Audi’s spiritual car

It has been 17 years coming but at last there is a spiritual successor to their famous Coupe in the shape of the new Audi 5-series.
Developed from the Nuvolari concept shown at Geneva 2003 show, the new two-plus-two coupe was available to order from 6 March and deliveries are now underway.
Initially there will be two versions, the A5 3.0 TDI 240PS quattro at £33,430 and the S5 FSI 4.2V8 354PSquattro costing £39,825 but a fuller range will follow including automatics, tiptronics and front wheel drive derivatives with a variety of engines. It is also the first model to be built on the Audi extended wheelbase modular longitudinal platform which we will see in other series including the forthcoming new A4 and cabriolet.
The long wheelbase has been engineered by pushing forward the front suspension so the car is better balanced, smoother riding and roomier inside. The big 455 litre boot is accessed through a conventional lid and it’s not a hatchback.
It sits on a long and wide “footprint” with front multi-link and rear trapezoidal links, new steering and brakes with the latest quattro system feeding drive as and when needed to all four wheels.
The engines may look familiar but they are also revised and retuned for the A&S 5, with the latter getting a particularly sporting sound to go with its particular suspension set up.
For launch, all models get six-speed manual boxes but with the introduction of the front wheel drive model later will come a continuously variable transmission and a surprising eight fixed ratios in manual mode. Tiptronic will follow.
The launch engines will be augmented by 265PS 3.2V6 FSI and 160PS 1.8TFSI while the diesel family will grow with the arrival of 190PS 2.7V6 TDI.
Audi is projecting sales this year of about 3,800 A&S5 models, rising to 8,000 in 2008 that is about 35pc of the sector for the sporting coupes it shares with rivals BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar.
The in-house styling led by Walter De Silva has included the now familiar deep grille, upturned headlights with pearl-ribbon daylights as on the R8 and a very flowing profile from nose to tail. Inside it is very stylishly trimmed in leather and there are individual small back seats.
Audi believe the A5 and S5 will sell on their styling, performance, economy, emissions and predicted residual values of close to 50pc over three years. As the retail sales build, they also expect to gradually sell more diesel versions.
I briefly tested both A5 and S5 and thought the latter was a better riding and handling model with sharper responses and an it is said to take just over 5secs to 60mph compared to a second more from the A5.  Top speed is limited to 155mph in both models and the V6 diesel should give 39mpg compared to 23mpg from the V8 petrol.
I thought the mechanical smoothness and comparative silence of the cars threw into relief some coarse tyre noises, particularly in the diesel, but wind noise was extremely low at motorway speed and it is cruising which really suits the new big Audi coupe.
On very twisting roads the car does not feel particularly agile and the steering does not give fine feedback but the brakes inspire confidence in their ability. The clutch has a noticeably long travel but the changes are slick, and a tiptronic option should have been available at launch.
The cabin is very roomy for two big people but anyone apart from a child would find legroom restricted behind them and it’s not particularly easy getting into the rear seats. The boot is also capacious but has a small opening.
Even with such a limited range at launch this is a very attractive car in so many ways and it is going to be another success for the company which has said it wants to introduce 25 new models in the decade, including the A4 and Q5 next year and A1 two years later.
Picture by Ian Adcock, International Automotive News Service
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