We picked up an amazing deal on a used, Japanese-imported 2016 Audi SQ5, 3.0 TFSI from a local car dealer here in Auckland. At the time of writing, this is the cheapest 8R Audi SQ5 on the market. It has 83,000 km on the clock but the engine, bodywork, and interior are all well looked after.
What’s special about this car, besides the price, is the colour. We absolutely love the Audi Sepang Blue with the 21″ optional wheels fitted to the vehicle. We spotted loads of things on the car, which explains the price, but it’s nothing some TLC and some creative ingenuity can’t fix. As we said earlier – this is a Japanese import, so it has some quirky features and fittings that aren’t the norm for an “NZ New” Audi.
Let’s look at some of the standard features this car came with:
- Sepang Blue paint
- 21″ Audi Sport Wheels
- Carbon Fibre interior trim
- Side-View assist camera
- Rear-View camera
- Radar Guided Cruise Control
- Audi Lane Assist
The other features are all there. Climate control, cruise control, xenon headlights, etc. But the main feature of this car is the engine. There are many SQ5s on New Zealand’s roads, but few of them have the 3.0 TFSI V6 Supercharged monster under the hood. That’s what makes this car special and it forms the basis of a very exciting project for us here at VAG Sport NZ.
At 264kW and 470Nm of torque (354hp/347ft-lb) matted to a ZF 8HP series automatic gearbox. This family SUV is not slow by any means. But as any petrolhead knows, we look at the potential for where a car can be, instead of where it is in stock form.
Stock performance is listed as 0-100km/h in 5.3 seconds. Not bad for a car that weighs nearly 2000kgs. Thanks to Audi’s permanent all-wheel-drive Quattro system, the car remains planted and handles like an oversized sports hatchback more than anything else. There’s very little body roll in the vehicle and you could easily forget you’re driving a mid-range-sized family SUV. It’s only at the very edge of cornering that this car will gently remind you that it’s not an RS3 after all and needs to be treated with a little more forethought.
So, now that we have the car safely parked in our garage, what have we noticed? What bugs have crawled out from underneath the woodwork and why is this SQ5 the cheapest in New Zealand? Well, after a thorough wash, wax and detail – we have a list:
- The roof of the car has a few dents. Since this car doesn’t come with a sunroof, that large roof area seems to have made itself the victim of someone who used roof rails and clearly dropped something on the roof. That’s what happens if you use roof rails and are not careful.
- The wheels, the amazing 21″ optional sport alloys, have all suffered curb rash.
- The interior of the car looks good, but the previous owner clearly used this car to carry large objects because a lot of panels have typical cargo scratches that one wouldn’t really expect in a car like this.
Luckily everything else on the car checks out amazingly well. The interior is in fantastic condition. The leather is perfect with no scratches or excessive wear and tear. Everything works. Electronics are great and most importantly, that engine is in mint condition. A full diagnostic scan with our VCDS software showed absolutely no errors and amazing calibration figures indicating that the engine truly is a gem.
So, there she is….we have a long road ahead. There are a lot of cosmetic changes we need to do. We need to sort out the roof, fix the wheels, and upgrade the car’s overall look. After that, the performance mods can start and we can find out how much reliable power we can get out of this blue beauty.
Stay tuned (ha, punny) for more, soon!