Compare the2025 Audi Q5 SportbackVS 2025 Mercedes GLE Coupe

Both the Q5 Sportback and GLE Coupe have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Q5 Sportback has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The GLE Coupe’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.

The Q5 Sportback’s standard lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane and gently nudges the vehicle back towards its lane. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the GLE Coupe.

Both the Q5 Sportback and the GLE Coupe have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, all wheel drive, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, driver alert monitors and available around view monitors.

The Q5 Sportback’s corrosion warranty is 7 years longer than the GLE Coupe’s (12 vs. 5 years).

The Audi Q5 Sportback’s engine uses a cast iron block for durability, while the GLE Coupe’s engine uses an aluminum block. Aluminum engine blocks are much more prone to warp and crack at high temperatures than cast iron.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2024 Auto Issue reports that Audi vehicles are more reliable than Mercedes vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Audi 10 places higher in reliability than Mercedes.

On the EPA test cycle the Q5 Sportback gets better fuel mileage than the GLE 450 Coupe 4MATIC (23 city/28 hwy vs. 19 city/25 hwy).

To lower fuel costs and make buying fuel easier, the Audi Q5 Sportback uses regular unleaded gasoline (premium recommended for maximum performance). The GLE Coupe requires premium, which can cost on average about 84.9 cents more per gallon.

The Q5 Sportback offers a standard sequential manual gearbox (SMG). With no clutch pedal to worry about and a fully automatic mode, an SMG is much more efficient than a conventional automatic but just as easy to drive. The GLE Coupe doesn’t offer an SMG or a conventional manual transmission.

The Q5 Sportback’s launch control uses engine electronics to hold engine RPM’s precisely in order to provide the most stable and rapid acceleration possible, using all of the available traction. The GLE Coupe doesn’t offer launch control.

For better maneuverability, the Q5 Sportback’s turning circle is .7 feet tighter than the GLE Coupe’s (38.7 feet vs. 39.4 feet).

The Audi Q5 Sportback may be more efficient, handle and accelerate better because it weighs about 950 pounds less than the Mercedes GLE Coupe.

The Q5 Sportback is 9.9 inches shorter than the GLE Coupe, making the Q5 Sportback easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

For enhanced passenger comfort on long trips the Q5 Sportback’s rear seats recline. The GLE Coupe’s rear seats don’t recline.

To improve rear visibility by keeping the rear window clear, the Q5 Sportback has a standard rear wiper. The GLE Coupe doesn’t offer a rear wiper.

In poor weather, headlights can lose their effectiveness as grime builds up on their lenses. This can reduce visibility without the driver realizing. The Q5 Sportback Prestige has standard headlight washers to keep headlight output high. The GLE Coupe doesn’t offer headlight washers.

The Q5 Sportback has a standard heated steering wheel to take the chill out of steering on extremely cold winter days before the vehicle heater warms up. A heated steering wheel costs extra on the GLE Coupe.

Consumer Reports® recommends the Audi Q5 Sportback, based on reliability, safety and performance.

The Audi Q5 outsold the Mercedes GLE Coupe by 29% during 2023.