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Merc1 · **Edmunds Inside Line - Full Test: 2008 Audi S5 -** 08-02-2007, 12:39 AM

American Flyer

Audi has been serious for decades, busily bringing us such engineering breakthroughs as the five-cylinder engine, all-wheel drive, the aluminum chassis, direct fuel injection and competition-prepared diesels. It's been like science class. At least the lab projects have been impressing the neighbors and even winning races at Le Mans.

But with the 2008 Audi S5, the technoid visionaries of Ingolstadt have finally lightened up. After all, we're Americans. We're just a simple people. Speed and style are what sell.

Nuvolari Returns From the Past

Audi has figured out that a coupe should be beautiful, not merely exclusive. Even as the typical German sedan has become a beast with swollen fenders and a massive grille, designed to bludgeon the meek out of the fast lane on the autobahn, the 2008 Audi S5 has a different look. Its curving contours are leaner, more expressive and more energetic.

The face of the new Audi coupe comes from the midengine Audi R8 sports car, and the rest has been inspired by the 2003 Nuvolari showcar. The S5 version of the coupe is set apart visually from the conventional A5 by a radiator grille painted in platinum gray and inlaid with chrome trim, more aggressive bumpers, outside mirrors painted silver and four oval tailpipes.

Overall, this is a car that makes its luxury statement with color and chrome, a look that sets it apart from its German counterparts, the BMW 6 Series and Mercedes-Benz CLK-Class.

A New Way of Going Down the Road

The A5 begins with the structure of the A4 sedan, and it's broadly similar in size, though predictably lower and wider. At the same time, the wheelbase has been stretched 4.1 inches, which comes from relocating the differential for the front wheels ahead of the clutch.

Now the front wheels are carried by a lightweight, aluminum suspension with five links on each side, which is rigidly attached to the body by a separate subframe. Meanwhile the rack-and-pinion steering assembly also has found a new home close to the centerline of the wheels.

When you pencil it out, these changes have a huge impact. There are 5.3 fewer inches of front overhang, so there's less mass leading the front tires down the road, and that means the car is more responsive to steering inputs. The coupe also distributes its 3,807 pounds more evenly, 58 percent front/42 percent rear. And finally the steering is crisper, more direct.

It's in Your Hands

There's a new, down-the-road sense in this car that you can feel as soon as you take the steering wheel. The S5 feels alert, completely different from an A4 sedan or even an RS4.

It's a difference you can measure on the test track. On the skid pad, the S5 balances easily on its 255/35ZR18 Dunlop Sport Maxx tires. It hangs on until you reach 0.91g, which is a fraction more than the Audi RS4 sedan achieves. More important, the S5 maintains its poise even at the limit, and a quick dab at the throttle is enough to change its cornering arc.

The S5 balances nicely through the slalom as well, recording a speed of 68.6 mph, which compares to the RS4 sedan's 70.6 mph. The steering effort of the Audi coupe's speed-sensitive system is a little light, and it's overmatched by the quick turn-in from the chassis and tires, yet the car's overall responsiveness inspires complete confidence. Gone is the vague, on-center steering action that has characterized other Audi models.

This coupe fits the way real Americans drive. It's meant to travel enormous distances at high speed, undeterred by the character of the road or the nature of the weather. As the sporting version of the Audi coupe, the S5 has had its suspension snubbed down to a fairly tight calibration, a measure to keep the inevitable torque reaction of all-wheel drive from disturbing your sense of command and control through the steering wheel.

As you'd expect, these standard 19-inch, 35-series tires are pretty aggressive, though, and they'll patter across the ridges between the concrete slabs on the freeway or across broken pavement.

A V8 That's Perfect for America

Yet it's the engine that dominates the S5, just as it should in a sporting coupe. Audi's 4.2-liter V8 appears once again here, calibrated this time to deliver 354 horsepower at 7,000 rpm and 325 pound-feet of torque at 3,500 rpm.

This long-stroke V8 doesn't have a very sexy reputation, yet it's brilliant in both character and performance. It pulls from very low rpm just like an American-built V8, and then it has another dimension of power that carries you to its 7,000-rpm redline.

The tractability of this engine perfectly suits an automatic transmission, yet we still prefer the crisp throttle response that comes with a six-speed manual transmission. The shift linkage combines fairly long, light-effort throws with firm engagement, so it's easy to use. Even so, the engine has such authoritative power as you roll on the throttle there's not much need for shifting.

If you want to triumph over time from a standing start, you dump the clutch at 4,500 rpm, sense a bit of wheelspin from the front tires followed by a stern kick from the rears, and 60 mph comes up in 4.9 seconds. You pass through the quarter-mile in 13.3 seconds at 104.6 mph. This compares to the 420-hp Audi RS4's 4.7-second acceleration to 60 mph and its quarter-mile pass of 13.2 seconds at 106.8 mph.

Since the Audi V8 will carry this car all the way to an electronically limited top speed of 155 mph, the S5 has brakes that are up to the task, and this car with its standard 17-inch discs comes to a halt from 60 mph in just 110 feet.

Full Article and Video:

Full Test: 2008 Audi S5

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