Audi S5 Quattro
Road test - March 2008

My road test programme for the S5, was to take the ferry to Holyhead, drive through Wales to southern England, then to return after the Easter weekend. That should allow me to test the car in heavy urban traffic, out on twisting country roads, as well as on fast motorways. The thought of that magical V8 burble, every time I accelerated was going to be the icing on the cake !
Obviously in the land of speed cameras, I was not going to be able to test the ultimate top speed, so I have to rely on the supplied technical information for this item, as indeed I always have to do, as the vast majority of cars today, are capable of a top speed in excess of the legal maximum, wherever you happen to go, at home or abroad. Audi say it is governed to 250 kph (155 mph), which is exactly the same as its A5 diesel sister. Zero to 100 kph acceleration takes 5.1 seconds, compared to 5.9 seconds for its diesel sister. In other words both cars are pretty impressive in this particular attribute. The diesel has the advantage that it stretches a gallon of fuel further and as a result its carbon dioxide exhaust emissions are smaller overall. This may be of interest to potential Irish owners after the 1st July, when they will be paying road tax based on CO₂ emissions. On that score the owner of the A5 diesel will have to cough up 1,000 euro per annum, while the S5 driver will have to stump up 2,000 euro per year ! However, having said that, the S5 as tested had a list price in March of 102,641 euro, while the A5 diesel had a list price, at the same time of 81,985 euro. Both were loaded with extras and I will come to that later. However, if you are willing to pay over 100,000 euro for a car, perhaps a mere 2,000 euro per year for road tax, is just small change to you.
Out on the open road, the S5 is an effortless cruiser. You can quickly get it into sixth gear and it will cruise effortlessly in that. If you need a bit of acceleration, a slight pressure on the accelerator pedal is all that is needed for it to take off like greased lightning, even in sixth gear. Obviously it is better at this on a motorway, which tends to be straighter and where speeds are generally higher. Cruising at 120 kph (75 mph) on British motorways, tends to restrict you to the slow lane, as apart from buses, trucks and sundry other slow moving traffic, everything else seems to be going faster.
The S5 will cruise comfortably at 120 kph (75 mph) with plenty in reserve, if you need it for fast and safe overtaking. Although the car was fitted with a six speed manual gearbox, it was almost as effortless and comfortable, as if it was fitted with an automatic. The snag comes when you encounter congestion or a traffic disruption, as you very frequently do on British motorways. Then you are reduced to the boring task of pumping it up and down through the gears. While the gearchange itself was beautifully precise and silky smooth in operation, it is a pain in the butt all the same. I could not help thinking how much better the S5 would be if it was fitted with the excellent Multitronic automatic.

On country roads, it will still cruise effortlessly in sixth gear, even at speeds of 80 kph (50 mph). However, as country roads tend to be more twisty, with the addition of sharp corners and steep rises, you do have to change gear more frequently. It slips from sixth into third easily enough and that is usually more than enough to provide a smooth flow of effortless power to the driving wheels. During the test we encountered rain and light falls of snow, so I was delighted to know that the S5 comes with Audi’s excellent Quattro all wheel drive system.
In the hustle and bustle of congested city traffic, from the outskirts of the greater London region, right into the centre of the city itself, the S5 was easy and comfortable to drive. That silky smooth gearchange helps to reduce the strain of driving in these conditions, but given the choice I would opt for a good automatic every time.
The standard S5 specification includes eighteen inches diameter wheels. The test car was fitted with optional nineteen inches diameter wheels on 35 profile tyres. As most of my driving was done on UK roads, I encountered no ride comfort problems with this wheel/tyre combination, but if I was paying out my own money, there is no way in the world that I would have specified this option. The Euro 1,830 that it costs would be much better earning interest in my bank account. Apart from that I shudder to think what effect it would have on ride comfort on north Dublin and Fingal’s third world type road surfaces.
Large, powerful V8 petrol engines are not normally known for their frugal fuel consumption. On the trip from Dublin via Holyhead to London, using country main roads, with the minimum of motorways, the S5 managed 23 mpg (12.016 lt/100 km) which is marginally better than the quoted combined cycle average of 22 mpg or 12.4 lt/100 km. Around the greater London area, including the trip into the centre of the city, it returned 19 mpg (14.383 lt/100 km) which is much better than the 15 mpg (17.8 lt/100 km) quoted for the urban cycle. Finally from the London area, back to Dublin using motorways as far as possible, it gave an estimated 24 mpg (11.320 lt/100 km), as well as the quickest journey time for the distance.
Motorways are totally boring, you see nothing apart from traffic and they made me realise just how uncomfortable, even the best seat can become, when you are sitting in it, for hours on end. On the motorway return journey, my right arm and leg went totally numb and I had a monumental pain in the right hand side of my backside, even though we stopped for refreshments on the way. By contrast the longer initial journey, even without rest stops never caused any of these problems.

The test car was fitted with red leather upholstery and it made such a difference to the interior. Its bright and cheerful ambience was commented on by everyone who saw it. I certainly have issues, when a car costing Euro 85,500 then charges you an additional Euro 1,959 for leather upholstery. At that price I expect the finest leather upholstery to come as standard ! However, if you refer to my recent test of the A5 diesel, you will see that it had black leather upholstery, which cost a whopping Euro 3,055 extra ! At that rate the red leather is a bargain basement offering, well worth the money, as it gives such a bright and cheerful ambience. The black leather creates a veritable dark, gloomy Black Hole of Calcutta ambience !

There is another conundrum : 0n the more expensive S5 the optional satellite navigation adds an extra Euro 4,434 to the price, yet on the less expensive A5, what appears to be exactly the same unit adds Euro 4,630 to the price ! The satellite navigation does cover what on a cursory glance appeared to be the whole of Europe, but it drove me insane. My navigator on the other hand was quite impressed with it. I preferred an old fashioned paper map, which is certainly a lot less expensive. Then there is the question of value for money. If you can buy a perfectly good satellite navigation, that you can carry around with you and use in the car, for around one twentieth of the price, do you get the feeling that Audi work on the principle that a sucker is born every minute ? Let me give you another example. The specification includes, “Electrically adjustable and heated exterior mirrors” as standard, yet the test car had, “ heated, folding, exterior mirrors with anti glare and memory”, which adds Euro 554 to the price. The memory bit on the test car seemed to be a movable feast and when needed, I would be quite happy to fold those mirrors in by hand and save myself a packet ! Anyway on a car costing Euro 85,500 I expect heated, anti-glare, electrically adjustable and folding mirrors as standard anyway.

The boot is large and spacious, making the car ideal for touring, however, the test car came with two curious extras : a luggage compartment package at Euro 161 and a storage package at Euro 197. The only thing I could see in the luggage compartment, which could possibly be considered to be an extra, was a net to hold small items and they could hardly charge you Euro 161 for that, or could they ? I haven’t a clue what the storage package was, so I would not be the least bit interested in paying an extra euro 197 for it !
Overall I liked the S5 and its relaxed, yet effortless performance. However, it is an expensive machine, and I would be just as happy with a humble A5 fitted with the 3.0 litre V6 diesel engine. If I had to pay extra for leather upholstery, I would opt for the less expensive and much nicer red leather. I certainly would not opt for the satellite navigation, although I know that many others would. If there is anything that positively puts me off the S5 and indeed its A5 sister, it is that long list of optional extras, which are all items that I would consider that a car in this elevated price spectrum, should have as standard at no additional cost.

Technical data