Vancouver Island is one of the most beautiful places in North America. An old-growth temperate rain forest, it is impossibly green, and it offers spectacular views of mountains, streams, inlets, and even fjords...at least when the fog lifts enough to see them. It's the perfect place for a well-heeled family to take a vacation, and the roads are more interesting than the open highways of the American west. They consist mostly of gentle sweeping bends that carve through thick forests and run parallel to coastlines.

The 2018 Audi SQ5 is the ideal vehicle for this kind of trek. It's not a pudgy family truckster that will flop into corners and make the wife and kids nauseous as you see the sights. It's also not a track star meant for slaying the Nürburgring and liquifying your kidneys on city streets. Instead, it's a well controlled, somewhat roomy crossover that can carry a family of five and their luggage, too. It's practicality with a touch of performance, but not too much of either.

Maybe that's why Audi invited Motor Authority to Vancouver Island to test the all-new 2018 SQ5.

A dash of pepper in your Q5

The SQ5 turns the newly redesigned Q5 up a few notches, but there is still room on the dial. This amplifier goes to 7; no need to worry about 11. A possible future RS Q5 would handle that duty.

First and foremost, it gets the turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 that it shares with the S4/S5. This engine produces 354 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque. It replaces a supercharged V-6 of the same size that made an equal 354 horses but was down on torque at 346 lb-ft. Audi says the new engine catapults this 4,400-pound crossover from 0 to 60 mph in a spritely 5.1 seconds, which is about as fast as the last model despite the uptick in torque.

2018 Audi SQ5

2018 Audi SQ5

2018 Audi SQ5

2018 Audi SQ5

2018 Audi SQ5

2018 Audi SQ5

2018 Audi SQ5

2018 Audi SQ5

That V-6 sends its thrust through an upgraded 8-speed automatic transmission to all four wheels via Audi's Quattro all-wheel-drive system. Quattro can send all of the available power to either axle. Also offered on the SQ5 is a mechanical torque vectoring rear differential that can route all of the available power at the rear axle to the outside wheel in a turn to help the vehicle rotate through corners; it's part of the $3,000 S Sport package that also includes red brake calipers and an adaptive air suspension. The Q5 doesn't offer any of those options.

Audi gives that air suspension five modes—Lift/Off-road, Allroad, Comfort, Auto, and Dynamic—and each has it's own ride height. Lift/Off-road raises the vehicle 2 inches to 9 inches overall to help the vehicle clear off-road obstacles; it automatically returns to standard ride height at 15 mph. Allroad raises the suspension 1.2 inches. Comfort and Auto keep the standard 7-inch ride height. Dynamic lowers the SQ5 0.6 inch to lower the center of gravity and improve handling.

Without the air suspension, the SQ5 has the Allroad setting's 8.2-inch ride height, so the air suspension drops the standard ride height 1.2 inches from the get go. All SQ5s also have the adaptive dampers, which are optional on the Q5, as standard equipment. They come with Comfort, Normal, and Sport settings, and these settings are also adjusted based on which air suspension mode is chosen. In addition, the SQ5 comes with 20-inch wheels and larger brakes, featuring 13.8-inch front rotors with 6-piston fixed calipers.

From the outside, the SQ5 announces its presence with authority thanks to those 20-inch wheels, a platinum gray version of Audi's signature singleframe grille, full LED headlights, aluminum-look mirror housings, a rear diffuser, and faux quad "exhaust outlets" that are really just for show (the exhaust actually exits under the vehicle).

Inside, the SQ5 gets a flat-bottom steering wheel with shift paddles, an 8.3-inch center screen, brushed aluminum trim with optional carbon fiber, Audi's MMI touchpad with handwriting recognition, leather and Alcantara-trimmed sport seats, three-zone automatic climate control, and a sport display for the available Audi virtual cockpit digital instrument cluster.

In addition to the S Sport package, the options list includes 21-inch wheels with summer performance tires, nappa leather seats with diamond stitching, and a Prestige package with such amenities as a panoramic sunroof, a color head-up display, a Bang & Olufsen 3-D sound System, the Audi MMI system with navigation, the virtual cockpit, and a surround view camera system.

My Navarra Blue metallic test vehicle came with all of this and more, bumping the $55,275 base price all the way up to $65,800.

2018 Audi SQ5

2018 Audi SQ5

2018 Audi SQ5

2018 Audi SQ5

2018 Audi SQ5

2018 Audi SQ5

The road from Victoria to Tofino

My drive in the SQ5 started at the tip of Vancouver Island in the town of Victoria. Our crew of often lead-footed journalists drove along the east coast to Nanaimo among polite Canadians who respected the speed limits, then continued up the coast to Parksville, before heading inland to Port Alberni, eventually making our way to the west coast town of Tofino.

The drive gave me some time to play with the air suspension settings, toggling mostly between the Auto and Dynamic modes. For street driving, these are the modes you'd want to use most of the time. In Auto, the dampers are more relaxed and the ride is smoother, but the car isn't tied down to road as much as I would like for quick changes of direction on twisty roads. The Dynamic setting changes that, not only lowering he SQ5, but also putting the rear differential in a sport setting, stiffening the dampers, adding weight to the steering, increasing throttle response, holding gears longer, and introducing a deeper, richer engine note to the cabin by opening up a resonator that uses the windshield like a speaker to amplify the sound from the engine bay. 

2018 Audi SQ5

2018 Audi SQ5

In Dynamic, the dampers and air suspension seemingly fight the SQ5's weight and height to make the SQ5 carve corners like a sport sedan. The 255/40/21 summer tires help the handling as well, but I wouldn't recommend them. They simply make the ride too firm, as the SQ5 can crash over sharp bumps. They may look good, but don't waste the $1,000 to opt for a harsh ride. I didn't test the standard 20s, but they must improve the ride. When the road straightens out, the Auto or Comfort settings will be more to your liking. 

Polite Canadians can be frustrating for an auto writer who wants to test all 354 turbocharged horses of his SQ5. Thank goodness for passing zones, which showed that the turbo V-6 and 8-speed is a great combo. Put the engine and transmission in their sport setting, either by using the Dynamic mode or by pulling down on the shifter, and passing is as easy as the quick jab of the throttle. Opt for the Auto or Comfort settings and the drivetrain is more relaxed for everyday driving, and passing situations require a deeper throttle pedal stroke. You can remedy that by using the oh-so-tiny steering wheel paddles to downshift. If Audi were serious about making this a true performance crossover, those paddles would be much bigger.

I'd also like more feel through the steering wheel. The SQ5's steering is fairly quick and definitely direct, but like most electric-assist steering systems nowadays, feel is left behind. When turning the wheel, I'd love to say that I felt the sport differential pulling the SQ5 through corners, but the turns never got that tight and the action never got that hot.

Bottom line

Perhaps that was by design. The SQ5 adds bits of performance but not too many. Audi calls the SQ5 the perfect balance of performance and functionality. That seems right to me. It has all of the practicality of the standard Q5 with a nice dose of sportiness thrown in. It doesn't venture too far into the performance spectrum, and it's not so big that it sacrifices fun for function. And with a starting price in the mid $50,000 range, it strikes me as a pretty good value in a market filled with overpriced luxury pretenders.

Audi provided travel and lodging to Internet Brands Automotive to bring you this firsthand report.