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Originally Posted by vroom_vroom  Do you know why the A5 lost out??? I love that car, you have to see one in real life to understand how good looking they are   |
This is why the A5 lost out.
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The A5 came to Wheels COTY as a slightly unusual contender in that it basically previews the architecture of the next A4 sedan, although in coupe guise. It isn’t often that a two-door precedes a four-door variant, but for Audi the A5 (and its V8-powered S5 sibling) represents a promising step forward, mainly because its designers have repackaged the drivetrain by moving the engine farther back, relative to the front axle line, in a quest for better weight distribution and handling balance.
As a coupe, then, the A5 has a conservative yet pleasant shape (with “a generic coupe glass-house,” according to Robbo), although the way it’s packaged drew mixed responses. There was praise for the huge boot, with its 455 litre capacity, but entry to the rear seat isn’t easy, and head room is quite
limited for its two occupants.
The panel didn’t have to look much farther than the BMW M3 to find a rival that treats its passengers properly. Stahl probably summed up the A5 best by describing it as “a two-plus-luggage more than a two-plus-two.”
On the other hand the big Audi coupe drew unanimous praise for the quality of interior fittings and materials used, and its overall design and execution, with the word “beautiful” popping up regularly. Even if Robbo questioned the plethora of buttons and controls across the dashboard surface – odd given the MMI central control replicates most minor functions. The A5’s safety credentials were also hard to fault, with a full complement of passive and active hardware on board.
The road exercises brought out a mixture of good and bad. The A5 – a front-drive 3.2-litre V6 with multitronic (CVT) gearbox – has a particularly sweet drivetrain package with power aplenty and a faultless transmission, let down by overly light steering and excessive torque steer. The S5 quattro with 260kW of V8 grunt and a six-speed manual ’box added another dimension in performance, together with a NASCAR soundtrack, all-wheel-drive grip – with torque-delivery biased towards the rear wheels – and greater steering precision. “The V8 is a gem,” Bulmer said. “A lovely engine note, broad rev band matched to a very sweet gearbox.”
But the S5’s ride is firm to the point of being harsh, while the A5’s softer suspension doesn’t have the level of control required to conquer Lang Lang’s rougher sections that mimic typical Australian country roads all too well.
“The ride lets it down,” said Samantha Stevens. “A GT car should not shake your back teeth out.”
“The ride is very disappointing in a GT,” Stahly echoed.
It all led to a fair amount of head scratching as to what Audi was aiming at with a car that was uncomfortable in the ride department, yet didn’t steer like a sports car and couldn’t really carry four adults in comfort. It seemed to fall somewhere between being a GT and a two-door muscle car without hitting the target head on. “A German Thunderbird,” Robbo sniffed.
This is obviously an expensive car at $91,900 for the A5 3.2 and $131,900 for the S5 manual, and although it stacks up reasonably well against competitors such as the BMW 3 Series coupe or Mercedes CLK, the panel questioned whether obvious dynamic and packaging faults meant it was still good value for money.
If you hadn’t guessed it already, every single judge had difficulty scoring the Audi coupe highly and it failed to progress to the next round of COTY.
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Wheels - Audi A5