MenStyleFashion headed out to Porto, Portugal to the international launch of the Audi A5 and S5 and to take some of these cars for a spin along the windy roads surrounding the Douro river. I had some fun the day before the test drives as Porto was having its biggest annual street party with the Festa de São João do Porto, which I thoroughly recommend anyone to experience. You can read my write up about this in a separate article.
Shaped Like A Wave
The old Audi A5 was showing its age as it was originally launched in 2007. It was originally a spin-off coupe and four-door hatchback of the Audi A4. With the A4 having had its upgrade in 2015 it was now time to see the new Audi A5 and S5 Coupe. First thing I noticed when seeing the car in the flesh was the long hood and the low gently sloping roofline towards the short rear end. I liked the wave lines on the side of the car with waves around the wheel arches. This Audi looks sportier, this was accentuated with the mirrors being placed on top of the shoulder.
Notice the beautiful wave line.
6 Engines
The Audi A5 comes with two petrol engines and three diesel engines. The Audi S5 has a 3.0 litre TFSI engine. The good news of the new engine range compared to the old A5 / S5 is that they give up to 17 percent more power and up to 22 percent lower fuel consumption.
The low powered 2.0 TFSI petrol engine has an output of 190 hp and accelerates the A5 from 0-100 km/h in 7.3 seconds. The top version 2.0 TFSI has 252 hp and can do the sprint in a nippy 5.8 seconds.
The 2.0 TDI is an extremely frugal engine with a combined fuel economy of 4.4 litres per 100 kilometres for the seven speed S tronic and front-wheel drive version. The ultra version improves this even more to a best-in-class 4.0 litres per 100 kilometres. Acceleration from 0-100 km/h of this 190 hp engine is 7.2 seconds for the seven-speed S tronic with quattro all-wheel drive. The peak torque is 400 Nm, my guess is this will be Audi’s best selling engine for the A5 in Europe.
There are two 3 litre TDI engines with an output of 218 hp and 400 Nm torque or the 286 hp with a massive 620 Nm of torque. The low powered version has a combined fuel economy of 4.6 litres per 100 kilometres. The acceleration times of both engines were not available at the time of testing these cars.
Last but not least there is the new 3.0 litre TFSI that powers the S5, this 354 hp engine accelerates the S5 in 4.7 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h and has a fuel economy of 7.3 liters per 100 kilometres. I did not manage anything near that whilst driving it in Portugal but that is more because the S5 was pushed hard.
Audi A5 Quattro 3.0 TDI
I really wanted to test the high powered Audi A5 Quattro 3.0 TDI and put it against the Audi S5. On paper, this car had less horsepower but more torque than the S5. The first route started at the airport where I picked up the A5 and after 15 minutes I was driving over the famous Maria Pia Bridge in Porto built by the famous Gustave Eiffel. I left Porto behind and I was following the roads along the river Douro as I headed inland.
The roads were windy and there were plenty of straight stretches too which made it perfect to feel the power of this engine. The massive amount of torque on offer gives this car an instant acceleration and with the eight-speed Tiptronic gearbox which I had on sports mode, it made for fun driving. For someone that doesn’t drive fast cars regularly, it felt easy to drive and I always felt in control, from taking the corners at high speed to breaking fast for an oncoming fire engine. The heads-up display kept my eyes always on the road ahead of me. Some might say the A5 lacks driving feedback that you might get with a BMW, but I am not sure if that is needed all the time. Sometimes you want both comfort and easy driveability at high speed and let technology do the work for you.
Tech Tech Tech
This was my first-time test driving an Audi and I was impressed with the amount of technology available to you to make your drive easier, more comfortable and safer.
Surfing the Internet at high speed: Using LTE online, the A5 displays traffic information, interesting locations, fuel prices and news, streams audio files from your smartphone, transfers its calendar to the MMI and automatically summons help in an accident, among other things. Drivers can also use an app to lock and unlock the Coupé as well as to find out where it is parked. Support is provided by a long list of assistance systems that set new standards in the class.
Lots of tech surrounds you driving the Audi A5
In congested traffic the A5 drives in a semi-automated mode maintain a distance to the car in front, help avoid rear-end collisions and evades obstacles. It also monitors oncoming traffic when turning left, recognises traffic signals, warns of cars in the blind spot and if your car leaves its lane, and parks autonomously. Seats with a massage function, three-zone climate control, steering wheel heating, electrically extending and retracting seat belt feeders, 3D sound system and a large, panoramic glass roof round out all the tech and premium features of the A5.
Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Arouca
I stopped various times on the first route to take some photo shoots of the Audi A5 in the beautiful Portuguese surroundings. After 114 km it was time for a break at the Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Arouca where Audi had put on a nice lunch for all the press involved. This Cistercian monastery which dates back to the 10th century was the perfect tranquil environment to relax and get the energy levels up for the next part of the trip in which I would take the keys to the Audi s5.
Audi S5
The second part took me from the monastery to Ilhavo. This route had some windy roads again and it was perfect to test and get a feel of how the S5 would handle this. Upon pushing the accelerator there was a great sound form the double twin rear exhaust, something that was clearly lacking in the 3.0 TDI version. Acceleration felt instant but not very different from the A5 3.0 TDI I had driven before. The seats in the S5 are much more supportive than those of the A5 and will keep you firmly in place when taking corners at high speed.
All in all this makes the S5 more fun to drive than the A5 Quattro 3.0 TDI. However, I have not seen the price difference between the cars but if the A5 Quattro 3.0 TDI is significantly cheaper there is not much loss in performance and you will gain a lot in fuel economy. Of course, you will not get the street cred of an S badge, which is shown all over the car.
Double twin exhaust and the red S badge give the S5 more street cred than the A5.
The last part of the trip was highway and here I put the S5 in auto-adaptive cruise control and I was comfortably cruising towards the end of the trip. I had the Bang & Olufsen stereo pumping out the tunes, yes this car is also a comfortable cruiser for driving long distances.
Ilhavo
The end of the trip was at Ilhavo, a town with 40,000 people which is famous for the Vista Alegre porcelain company. The Montebello Vista Alegre Ilhavo hotel is part of the historical area which includes a museum, 18th-century palace and chapel. Here Audi gave us a presentation of the great features of the new A5 and S5 coupe and afterwards we all feasted on a typical Portuguese style BBQ. I could not help taking some photos of the stunning looking red S5 whilst the sun was setting.
