I’ve always been a fan of Audi’s A5, it’s a sleek, muscular looking body with great lines and good overall performance. There’s now a new model however, with a refined design and of course a newer, more powerful engine. We just tested Audi’s latest S5…
Our flight touched down in beautiful Porto, Portugal where the sun welcomed us. The feeling and vibe of the pretty little city in this moment spoke loudly as we ventured en route to our hotel. Street food and drinks were being prepared, and people were gathering about the square, excitement was building and stages were being set up around the centre…We soon found out that tonight, the annual Festa de São João do Porto would be taking place. What an amazing bit of luck! We checked in to our hotel right in the middle of the city with rooms looking out at the stunning River Douro. Porto is beautiful and thats that. Should we get on to the car then?
The new S5 is a good looking sequel I would say. Its leaner and meaner with sporty proportions and appealing curves. The flared rear arches lead the eyes towards the new rear of the car, which maintains those quad pipes and signature tail lights, now slightly more compact but even tidier in their 3D-like design. The front grille is deep and wide with the Matrix LED headlights blending seamlessly into the new hood design, not forgetting the S5 Logo, this makes for a statement of power from the moment you look at the coupe.
In terms of performance lets go through some key figures here, The car is capable of the sprint to 62mph/100km in 4.7 seconds and features a turbocharged V6 Engine pumping out 354 hp and 500Nm of torque. Nice? Also it’s a lighter car, with around 60kg of weight shaved off from the previous S5.
The drive itself was something that we were quite interested to commence with and the weather was absolutely perfect to put the car through its paces. We drove through breathtaking mountain passes, small town streets and even some older cobble roads before arriving to our mid day stop at “Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Arouca” where lunch and a little sun got us ready for the road once again.
The car definitely feels agile, sporty and dynamic. Impressively, the chassis feels more rigid then ever before and you don’t get a lot of body roll on those tight corners. It feels like German quality in its transmission, power delivery and engagement. In Dynamic mode, It could however be a little more exciting in terms of engine note and gear changes, maybe more playful. The steering is nice too but doesn’t deliver the most feedback from the road, which some may like and some may not.
The newly designed interior is slightly more spacious and features a familiar central console with a refined layout. Still Audi and still very easy to get used to. The car has also joined the newer members of the family and finally has the Virtual Cockpit, which we are a big fan of. It makes all the data within the car so accessible from media to maps and telephone. The S5 branding in the seats as well as the gear stick and dashboard let you know what you are in and the car feels comfortable and quality with a great driving position.
In total you are getting a solid all around sports coupe here. Great work from Audi and more info can be found over at the official website – Audi.
MR. GOODLIFE
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