Top motoring columnist Gavin Foster gets to grips with the new Audi A5 Sportback.
My neighbours never have much difficulty telling whether I’m enamoured with a test car or not – if they get through three or four days without hearing me coming and going on a motorcycle they know I’ve been sent a car I really enjoy.
During the week I had the Audi A5 Sportback 3.2 FSI S-tronic Quattro I never once even thought about venturing forth on two wheels, never mind doing it, so I think they probably got the message. The Sportback is one of an elite group of cars that is really rewarding to drive. The engine, gearbox and brakes are perfectly matched, the ride is taut without being uncomfortably harsh, and the handling (on the road, at least) superb.
Although the Sportback looks like a coupe it’s actually a four-door hatchback that offers almost as much space inside as a station wagon. The enormous hatch grants access to a 480-litre boot, and with the rear seats folded forwards this expands to 980 litres. The problem with two-door cars is usually that the doors are very wide, making them awkward to open, especially in confined areas, and the act of reaching for the seatbelt often requires contortions that my rotund form doesn’t much enjoy. With the four-door Audi that thankfully is not an issue. The interior is typically Audi – understated, with well laid out dials and switches, and build quality is superb.
There’s no point in wasting precious space waffling on about the six airbags, electronic driving aids and parking distance sensors because we fully expect all of those things in a car costing more than half a million rands. What is noteworthy about the Audi is the driving experience. The 3.2 litre V6 petrol engine delivers 195 kW –that’s a tad more than 260 good old fashioned horsepower – and 330 Newton metres of torque, and all that grunt collaborates with s superb seven speed S-tronic gearbox to give the car an enormously sporting feel.
Manually shifted
The transmission can be manually shifted via paddles on the steering wheel, and I tended to do that rather more than necessary because I enjoyed the delicious aural effects of the V6 and the crisp changes. The car takes around 6.5 seconds to reach 100km/h and top speed is electronically limited to 25 km/h so performance could best be described as very lively rather than stunningly quick, but I don’t think anybody could fairly claim to be disappointed on the road. And the massive discs are just what you want when you need to slow down a ton and a half of metal and plastic in a hurry, while the sporty suspension and four-wheel-drive do a great job of allowing the car to scurry through the twisties with the best of them.
We used the Audi around town and then did a leisurely weekend trip to the Midlands that covered about 300km. Fuel consumption averaged out at 10.8 litres per 100km, which is pretty good for such a lively car. My only reservation about the Audi is that poor rear visibility and the low ride height made parking tricky – the low front has to be kept well clear of kerbs, and I find it difficult to place much faith in parking sensors that beep as you reverse.
The Audi A5 Sportback 3.2 FSI S-tronic Quattro really is a superb car. At R503 500 it’s also an expensive one, but as an overall package for the wealthy it’s very hard to beat.