dirty and had been starting to smell a bit the past month or two so in went a new one.

It was the first time i had done an oil change on this car so i was pleasantly surprised to see that its an easy car to work on which was both welcomed and surprising.