Cars / All things automotive

Smooch the sub-$40,000 tier goodbye in Audi’s latest niche-specific sportback.

by Sam Machkovech – Jun Eighteen, two thousand seventeen 9:46 pm UTC

SEATTLE—When introducing its sportback successor to the A4, Audi minced no words about its intended consumer target: the frequent car updater who is this close to switching to an SUV.

After a few hours’ drive in two flavors of this upgrade, the two thousand eighteen A5 and S5 Sportback, I was inclined to agree. If you want a luxury car with the length and carrying capacity of a boat, but not the sense that you need maritime credentials to steer it, then Audi’s fresh sportbacks might be enough to stop you from buying into America’s fastest-growing car-purchase sector.

0-60mph in a heartbeat—with room to spare

That niche is significant to mind here, because unlike last year’s A4 sedan, Audi is not suggesting a sub-$40,000 option for these models. The two thousand eighteen A5 Sportback will set you back nothing brief of $42,600, while its beefier S5 sibling, whose upgrades include a Trio.0L engine and S Sport Suspension, starts at $54,400.

Audi two thousand eighteen S5 Sportback.

Audi two thousand eighteen S5 Sportback.

Upgraded S5 interior.

These are all S5 Sportback pics unless otherwise noted.

40-20-40 split for a backseat fold-down.

This gallery consists entirely of Audi-provided pictures. Ars’ own photos emerge further down the page.

12.Three” LCD “virtual cockpit” as an option.

Audi strenuously emphasized this model’s back line.

Boy, does the S5’s V6 engine purr.

Switching now to the A5 Sportback, whose bod is fairly similar.

Different material for the interior.

Same 40-20-40 fold-down.

A5 Sportback trunk.

These folded seats indeed do lay vapid.

A flawlessly fine A5 engine, but the much pricier S5 blows it away.

Each car also comes in a Prestige trim level, which will set you back $50,200 and $58,800, respectively. Opting for this higher spec includes, among other things, the killer Virtual Cockpit” 12.Three” LCD display directly above the steering wheel and a separate, little heads-up display shined into your windshield’s lowest point, which will display speedometer and next-turn information. The price tag only grows if you add the sports package to either, which was different for each car (S line Sport for the A5, S sport for the S5). The S5’s S Sport Package includes thicker roll bars, stiffer springs, crimson brake calipers, and adaptive suspension. Neither car comes with a Driver Assistance Package by default, as well, and this wasn’t enabled in any sportback that I drove.

During a presentation, Audi design lead Frank Lamberty spent a lot of time pointing to older Audi designs and their silhouettes. He was obsessed with what he called the “magic line.” This top-of-car silhouette line, which he also focused on while developing the A7 model, guided his team’s work in extending the A5 and S5 sportback lengths while still looking coupe-like. That design line makes an aesthetic difference when comparing the A5 and A7 sportbacks directly, and this comparison exposes just how handsomely Audi has pulled off its magic trick of making a massive four-door car look almost like a two-door pony.

As a vehicle that’s a segment down on from the A7, the A5 Sportback is shorter by a whopping 241mm—and it is only longer than the (closely related) A4 sedan by 7mm. (The S5 Sportback is 19mm longer than its A5 sibling and 100kg stronger.)

The A5 Sportback comes tooled with a four-cylinder engine measuring two hundred fifty two hp (187kW) and two hundred seventy three lb-ft (370Nm), and I was given the chance to open this up only a little bit on windy, police-lined roads in wooded neighborhoods leading to Washington state’s Snoqualmie Pass. (Audi did not permit us ample time to pick up any cherry pie, sadly.) In the few moments I felt safe putting both feet on the pedal, I agreed with my driving playmate’s brief quip about the spectacle: “swift, but not quick.” The A5 I tested will get you to 60mph in about Five.7 seconds, and pretty calmly at that, but I felt just enough lurching while gunning forward.

After a few hours driving the A5, I hopped into an S5 Sportback, and the spectacle difference was significant. Numerous drivers at the event uttered the word “sublime,” and I couldn’t help but agree. The S5 Sportback performs almost identically to the S5 coupe: 354hp (264kW), three hundred sixty nine lb-ft (500Nm), and 0-60mph in an astonishing Four.Five seconds. But the insane thing about this S5 Sportback’s dazzling speed is how effortless it feels, almost certainly owing to the S Sport Package on the car I drove. I felt just enough knockback while pressing my foot down, and louder, more pronounced engine rumbling (noticeably louder than the amazingly quiet A5), to know that I was going rapid, but I was astonished to see that I had so quickly reached a hair under 100mph without indeed feeling the traces of road noise, rumbling, or shaky control that slightly crept up with this car’s A5 Sportback sibling.

In both cars, I felt convenient taking winding-road turns at speeds in the high 40s without touching the brakes and without whipping my seatmate around all that much.

Shameless about its niche

Let’s not leave behind, both models emphasize speed while also suggesting some options if you want to carry kids, cargo, or even grown-ups. Taller passengers may very well bonk their goes while getting into the backseat—Audi’s Frank Lamberty did so twice while demonstrating off how “spacious” it is back there—but once you’ve got your butt down, rest assured that someone at harshly six feet of height can sit in the front and back seats at the same time, thanks to floor and seat design that give gams and feet enough space to sneak into this build.

Audi design lead Frank Lamberty displaying off the S5 at an event.

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