2018 Audi A5
It’s not as if we didn’t know what to expect of the two thousand eighteen Audi A5. Underneath, it’s the same as the two thousand seventeen Audi A4 we recently tested, which we summed up in this way: “It doesn’t make much noise about it, but the A4 possesses a quiet competence that is as wonderful as it is lightly misunderstood.”
The same could be said of its two-door brother, with the caveat that it has a more polarizing exterior design even as it strives to look sportier. As we noted in our review of its sexier sibling coupe, the S5, the A5 takes the outgoing car’s shape—one that was among the aesthetic highlights of early 21st-century automotive design—and amps up the contours until our visual VU meters flirt with the crimson zone.
Audi’s second-generation MLB platform underpins the A5, so when it gets here next year as a two thousand eighteen model in U.S. trim, it will share the A4’s 252-hp Two.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, and that’s no bad thing. (European models also suggest a complement of diesel powerplants and a lower-power version of the Two.0-liter gasoline four-banger.) If you’ve spent time in most any latest Volkswagen product, the character of the engine will seem familiar. But mat the throttle, and when the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission grabs a gear and the engine finds the fat part of its powerband, there’s a legitimate pants-kicking punt that goes beyond what the previous 220-horse engine could provide. And, oddly, the fresh A5 still offers that dual-clutch gearbox, while the supposedly sportier S5 now relies on a conventional eight-speed automatic.
Audi’s fresh coupe demonstrates a readiness to go around corners, and quickly to boot, but it never fairly feels like it wants to play in them. When the forms open up, long sweepers beckon deep prods of the noisy pedal, even if the result isn’t exactly a boisterous symphony. Unlike the exterior, the A5’s on-road behavior is subtle, and if the steering feels light and a tad numb, the chassis still telegraphs what’s happening down at the wheels with legitimate accuracy. When it comes time to scrub speed, the brakes suggest linear and just-firm-enough modulation, providing the driver fine degrees of control as they go about their business of converting momentum into warmth.
Inwards, the A5 goes after the TT, the Q7, and the A4 into the maxi-electronic-dash era, providing myriad ways to display pertinent visual information, including in the TFT screen in the instrument panel, directly ahead of the driver. While some of us love this, others would be just as content with Audi’s fine head-up display and the nav screen off to the right. The interior itself, largely collective with the A4, suggests that Audi may cede its long-standing lead in materials quality to an ascendant Mercedes-Benz. Convenience, however, is excellent in both front seats, and outward visibility has not been sacrificed on the altar of style.
2018 Audi A5 Very first Drive – Review – Car and Driver
2018 Audi A5
It’s not as if we didn’t know what to expect of the two thousand eighteen Audi A5. Underneath, it’s the same as the two thousand seventeen Audi A4 we recently tested, which we summed up in this way: “It doesn’t make much noise about it, but the A4 possesses a quiet competence that is as wonderful as it is lightly misunderstood.”
The same could be said of its two-door brother, with the caveat that it has a more polarizing exterior design even as it strives to look sportier. As we noted in our review of its sexier sibling coupe, the S5, the A5 takes the outgoing car’s shape—one that was among the aesthetic highlights of early 21st-century automotive design—and amps up the contours until our visual VU meters flirt with the crimson zone.
Audi’s second-generation MLB platform underpins the A5, so when it gets here next year as a two thousand eighteen model in U.S. trim, it will share the A4’s 252-hp Two.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, and that’s no bad thing. (European models also suggest a complement of diesel powerplants and a lower-power version of the Two.0-liter gasoline four-banger.) If you’ve spent time in most any latest Volkswagen product, the character of the engine will seem familiar. But mat the throttle, and when the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission grabs a gear and the engine finds the fat part of its powerband, there’s a legitimate pants-kicking punt that goes beyond what the previous 220-horse engine could provide. And, oddly, the fresh A5 still offers that dual-clutch gearbox, while the supposedly sportier S5 now relies on a conventional eight-speed automatic.
Audi’s fresh coupe demonstrates a readiness to go around corners, and quickly to boot, but it never fairly feels like it wants to play in them. When the forms open up, long sweepers beckon deep prods of the noisy pedal, even if the result isn’t exactly a boisterous symphony. Unlike the exterior, the A5’s on-road behavior is subtle, and if the steering feels light and a tad numb, the chassis still telegraphs what’s happening down at the wheels with legitimate accuracy. When it comes time to scrub speed, the brakes suggest linear and just-firm-enough modulation, providing the driver fine degrees of control as they go about their business of converting momentum into warmth.
Inwards, the A5 goes after the TT, the Q7, and the A4 into the maxi-electronic-dash era, providing myriad ways to display pertinent visual information, including in the TFT screen in the instrument panel, directly ahead of the driver. While some of us love this, others would be just as content with Audi’s fine head-up display and the nav screen off to the right. The interior itself, largely collective with the A4, suggests that Audi may cede its long-standing lead in materials quality to an ascendant Mercedes-Benz. Convenience, however, is excellent in both front seats, and outward visibility has not been sacrificed on the altar of style.
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