Audi S5 Tiptronic review (2007 onwards)

Model: Audi S5 quattro
Bodystyle: Two-door coupé
Engine: 4.2-litre V8, petrol
Transmission: Six-speed Tiptronic automatic, four-wheel drive

What is it?

Audi's new entry to the hotter end of the junior executive coupe market. Launched in 2007, the A5 has already been a big success and you seem to see an awful lot of them on our roads. The S5, with a gutsy 350hp 4.2-litre V8 engine, is currently the hottest car in the range.

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However this title will be cruelly swiped from it upon the arrival sometime in 2009 by the RS5, which we suspect will get a full-fat version of the same engine giving it the same 414hp enjoyed by the RS4 and Audi's halo ubercar, the awesome R8.

Technically, it is largely based on the new A4 saloon platform, but looks-wise it is rather more than that; indeed it looks rather more of a car in its own right than does its arch rival, the BMW 3-Series Coupe.

Where does it fit?

Practically all S5 buyers will be making a tortuous decision between the Audi and the BMW coupe. However, interestingly the £38,000 S5 has no direct rival in the BMW stable, since the 335i is £35,000 at base list price, and has 50 fewer horses, while the next stop blue-prop is the M3, which has 60 more hp and at £51,000 is a lot more expensive.

Otherwise you might consider the £50,000 Mercedes CLK500, which is far too pricey, is as old as the hills, and dynamically not up to the standards of its Teutonic co-religionists.

Is it for you?

If you enjoy driving and also making an impact on friends, family and indeed total strangers, most definitely. With their LED white stripped daytime running lights, the A5 certainly makes itself clear, and the S5 from an extreme distance could be confused for a R8.

You see an awful lot of them in the fast lanes of motorways and have proved a winner in a UK marketplace where Audi has been making a lot of hay in recent years. It is exceptionally stable at speed and will guzzle miles with extreme ease and competence.

I spent a week with the car haring around the UK on various missions and clocking up perhaps 500 miles in the process and enjoyed nearly every minute of it. It is comfortable and has a very nice interior, and easy to control systems.

What does it do well?

The V8 is a peach of a unit and will rumble you around in great style. It is rare to hear a modern V8-petrol rumble in this day and age and I loved it. The Quattro 4-wheel-drive system is perfectly balanced which - usually - gives a power bias to the rear wheels, enabling a taste of R8-style tail-happiness but never enough to get too unruly.

The engine screams away to a 7,500rpm redline, but it feels utterly stable at speed. A bit too stable, since this car just loves to drive fast and on a totally empty M6 toll road I was severely tempted - this car will happily blat away to 155mph without a second thought.

If you do buy one, take it to an autobahn quick before that particular avenue of pleasure is closed down, as is threatened. Some have said that this car would be perfect if all roads were as smooth and straight as they are, but the problems start when rotten surfaces and corners hove into view.

I'm not so sure; I very much enjoyed switching the car into 'dynamic' (you can also choose comfort, normal or 'individual') which stiffens the suspension and puts the Tiptronic autobox into Sport mode - and nailing it down some lovely b-roads. It is supple and predictable and like the R8, flatters most drivers. As good as the BMW? Perhaps not, but most will not notice.

What doesn’t it do well?

A few annoyances are ever present. On this autoboxed car the brake pedal is the size of the USS Nimitz and situated rather more to the right than I would like. When wearing size-12 trainers I encountered major problems pressing the gas without pressing the brake at the same time.

Once on, my foot would momentarily get stuck behind the back of the brake pedal. This is frankly dangerous and did not encourage me on during my test on B-roads where the ability to make quick speed changes is of great importance.

The sat-nav - a £2,000 option - worked well enough, except that it doesn't do full postcodes - just the first 4 figures of them. Which gets you to the approximate area, but no further. This was deeply annoying. If you have the full address you will probably be OK but if you don't, you may have a problem and wishing you had saved 2-grand - and spent £120 on a Tom-Tom instead.

Another strange fact: this loaded-up press car came in at £48,000 with options - but you still don't get cruise control, let alone adaptive cruise control. My £12k Skoda Roomster 3 has cruise as standard - but not on this distant relative costing 4-times more.

The steering is not as close to the road as it could be. Indeed all that solidity at speed is partly the price you pay of course.

The final thing to say about this car is the Tiptronic autobox. It is nice, but not that nice. It is good that it has nice sturdy metal shifters behind the wheel but it is not especially quick to respond and nor are the gearchanges as smooth as I'd like.

During my week with the car I got a chance to briefly drive the BMW M3 with its new dual-clutch system and it was clearly superior. On that basis, I'm not certain the £1,400 premium for this auto is worth it; when this car gets Audi's new dual clutch system sometime in 2009 we will revisit this issue.

What’s it like to live with?

The Audi's interior is very good indeed and certainly preferable to the minimalist BMW experience. Switches and plastics are of high quality and there's really solidity about the whole set up.

Seats are supportive and relaxing - especially when the car is set to "comfort" and the dials and switchgear are all quite special and markedly above those more banal cars in the A5 range.

The MMI interface the Audi employs is good and reasonably intuitive - but BMW is catching up fast with its latest and much improved iDrive system - as fitted to the 2008 3-Series reskin.

How green is it?

Not quite as bad as you might think. On my long run around England in a mixture of driving I got 25mpg on average which while not brilliant was not quite as bad as I feared either. However, 309 g/km CO2 is in dangerous territory and this car will be pricey to run as a company motor. The 3.0 TDI diesel A5 it should be noted manages 39.2mpg overall and CO2 of 191 g/km.

Would we buy it?

I think I would - but only if I were wealthy and had no grave hatred of visiting filling stations. The surging power of the petrol V8, its lovely warble and smoothness at speed are well worth having and make a nice change from the clattery world of diesel. As I discovered this is a great car to demolish large distances in and still arrive happy and relaxed. But do make sure you switch off those naff LED strips - these are socially acceptable on the R8 only.

But much as I enjoyed the car, I live in the real world and it is hard to avoid observing that the BMW 335i, this car's arch six-cylindered rival, even in auto guise manages just 210g/km of CO2 and 32mpg, and whose 0-62 time of 5.4 seconds is only 0.3 seconds slower than the Audi.

Tested: BMW 335i
Tested: BMW M3
Tested: Mercedes-Benz CLK 500
Tested: Audi A5 3.0 TDI