Audi Q5 vs Jaguar F-PACE

Summary: Arriving midway through the model year, the 2025 Audi Q5 compact SUV marks the first redesign of the German luxury brand’s bestselling model since model year 2018. That redesign brings Audi’s current design language and tech suite, helping the Q5 keep pace with more recently-updated rivals like the BMW X3, Lexus NX, and Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class.

Verdict: There’s plenty to like about the new Q5, but it’s far from the definitive small luxury SUV.

There was a time when the notion of a Jaguar SUV would cause much harrumphing and the displacement of monocles. The stalwart British automaker has traditionally been known for sports cars and fast-yet-luxurious sedans, but market trends demanded an SUV. So the 2022 Jaguar F-Pace tries to channel the spirit of previous Jags into a high-riding utility vehicle package.

The Jaguar F-Pace arrived for the 2016 model year as Jaguar’s first SUV (it’s since been joined by the smaller E-Pace and all-electric I-Pace). It thus introduced Jaguar’s “Pace” naming convention for SUVs, derived from the brand’s old marketing tagline “grace, pace, and space.” That’s fitting because, to succeed and keep star-crossed Jag alive, the F-Pace needs all three.

This crossover SUV has done wonders for Jaguar’s bottom line, but it still faces tough competition from rivals like the Audi Q5, BMW X3, Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class, and Volvo XC60, as well as the newcomer Genesis GV70. To help distinguish it from the wares of sibling brand Land Rover, the F-Pace focuses more on sporty driving dynamics than off-road capability.

Following a major update for the 2021 model year, the F-Pace rolls into 2022 essentially unchanged. The F-Pace lineup includes a base four-cylinder powertrain (in P250 and P250 S configurations), a V6 mild-hybrid powertrain, (available in the F-Pace P340 S and P400 R-Dynamic S variants) and the V8-powered Jaguar F-Pace SVR performance model. We tested a mid-level F-Pace P340 S model.