2017 Audi Q5 revealed

• Full coverage: 2016 Paris motor show.

Audi's world-dominating Q5 SUV has been replaced by an even more classy looking and technologically wondrous second-generation version, although you might struggle to spot the differences at a distance.

The first generation Q5 sold more than 1.6 million units since its launch in 2008, more than proving that there is plenty of demand for a mid-sized soft roader that's cool for school runs, and far too shiny for the muddy old outback.

The new Q5 gets new gearboxes, and a choice of five engines, including a new 2.0-litre TFSI with 185kW and a reworked version of the 3.0-litre TDI diesel making 210kW and 620Nm.

Improved fuel economy is a given, and will be helped by the use of light-weight materials and the adoption of Volkswagen's MQB platform, which it now shares with the A4. They have helped the Q5 drop as much as 90kg, despite its increased dimensions.

When it arrives in Australia, early in 2017, it will offer the kind of air suspension previously only seen on up-sized luxury SUVs like the Q7; a car it now resembles more closely than ever, in a baby-brother kind of way.

Happily, there are also touches of TT about the mildly face-lifted front end, and a wider, fatter rear as well. The overall look is a touch more grown up.

The air-suspension set-up will improve on-road handling and sporty driving - with the ability to lower itself into the wind at higher speeds - and off-roading, thanks to adjustable ground clearance, which can be raised by up to 60mm at the press of a button.

The Q5 will also be the first Audi to boast what it calls "swarm intelligence"; the ability to collect information about its environment - potholes in the road, traffic snarls, empty parking spaces, pretty much anything its various sensors and cameras can pick up - and sends it to the cloud, or at least a part of it owned by Audi.

This vast well of data will eventually help Audi's cars to learn about their environment. Hit a big bump in the road and, theoretically, the next car like yours to come along will know it's there, and prepare its suspension accordingly.

"This will be the first car you've ever seen on a motor show stand that will be built to collect this information as it drives, and share it, as part of Audi's digital services," Audi board member Dr Dietmar Voggenreiter explained at the unveiling in Paris.

"It's more sporty, more efficient, it's lighter, it's got this new technology, the air suspension, and that's why it will set the standard in this segment again."

The Q5 also boasts no less than 30 driver-assistance systems, while the interior is typically and beautifully Audi, and now boasts the company's excellent Virtual Cockpit technology.

Boot volume raises 10-litres to 550-litres.

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