2008 Audi A5 and S5

2008 Audi A5 and S5 2008 Audi A5 and S5
First Drive Review

By now, you've no doubt seen numerous pictures of Audi's scrumptious new A5 and S5 coupes. Nice to look at, sure, but the question is whether Audi's slinky sexpots are the kind of girls you want to have kids with, or the type that you're better off just, um, you know.

Well, after sampling the pair for a day along the perilously twisty mountain roads of northern Italy, we're making plans to expand the nursery, because these are the marrying types. They are not only splendid to behold but also bestowed with quite a dowry of luxury features and genuine talent on the road.

A Two-Door Coupe-What a Concept

Built on the next-generation A4 platform, dubbed B8, the A5 and S5 are long and wide, with a coupelike roofline and-what's this?-a coupelike door count! Thank you, Audi, for reminding us of something that Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and certain others seem to have forgotten: coupes are cars with only two doors, period. As such, "duoportes" such as the A5 appeal only to specific types of people whose lifestyles do not include carpooling and who do not slog such things as other peoples' kids, slobbering St. Bernards, or corn-fed colleagues. Coupes are for one person or one pair, and seldom more. They are personal and intimate; a reward, not an appliance.

A5: Stylish First

Emotional creatures that they are, coupes tend to be stylish first, and the A5 is no exception. It is breathtaking in pictures, but even more so on the road. Walter de'Silva's talented team has tastefully advanced Audi's passenger-car design beyond the current level that most already consider as tasteful and advanced as any in the automotive world. Gone is the semicircular roofline we've come to expect for the past decade, replaced by one with a more formal treatment for the rear-quarter glass (necessary to accommodate the heads of the rearmost pair of the A5's infrequent quartet of passengers). The design departure on the roofline is somewhat of a surprise. That it is so gracefully applied is not.

The new nose-complete with soon-to-be-ubiquitous LED running lamps-is blunt and broad yet as sultry as Angelina Jolie 30 seconds after her wake-up call. On the A5, Audi's single-frame grille finally seems natural, either because we've become accustomed to it, or because Audi's other new coupes, the 2008 R8 and the 2008 TT, have made it look so good. The S5, of course, is a bit snootier in appearance with its egg-crate detailing and squared-off air intakes.

All that said, what is most distinctive on the new coupes is the character line that rises over the fenders to accentuate the big wheels, which measure 18 inches on the A5, 19 on the S5. The longer wheelbase and the longitudinal engine mounting allow for proportions nearly as correct as, say, those of the new Jaguar XK, only with tidy, BMW 3-series-like dimensions. And its unexpected width-something also likely to characterize the next A4-is quite evident from behind, where horizontal lamps and wide-set tailpipes accentuate the car's girth. From every angle, it works. Very, very well.