Sportback in a lovely shade of blue
Some people seem to 'get' the Audi brand more than others and, while I can appreciate the many strengths of a successful product range, it's not a brand I've engaged with much since the demise of the B2 Coupes in the mid-80s. In turn, I suspect I'd be considered a little too 'woolly' for what has become the most crisply marketed VW outfit, and don't suppose for a minute I've been much of a loss to them.
So it was a bit of a surprise to find myself liking the new A5 Sportback quite as much as I did, having recently taken it on a whistle-stop tour to (of all places) Calais on the UK launch of this apparently genre-bending model.
Four door 'coupe' treatment looks good
Mainly, I liked the A5 Sportback because it has frameless windows, which combine with a rakish glasshouse and coupe-style roofline to impart an ever-so slightly retro 'GT' flavour to the car, mostly evident when climbing in and out. I also liked it because the one I drove came in a lustrous shade of metallic 'Aruba' blue, and because it has a pleasingly powerful rear graphic that mimics what I think is the best view of the A5 coupe on which it is (partially) based. As a car designed mainly to get on user-chooser lists of those greasy-pole climbers whose companies insist on a minimum of four doors for fleet cars, I think the styling works very well.
Car rides 1.5ins lower than the A4
It's practical and versatile too, with the coupe/hatch cross-over thing unlikely to be a factor in reducing the size of the weekly supermarket haul - you get almost as much space as an A4 Avant. Rear headroom is marginally more limited than in an A4 saloon, but your teenagers would have to be unusually etiolated for that to be an issue. If you've graduated from an 'ordinary' hatchback they may even think this car is rather cool, and not complain at all.
The other very likeable aspect of the Sportback I drove was its combination of a grunty 3.0 TDI V6 with quattro drivetrain, and a usually slick 7-speed DSG that made it decent fun to punt along the motorway. Mind you, specced-up as it was to a whopping £45k from the standard 3.0 TDI quattro SE S tronic's £33,225 list price, it would have been a shame if I hadn't liked it. Key extras included leather, 18ins alloys, Audi drive select (which allows you to fiddle with the presets for dampers, throttle response and power steering weighting), torque-vectoring 'sportdiff' on the rear axle, a 'Technology Package High' (adding £1995 and a level of extra functionality I can't begin to guess at), Xenons, electric front seats and a proper sunroof.
Hatchback rear is extremely versatile
The 3.0-litre lump delivers a muscular 240hp and 369lb ft, taking a scant 6.1secs for the 0-62mph sprint and topping 150mph. Thanks to the 7-speed robotic gearbox it's also efficient with a combined cycle mpg figure of 42.8mpg. And it's greenish - releasing 174 grams of CO2 back into the atmosphere for each kilometre you drive. (Incidentally, does anyone know how many grams of CO2 it would take to inflate a party balloon? I've often wondered...)
The ride quality has come in for some criticism in other reviews of the A5 Sportback range, but it seems mainly to have been aimed at the lesser-engined models - 2.0-litre TDI and TFSI versions are also available from launch.
Audi-ficionados will feel right at home
To me, the feel of this bigger 3.0 TDI version was unmistakeably 'Audi', which means a prodigious level of grip, decently weighted but not particularly incisive steering, and a ride that's perfectly acceptable on the motorway. Interestingly, the Audi UK launch itinerary took us from a hotel near Gatwick airport, around the M25 and down the M20 to the Eurotunnel, where we sat on a train for an hour before disembarking for a scoot around the silky-smooth back roads behind Calais. Maybe Audi will loan us another car for a few days so we can have a chance to try it on more testing British road routes, but we're quite happy to wait for the S5 Sportback revealed at Frankfurt the other day. (This new 333hp V6 petrol version goes on sale in the spring next year.) Meanwhile, in spite of criticisms levelled elsewhere, it would certainly be safe to say the Sportback is a competent, fast and comfortable motorway cruiser. With good looks on its side too, I'd say Audi has its audience pegged.
 Cabin is comfortable and spacious for 4 |
 S5 version arrives here in the spring |
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 Something for 'cutaway' fans |
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