The Audi Q5 Off-Road Style Package Is an Odd (But Real) Upgrade

[_Klay_]

Here's something I recently discovered: you can buy an off-road package for your Audi Q5. I'm serious. It gives you different wheels and tires from a standard Q5, along with what Audi calls an "Audi Exclusive Offroad Body Kit," which you see above. This has to be one of the most unusual options available on a vehicle today.

We'll start with the obvious: Yes, this option is available in the United States. Ignore the German license plate on the car pictured above. In fact, I'm writing this solely because I saw one of these things on the road, and I realized I needed to share this wonderful information with the Oversteerage. The only reason I'm not showing a picture of one here in the U.S. is because this option is so undesirable that it's difficult to actually find any pictures.

So let's discuss the option. It has the special wheels and tires, as I've mentioned, and the "exclusive offroad bodykit." The body kit includes what Audi calls "wheel arch protectors" -- four gray plastic circles that go over the wheels and, to me, make the car look like some sort of $19,000 Volkswagen Tiguan lease special. I generally like gray plastic on the bottom of cars, but this car was not designed for gray plastic. And it shows. Amazingly, Audi charges $950 for this option, which explains why most people haven't "opted" for it.

The really amazing thing, though, is that Audi openly calls this option the "Offroad Style Package." Not the actual off-road package, but the off-road style package -- so at least they're truthful. This gives you something of an off-road look, like a jacked-up allroad, but it doesn't actually take you off-road. For that, you'll need to do something else. Of course, Audi knows you'll never do that, and they know the mere appearance of off-roadiness will suffice for every single person who wants their Q5 to look like a trail-tackling 4-wheeler. All ten of them.