Six Years with my Audi S5

"Audi For Life" (audiforlife)
08/26/2016 at 14:06 • Filed to: Audi, Audi S5

Saturday marks the six years since I picked up my 2011 Sprint Blue Audi S5. Right now, it has clocked in just over 45,000 miles...

Even though it may not have as many miles as a lot of other cars when they turn six years old, the S5 has seen a good amount of things.

It has gone through several snow storms that have hit the Pacific Northwest, including a trek up to Seattle for an Audi Club Northwest annual dinner and dealing with very slick roads on the way up. With the combination of snow tires and quattro, it has gotten me safe to work and back; thankfully, without any bumps from other drivers that can’t cope with a few snowflakes on the ground.

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The rest of my little ode to six years with my S5 and what the future holds for it !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

DISCUSSION (29)

KatzManDu > Audi For Life
08/26/2016 at 14:59

License plate FTW. Very nice. Congrats!

Audi For Life > KatzManDu
08/26/2016 at 15:04

Thanks! Even if I didn’t get the S5 when I did, I would have still chosen DALEK for a vanity plate :)

HONDAD > Audi For Life
08/26/2016 at 15:12

Great color! I’ve never seen one in that blue before.

Audi For Life > HONDAD
08/26/2016 at 15:19

Thanks! I only know of two other Sprint Blue S5s in the Pacific Northwest. One belonged to a friend and was the inspiration for order my own Sprint Blue S5. The other is a cabriolet, which I got to test drive while I was waiting for my S5 to arrive.

KatzManDu > Audi For Life
08/26/2016 at 15:19

Kinja'd!!!

This was my setup for a while... It had an Evolve Motorsports chip...

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > Audi For Life
08/26/2016 at 15:22

Is this your daily driver or do you have another runabout car? I’m fairly impressed by your lack of mileage.

I do about 14,500 miles a year and I thought it was fairly mild but your 7,500 miles a year isn’t much by any standards for a daily.

Audi For Life > Luc - The Acadian Oppo
08/26/2016 at 15:28

It is my daily driver and I have been super, super lucky to have a relatively short commute. For the past 12 or so years, my commute has been less than 20 miles per day. I will be putting on even less miles now that I’m working from home. So, the only driving will be to the store or errands during the work week.

HONDAD > Audi For Life
08/26/2016 at 15:29

That’s crazy. It’s such a great color. I never understand why the vast majority of people keep choosing white/silvery/gray/black for their cars. It sure gets boring.

KatzManDu > Audi For Life
08/26/2016 at 15:33

Kinja'd!!!

This is also in our kitchen!

Audi For Life > HONDAD
08/26/2016 at 15:40

re: white, gray, silver, black - The large number of dull, boring colors is seems to match the rather gray Pacific Northwest skies :D

I’ve seen a few B7 S4/RS 4 and B8 Audi S4 in Sprint Blue, but it seems to be a slightly less popular choice for the S5. Most of the S5s that I’ve seen are Ibis White, Meteor Gray and one of the two Blacks. Rarely see Misano Red. Would have been nice if Imola Yellow were a non-exclusive color for the S5.

Audi For Life > KatzManDu
08/26/2016 at 15:42

^_^ I’ve got a small one in blue, the same black rolly Dalek, and a large blue Skittles talking Dalek in my room. Oh, and I’ve named one of my cockatiels Dalek as well. Yeah, I’m such a Dalek-head :D

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Audi For Life
08/26/2016 at 15:42

Your car looks so, so much better than the new one.

Audi For Life > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
08/26/2016 at 15:50

Indeed it does. I think Audi executed the design update on the B9 A4 a whole lot better than the B9 A5. I’m just hoping their don’t blow it with the volume seller, the Q5 and the MQB Q3.

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > Audi For Life
08/26/2016 at 15:51

That’s fantastic! For me fuel economy plays a big part as to what I use for a daily but if I only did 7,500/year I could afford something with a bit more oomph sort of like you and still be ok.

Audi For Life > Luc - The Acadian Oppo
08/26/2016 at 15:56

Yeah, I definitely understand that. Since my of my commute are side streets, I average 15-17 MPG for the first four years and about 14-16 MPG for the last two. Between schedule changes, more traffic and road construction, it’s killing fuel economy.

