Audi A5 Quick Opporeview

"Jayhawk Jake" (jayhawkjake)
11/23/2014 at 23:54 • Filed to: None

As mentioned earlier I had some time alone with my Mother's A5. Moments like these make the holidays great

Disclaimer: I really like this car. This might be biased.

Exterior: I know some people think Audis are bland, but damnit I think this is a gorgeous car. Especially in white. With the bigger wheels on my moms it just has presence. Love it.

Interior: Good lord is this thing nice inside. Supple leather topped seats that hug you in all the right places. In this one there's some unpolished wood trim that looks and feels fantastic. Almost no surface feels cheap. The switch gear is seriously the best I've ever used. The red lighting looks great at night, the gauge cluster is a work of art. It's fantastic. My one gripe would be that the surround for the Nav screen makes it feel like the Nav screen should be bigger. Okay, I have another gripe: the steering wheel is too thin. That's it

Look at this wood, LOOK AT IT

Acceleration: I've struggled with this one. More than sufficient is the best description I can find. It's not especially fast but it's far from slow. Low end torque is a bit lacking, but get into boost and it pulls really well. This is a grand tourer, not a sports car, and it's great for highway cruising and overtaking. I don't think I'd be disappointed with it, and for my mom's purposes it's certainly fast enough.

Handling: I haven't auto crossed it or anything, but it seems to handle very well. It has Quattro so I'm sure it'll understeer, but again it's more of a tourer than a sports car. It feels very well planted and confident driving spiritidly on the street. Steering is one area that could really use some improvement: the wheel is weighted perfectly but seems to have no feel whatsoever. Again for touring duties it's perfectly fine, but tracking it'll fall short

Ride: It's good. Really good. Not too soft where it completely separates you from the road, and not too aggressive where every bump hurts. I could spend all day riding in it

Brakes: They stop the car well. What more do you need?

Gearbox: Hate automatics? Drive a ZF 8 speed, you might change your mind. It's that good. Seriously. Normal driving shifts are undetectable. Put your foot in it and the car instantly drops great perfectly. It's telepathic.

Audio: You pretty much never hear the motor, and when you do it's alright, but not interesting or exciting. Instead enjoy the quiet cabin and fill it with your favorite music through the fantastic Bang and Olefsun speakers. They are really, really good.

Toys: So many. Wireless key, push button start, electric parking brake, rain sensing wipers, backup camera, navigation, and MMI. MMI is amazing. Seriously good. It's how I wish all cars were. It's so straightforward and easy to use that it isn't distracting. The controller is at the end of the armrest so it's perfectly positioned for use. I love MMI so much.

Value: I think the car was in the mid to upper $40k range. It may have pushed into the $50k range but I don't think so. Idk, if you really must know Ill check the window sticker. Either way this car is damn good value for the money when you consider the level of luxury. It's also pretty practical too: normal adults can use the back seats, the trunk is enormous. I think it does decently on gas too.

Final thoughts? The A5 is great. I love this car, I look forward to driving it every time I come home to visit. I'd be very happy cruising to work in one of these every day.

If anyone has any questions or wants certain pictures let me know. I'll be in town until next Monday so I have plenty of time to mess with the car

DISCUSSION (10)

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Jayhawk Jake
11/24/2014 at 00:32

So... would you rather this or a base Corvette C7?

midengineer > Jayhawk Jake
11/24/2014 at 00:39

Bang & Olufsen speakers definitely caught my interest. I take it they're a part of a premium sound package or something?

Jayhawk Jake > midengineer
11/24/2014 at 00:56

Yes

Jayhawk Jake > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
11/24/2014 at 00:56

C7 no question. I can like other cars too

GeorgeyBoy > Jayhawk Jake
11/24/2014 at 01:15

How's the manual auto shift speed on the zf? Weird feeling 8 speeds at first?

Cé hé sin > GeorgeyBoy
11/24/2014 at 04:36

It's not a 7 speed DCT? (Google, Google....) Seemingly not, Audi apparently use the ZF for America and the 7 speed elsewhere.

jkm7680 > Jayhawk Jake
11/24/2014 at 07:41

Good review, That interior color combo is more awesome than I originally though it was. :)

Jayhawk Jake > GeorgeyBoy
11/24/2014 at 09:13

Manual shift is not very good in this, especially since there are no paddles. It's better than the one in my dad's edge but only just. The crazy thing? I don't care: it's really good at picking the right gear for me in auto. In the edge I'd floor it and the car would wait two seconds before going 'Oh! Downshift! I should do that'. The ZF quickly starts dropping gears and gets down to the right one faster than I could with a manual. It's really impressive.

As far as 8 speeds go, I honestly didn't notice. In fact because manual mode only gives you 6 gears I thought it was a 6 speed until TheLoudMusic mentioned that it must have the ZF 8 speed when we were talking about the car. It shifts so smoothly and quickly you just don't notice it unless you're really focused on it. I'm actually really impressed by the transmission, it's easily the best true auto I've driven

Jayhawk Jake > jkm7680
11/24/2014 at 09:14

Yes, when my mom got it I heard she chose that combo and thought 'really?', but it looks great in person. The unpolished wood makes it

sellphones2493 > Jayhawk Jake
11/24/2014 at 10:22

It's funny - I did a review on my parent's '09 A5 3.2 a few months back. I had a lot of the same comments. Here it is