Audi Q5

The good: With the Drive Select option, the 2009 Audi Q5 is one of the best-handling SUVs we've driven. Maps in the navigation system look very good, with many 3D-rendered buildings. The audio system delivers excellent musical reproduction.

The bad: Inputting destinations can be tedious with controller.

The bottom line: The 2009 Audi Q5, in Prestige trim, offers some of the best tech of any small SUV, along with incredible road performance. A compromise of practical cabin space, carlike drivability, and good fuel economy. should. But some small SUVs we've tested failed on that third trait. and the Land Rover LR2 turned in worse economy than we expected, but the 2009 Audi Q5 should serve as an example to those other car companies of how to do it right.

Motivated by a relatively small engine, the Q5 delivers impressive performance along with reasonable fuel economy. And with Audi's new Drive Select system, the Q5 transforms from a cruiser to a canyon carver at the touch of a button. This is the first Audi we've seen with the new Multimedia controller, which also brings in a new hard-drive-based navigation system. With the added storage space, it incorporates some very detailed 3D maps.

New tech
As the Q5 is a completely new model for Audi, it doesn't suffer from legacy issues, getting the new cabin tech package from the start. The previous generation last saw in the Audi S8, uses a knob surrounded by a quartet of buttons. adds a small finger-movable joystick on top of the knob, the only advantage being that you can use the joystick to move a cursor around on a map. Not a huge improvement, but it sure makes map navigation a lot easier.