Short Take Road Test
There’s nothing quite like a large, premium-brand coupe with which to flaunt your wealth—all that sheetmetal, size, and power, but real seats for only two. It’s no wonder, then, that in such a sybaritic segment, the attention on a new arrival focuses on the most flamboyant member of the family.
Such was the case with the arrival of the Audi A5 and S5 siblings. Although both wear (mostly) the same sensual sheetmetal, only the S5 offers Audi’s melodious 354-hp V-8. We drooled over the shape of the cars, but when the time came to strap on our test gear, we snapped up the S5 and left the base A5 to sit like month-old Peeps on the clearance rack at Kroger.
Silly us. Of course the S5 grabs all the attention and posts the impressive performance numbers (0 to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds by our testing, and the quarter-mile in 13.4 at 105 mph), but the A5, motivated by a 3.2-liter V-6, grabs eyeballs just as effectively and will be the one posting the more impressive sales numbers. And it is certainly no slouch, even before you consider the five-figure discount.
Down 80 or So Horsepower, but Still Smooth, Flexible, and Fast
With Audi’s full battery of power-building and fuel-saving tech at work inside, the V-6 whips up 265 horses and 243 pound-feet of torque and manages an EPA-estimated 16 mpg city and 27 mpg highway, figures better than the V-8’s by 33 and 42 percent, respectively. We observed 15 mpg in our S5 test and 20 mpg with the A5.
Time slips suffer by one second in the 0-to-60 dash and 1.1 seconds and 7 mph in the quarter, with the A5 chalking up a 5.8-second 0-to-60 and a 14.5-second quarter at 98 mph. Although the engine comes noticeably alive at higher rpm, it is admirably flexible and will lope along comfortably at nearly any speed in any gear. At 30 mph, the IP gear indicator calls for an upshift to sixth, dropping the tach to 1000 rpm, where it is still silky smooth even when you floor it. It’s just that nothing happens when you do—sixth-gear acceleration from 30 mph to 50 takes 13.9 seconds, but that’s why God invented the downshift.
Although braking numbers differ by only one foot (158 for the S5, 159 for the A5), the A5 managed to best the S5 on the skidpad, pulling a genuinely sporty 0.90 g. The A5 we tested included the S-line performance package, which, for $2900, brings everything from the more expensive S5 except the V-8’s additional kapow. You get the front and rear fascias, 19-inch wheels, Dunlop SP Sport 255/35ZR-19 performance tires, and a firmer suspension. Although the larger rims and rubber no doubt aided the A5’s superior skidpad performance, they are also more vocal on the highway than the base rubber, thrumming on smooth pavement and emitting a sharp pong over expansion joints, but neither is at an offensive volume.
On winding pavement, the A5’s skidpad advantage disappears in all but the most determined maneuvers—it is nearly two tons no matter how many cylinders are under the hood, and mild understeer is the order of the day—but the car exhibits the same crisp steering action and relatively swift moves of the S5.
Just Settle Down and Enjoy the Ride—and the Envious Stares
Skidpad numbers aside, neither the A5 nor the S5 is an overtly sporting machine. Styling is a very well-executed job one. Ticking no options boxes but the S-line trim will net a visual dead ringer for the S5 with fully respectable performance and a significant fuel-economy bonus at a $7150 discount. If dusting all comers in the stoplight drags or a siren-song exhaust note is priority alpha, then the S5 is the only choice. Or you could go with a BMW 335i, which costs as much as an A5, will pace the S5 in late-night industrial-park shenanigans, but is as common as the sauer in kraut by comparison. But for a comfortable big-coupe knockout that flips a big “screw off” to sensibility and compromise, the A5 will draw envy from every surrounding motorist.
