| First Drive | Verona, Italy | Audi A5 3.0 TDI quattro + Audi S5 quattro |
In the tiny town of San Pedro we spot a small archway down a narrow side street and decide that it's the perfect backdrop for some photography. Only a tiny nearby Trattoria is open and the staff are preoccupied setting up for the evening crowd. Because we're essentially trespassing on someone's property in order to get the shots we want, we do our best not to draw too much attention to ourselves. But even manoeuvring the S5 around as carefully and as quietly as possible, we get noticed.
A shaven head pops out the door and the well-built owner strides towards us with purpose. He tries to communicate in German (he has clocked our Ingolstadt number plates) and then flips over to broken English when he notices our blank stares. Surprisingly, he's not gesticulating at us to get the hell off his property. Instead, he's smiling and pointing at the car. I think he wants to get in and try the new Audi S5 on for size. We're not in a position to refuse.
Naturally, he revs the engine hard and the neighbouring alleyways echo with the sound of the S5's howling, soulful V8. Use of the word
bella and the way his middle finger, fore finger and thumb were held together and swirled around as if conducting an imaginary orchestra gave us another indication he was impressed. Finally, he gets out proclaiming it to be the best thing since the coming of Christ before insisting we come in for a coffee. We abandon the S5 and talk with our hands through two shockingly powerful espressos. By the time we get back in the car to attack the mountain roads above the village, we're so wired we can almost travel through time.
It's a good job we had the coffee to keep us awake too - otherwise our interest in the S5 would have waned much sooner. As our Italian friend pointed out, it is a very beautiful car, curvy and sensuous in an old-school muscle-car kind of way. The front is typical Audi, with its big grille and a pleasing symmetry in the way the shapes of the headlamps and air intakes complement each other, but the new line of LED daytime running lights and the detailed arrangement within each headlamp cluster help to define the A5 as a new Audi by giving it an interesting and modern 'face'. In profile, the A5 is elegant, with its Coke-bottle lines, exquisite stance, flowing glasshouse and perfectly honed surface treatment, while the rear is extremely familiar to anyone who's seen the backside of a
3 Series Coupé, only here it's slightly more appealing because of its tidier lines and surfacing. The only real fault I can find with the A5 is its mirrors. They look like they were yanked off the side of a Ford F-250 pickup truck and while they're undoubtedly effective they're totally at odds with the lithe beauty of the rest of the car. The designer, Walter d'Silva, says the A5 is the most beautiful car he's ever designed. Despite the mirrors, we tend to agree.
When you finish soaking up the looks, you throw open the door to find the forthcoming new A4 family dashboard, similar to that of an
A6, but executed with more visual appeal and flair. The basic ergonomics can't be faulted (I defy anyone not to find their ideal driving position in there) and the MMI on-screen menu system is a little less frustrating than before, but otherwise it's all pretty familiar and predictable despite its newness. The only real surprise is the amount space - I fully expected to be crowbarred into place, but the A5 proved remarkable roomy for front seat passengers and surprisingly adequate for those in the rear, provided they're not in there too long.
On the move, the A5 feels very, very different to the
outgoing A4, riding with more maturity and cornering with a LOT more finesse. Front end grip is much stronger than the nose-heavy, understeering Audis of yore while stability and poise through the bends also impress. The A4's (and S4's) propensity to loll around on its suspension is gone, too, supplanted by a surefooted-ness and calm competence that no other Audi (bar the accomplished
RS4) could even dream about. This is thanks to a completely new double-wishbone front suspension arrangement and the placement of the front wheels much further forward for better weight distribution. The steering rack has also been relocated to a point just ahead of the front axle for better response and feedback while the new trapezoidal-link rear suspension also plays its part in making the A5 and S5 ride and handle with such unflappable competence.
Sadly, despite all Audi's engineering cleverness, the A5 is still a soulless car to pilot. It's a marvellous machine, don't get me wrong, but it's not as involving as you'd expect from a sports coupe. The steering is quick, but rather numb in terms of weight and feedback. You hear the tyres loose grip before you feel them (and that's in the dry - in the wet you're relying on the ESP to tell you when you've reached the limits) and you have to read the car's body movements to interpret what it's up to and likely to do next. It is very controllable and forgiving if you misread what little information it's giving you and make an unwanted input, but that's not what you want in a sexy coupe like the A5. You want to feel part of the action rather than being another fawning admirer.
Most disappointing of all was the S5, which on first acquaintance was no more engaging than the lesser models, just faster and marginally better looking thanks to tasty wheels and a meaty body kit (an S-Line pack achieves the same look for lesser models, incidentally). We drove it hard in the hills above Verona and while there was no denying its poise or the addictive wail of its glorious V8, it lacked real driver involvement and was actually quite tricky to drive smoothly because of its springy clutch and notchy six-speed manual 'box. The 237bhp, 369lb.ft 3-litre V6 TDI quattro is a much better bet, six grand cheaper and almost as fast everywhere except the long straight bits where the V8 can use its 349bhp to full effect. Even then, though, the 3.0 TDI isn't far behind (it can reach 62mph from a standstill in just 5.9 seconds, only 0.8 slower than the S5) and with a slicker 'box and better clutch, it could just about match the S5 over most of the tight, winding roads we tested both cars on. Oh, and don't forget it's a lot more economical, needing just 7.2 litres per 100km (39.2mpg) compared to the S5's staggering 12.4-litre (22.8mpg) thirst. If you can't quite match the S5 pace at least you know you'll pass it later as it pulls in for fuel.
It's best to think of the new Audi S5 as a GT car, then - swift, comfortable and refined, while the diesel is an even better grand tourer and arguably more exploitable in the tight stuff, too. The forthcoming 3.2-litre petrol isn't quite as swift or frugal as the diesel, but otherwise feels very similar to the diesel (it sounds good, too) and there will be more engines to flesh out the range below these in time. At the end of our day, we longed to return to our little Trattoria to tell our new friend that while the S5 might look gorgeous and be a cultured and refined machine, it's not really the kind of car to stir the soul to such an extent you give complete strangers industrial-strength coffee to celebrate. It's a great car, the A5, as long as you're happy to sit back and go where the car wants you to go. If you crave scruff-of-the-neck, you might want to look elsewhere. Until Audi ups the ante with a likely RS5 model, our first impressions tell us that keen drivers will still be knocking on the door of the local BMW dealer.
2007 Audi A5 range overview
| Model | UK (£ on-the-road) | Ireland: (€ on-the-road) |
| Audi A5 3.0 TDI quattro | £33,430 | €64,900 |
| Audi S5 quattro | £39,825 | €85,000 |