LJK0916 > Audi For Life
08/26/2016 at 16:03

I'll never understand how some of you manage to keep your cars mileage so low!

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > Audi For Life
08/26/2016 at 16:12

I did that for a while in my Challenger SRT8 but I finally sold it and got a 1.6L Ford Fusion that averages over 30mpg.

Audi For Life > LJK0916
08/26/2016 at 16:23

Short daily commutes and have some but not many long road trips in the S5 help with that. In the past six years, my commute have been no more than 10 miles each way.

I have been lucky enough opportunities to drive other Audis for long road trips (Audi S4, Audi A6 TDI, Audi A7, Audi A8 L 4.2, Audi A8 L 4.0T, an R8 for a weekend...) so that my S5 gets a few breaks on that. Otherwise, it would probably have another 4-5K on it.

HONDAD > Audi For Life
08/26/2016 at 19:06

Those Imola Yellows certainly stand out nicely. And I’d bet you’ll have no trouble selling your uniquely colored S5 when the time comes. Now, hopefully your next ride will have an equally tasteful (colorful!) color choice.

Audi For Life > HONDAD
08/26/2016 at 19:17

Yeah, I’m working on that right now. Hoping to hear whether or not my special order will be accepted or not.

Vicente Esteve > Audi For Life
08/26/2016 at 23:56

How has it been reliability-wise. I sure love the 4.2 V8, and manuals are getting affordable.

Audi For Life > Vicente Esteve
08/27/2016 at 00:22

So far, I have only had two sensors go out, one didn’t require the engine to go into limp mode and the other one did (cam position sensor I think). The former was covered by the original warranty and latter by the Audi extended warranty (max plan, extends to 7 years/75K miles).

The only other major item was some really bad front brake squeal that happened after a cold winter. It was covered by a TSB, which covered the pads and rotors.

Vicente Esteve > Audi For Life
08/27/2016 at 00:28

Nice! I think Audi nailed the styling with this gen.

Audi For Life > Vicente Esteve
08/27/2016 at 00:51

Yeah, and they seemed to have strayed a little to from near perfection with the new S5 coupe :(

Vicente Esteve > Audi For Life
08/27/2016 at 10:30

It looks like it had a BAD nose surgery.

Audi For Life > Vicente Esteve
08/27/2016 at 13:24

Unfortunately, I think it’s the combination of trying to make it more aerodynamic, improve pedestrian crash standards and making it look more agressive all at once. The treatment works better on the A4.

Vicente Esteve > Audi For Life
08/27/2016 at 15:12

I like the A4 a lot. What are you thinking to replace the S5?

Audi For Life > Vicente Esteve
08/27/2016 at 17:58

I’m considering the new A4 allroad. Complete departure from a coupé, but I want something that I can comfortably haul photography or server equipment as needed; plus, something that is comfortable, gets decent fuel economy and I wouldn’t worry about going on gravel, grass or a little mud.

Dr Emilio Lizardo > Audi For Life
09/05/2016 at 20:20

My 2013 Estoril Blue S5 cabriolet has 42,000 miles. It has never needed anything except gas and routine maintenance. People ask if I like it and I tell them it does 0-60 in under 5 seconds, takes right turns at 40mph (on summer tires, on dry pavement) goes through 8" of snow (on winter tires) like it isn’t even there, has back seats that fold down for extra cargo space which is unlike any other convertible i’ve ever heard of (and I have owned a Sebring and a CLK), and I can get a sheet of drywall in the back (with the top down). Find me another vehicle that can do all that and I will buy it. But it probably won’t have valets, doormen, and guys at the car wash telling me “nice car.”

The only minor complaints I have is that it goes through tires like Kleenex (possibly more due to my driving style than anything else), I have to get the wheels/tires changed out twice a year, and the environmental system takes some fiddling and does not have a good “set it, forget it” temp like the CLK did. 3 1/2 years in, I have decided that my next car will be an S5 cabriolet, and I never thought I would buy the same car twice.