Four Rings, Five Stars
The new Audi S5’s name might be confusing, writes James Fossdyke, but the car is simply one of the best everyday sports saloons out there
Names matter. Children called Anthony, for example, generally face an easier childhood than those named Adolf. And you can build the best product in the world, but if it’s called the Ramsbottom Widget, nobody is going to want one in their house. Car companies have fallen foul of this in the past. The Toyota MR2 was simply called the MR in France (say MR2 quickly in French to see why), and the Mitsubishi Pajero didn’t sell brilliantly in Spain. It turns out that’s because ‘Pajero’ is another word for ‘football referee’ in Spanish.
So you would expect a brand as prestigious and reputable as Audi to be incredibly careful when it comes to naming its cars. Generally speaking, the brand has played it safe with its policy of letters and numbers, which has given us the A3, Q7 and R8 – all of which are pretty inoffensive. What’s more, it has allowed the company to use bigger numbers for bigger cars, and denote how sporty the car is with the letter at the front. The A models are everyday cars, the Q models are SUVs, the S models are sporty and the RS models blow your head off. Easy.
With the dawn of electrification, though, Audi decided to use even numbers for electric cars, while odd numbers would denote petrol-, diesel-, and hybrid-powered vehicles. So the bosses in Ingolstadt decided the A4 – previously a stalwart of the business park – would go all-electric, while the internal combustion-powered versions would get the A5 badge. Which is fine, but the A5 was always the coupe version of the A4, and that has created some confusion. Long story short, the new A5 is a replacement for the A4, not the A5, and the two-door A5 of old has been discontinued.
If you’re lost at this point, I don’t blame you. I may have glazed over slightly while the very German man from Audi was explaining all this, but I perked up somewhat when he introduced me to the new S5, which replaces the old S4, and not the old S5, which no longer… Oh I give up. It’s Audi’s new compact sports saloon, offering an alternative to the BMW M340i, and powered by a turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine that drives all four wheels.
It’s a good-looking car. The more curvaceous shape generally makes the A5 sexier than the A4 it replaces, but the S5 gets an even snazzier design with flashier bumpers, sports suspension and four tailpipes. And it can be specified with Audi’s clever lights that allow you to customise the ‘signature’, so you can pick between different light patterns in the LEDs with no impact on the illumination of the road ahead.
Inside, the S5’s cabin is similarly modified with a sporty steering wheel, figure-hugging sports seats that make you regret the sausage roll you had for lunch, and motorsport-inspired metal pedals with rubber grips. But the technology is much the same as in the A5, with a big, clear central touchscreen, an optional passenger display, and a slightly fussy digital instrument display that doesn’t quite feel as well thought out as the Virtual Cockpit in the old A4/A5 models used to. I’m a big fan of the head-up display that’s projected onto the windscreen, however, and not only because it makes you feel like a fighter pilot. It’s clear, concise and useful, and it means you don’t have to look away from the road every time you arrive in the vicinity of a speed camera.
The build quality is still largely excellent, even if some of the buttons on the steering wheel are a bit fiddly and plasticky, but fans of minimalism can look away now. There’s a plethora of materials in there, and there’s a lot of curves and angles in the design, which makes it look a bit messy if you choose the wrong colour combinations. My test car’s all-black design wasn’t too bad from that point of view, but it felt a little claustrophobic with no sunroof to let the light in.
Practicality-wise, however, it’s fairly good. The boot is the same size as that of a standard A5 Saloon, and you can have an ultra-practical Estate version if you so wish. Picking the estate also gives you fractionally more rear headroom, but unless you’re regularly carrying tall adults in the back, you won’t really need it. The S5’s more than roomy enough.
And it definitely lives up to its sporty billing. The 3.0-litre V6 is good for 362bhp, and with that power distributed between all four of the S5’s wheels, it can make full use of that potency. With a rapid-shifting seven-speed automatic gearbox, you can put your foot down when the lights turn green, and you’ll pass 60mph less than four-and-a-half-seconds later. Flat out, you’ll be doing the obligatory German saloon speed of 155mph. That kind of pace puts the S5 firmly in the territory of a sports car, despite its executive saloon shape and size. There are Porsches that can’t go as fast as the S5.
But fast Audis are nothing new. What’s less common is an Audi that can go around corners. Sure, the TT RS and R8 have both been brilliant efforts in recent years, and the ultra-rare RS 6 GT is pretty spectacular, but almost all Audi’s other models have been overshadowed in the handling department by their equivalents from BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
The S5, however, is a bit more competitive when it comes to cornering. The BMW M340i has always had this part of the market to itself, but the new Audi is here to ensure its compatriot won’t have everything its own way. The steering is more precise than in the old S4, and the whole car feels more balanced and more poised. It still isn’t quite as good as the BMW, but it’s so much closer than anything that has come before.
And it’s more comfortable than the BMW. Although it’s sporty and sits lower than the standard A5 models, the S5’s suspension is only slightly firmer than the car on which it’s based, and that makes it brilliant on the motorway. It’s composed enough to keep the car stable in the corners, but supple enough to soak up the thumps from our naff road surfaces.
So while the S5 may not be quite as good as its rival on a race track, it’s slightly easier to live with where it matters: on the road. The name might be slightly confusing, but the car is very good indeed.
Audi S5 Saloon
Price: From £66,655
Engine: 3.0-litre turbocharged V6 petrol
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
0-62mph: 4.5 seconds
Top speed: 155mph
Power: 362bhp
Hungry for more?
Read up on the latest news, delicious eats, travel treats and seasonal style trends in FEATURES, or browse a curated selection of our FEATURED PRODUCTS, meander through our guide to the finest things to do in Cheshire and beyond in WHATS ON or partake in our COMPETITIONS.
About The CHESHIRE Magazine
We are the definitive guide to luxury lifestyle in the North West. Latest news, delicious eats, travel treats and seasonal style trends. The Cheshire Magazine is the largest luxury lifestyle title for the North West of England, dropping directly through the letterboxes of VIP subscribers from the Wirral to Greater Manchester plus all the villages and towns in between and digitally available as a subscription in print and digital on issuu.com worldwide. We specialise in connecting luxury brands to likeminded consumers.
If you are interested on how you can partner with The CHESHIRE Magazine, read more about us. Or get in touch to find out more about marketing, featuring or partnering with the Cheshire Magazine in print or online.
