Audi SQ5

Audi’s S models have always stood for not just a souped-up version of its everyday vehicles, but a stepping stone to its beefier RS lineup. If you only know of its normal cars, the S variations seem potent, yet time in the RS varieties makes one astutely aware that for the S editions, the engineers have purposely left bits on the workbench.

But with the 2014 Audi SQ5, there is no RS to step up to. This, therefore, ranks as the pinnacle of Audi's SUV lineup. Yet it leaves you dreaming of more.

First, the positives: While the SQ5 could be greater, for $52,795, it’s everything it’s supposed to be. The interior remains first class – merely sporting a sprinkling of additional plastics to satisfy stringent bean counters. And while its supercharged V-6 does move with celerity, its 354 horses and 347 torques lack character. (I’ve slipped back to the negatives again, haven’t I?)

To better understand the SQ5, Audi sent me to Durango, Colo., to experience a drive through the snow-covered peaks around the San Juan Forest, over to the barren canyons of Gateway, nearing the border of Utah. The road was magnificent, winding to over 11,000 ft., with sheer, barrierless cliffs plunging off the side. I was glad to be in an SQ5. Had I have been in an R8, I fear I’d be writing this amidst smoldering wreckage off Coal Bank Pass.