2025 Audi A5 and S5 drive: The fastback needs the S treatment to sizzle
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"Hatchback" colloquially refers to something like a Golf or Focus. This is not that. It's still a three-box shape with three roof pillars, four doors, and a low ride height, and most readers would categorize it as a sedan. And fastback sedans are a thing.
I will never understand why people get so wrapped around the axle about which rigid, unchanging category a given car slots into. There's lots of overlap between form factors and their names are all descriptive, vague marketing terms. It's kind of dickish to snipe at an author because they fail to use your preferred, subjective definition of what a sedan is. Hatch, fastback, sedan, who cares?
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Vast majority of their sales in Europe (I've heard numbers as high as 70%) go to corporate leasing (i.e. leasing for executives to drive around in). Since they pay a fraction of the true cost (rest of the price is paid by the tax payers) value proposition is very different. That's the market VW, Audi, BMW and co are going for and that is why cars are getting worse and worse, those driving don't pay much so they don't care, and nobody asks tax payer anything anyhow.
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Nah, you really won't. Nobody gives a shit. Sure, my car's a tall station wagon. Call it whatever. Crossover drivers seem to have a free parking pass in your head, but I assure you none of us actually cares much what you think about our cars, and you spend vastly more time thinking about what we drive than we will ever spend on the inverse.
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If you reshape the rear quarter and hatch shape a bit, you've redesigned the roof pillars, and that requires separate certification and testing under US law, because the US requires much higher roof crush strength than other markets. It's never trivial, ever, to offer multiple body styles in the US, so if you do, it's got to be a guaranteed sales home run. And wagons aren't, to put it bluntly.
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I thought that was kinda Audi's thing (and a lot of these Euro executive cars)?
I've never known Audi or any of em to be reliable and cheap to maintain. You lease em then light em on fire at the end once the warranty is up.
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RickRoyLeonPrisZhoraRacha
Ars Scholae Palatinae
That S5 front intake ports look like they ran outta colour-matching paint. Screams INSERT rubbish here.
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I used to really love Audi's designs. They've utterly lost their way, you're so right, it's utterly bland.
Here we are, the Audis look like the most generic cars, and the Kias are making bold choices. 2025 ...
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I see animated turn signals all the time in the US. Are the non-turn tailights animated elsewhere ? That'd be quite daft.
For deeper blacks and higher contrast ... at night ?
Why would anyone need OLED taillights ? Please help me understand.
Also, those screens have to stop getting bigger. The poor software guys have to figure out how to repeat the same information two or free times just to have something displayed, and most of the pixels are just blank space.
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I dunno. I actually kind of like the wider grille shape, and the grille and headlights work well together. Not a giant fan of all the tinsel they've jammed onto the lower fascia, but overall I think the front end is not boring and basically decent looking. The rest of the design is utterly boring but there's only so many ways to do a sedan; that said the outgoing A5 Sportback was about 9000x better.
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To me, besides the 3 box shape, I also take into account if the rear window moves or not when you open the trunk. If the window doesn't moves it's a sedan, if it moves it isn't.
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I think the Ford Fusion/Mondeo did a better job at this look. Hilariously, that was considered derivative of Ford's freshly sold subsidiary, Aston Martin at the time.
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I had the same thought immediately. Wow that looks like a damn Ford Taurus!
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I also don't know what Audi stands for these days - they were once more aggressive and technologically advanced VW, but such times seem to be passé. Nowdays they build just VW and Porsche (e-tron GT) models with a different badge, styling is questionable, as well as interior. Ironically, I still see a lot of them around, so there seem to be a lot a people who do not care and go by the badge.
I think a Seat->Cupra-like rebranding would do Audi good.
I think a Seat->Cupra-like rebranding would do Audi good.
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Nice to see beautiful photos of my state but it looks like Denver’s brown cloud made it all the way to Aspen! We often have air quality issues at Rocky Mountian National Park, an amazingly wild high mountian preserve that collects a lot of polluted air all summer long.
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My hatred of capacitive buttons is why I passed on the Nissan Aryia, Toyota bZ4x, Hyundai Tucson PHEV, and a number of other vehicles. And some cases, those were capacitive buttons in piano black. What the actual fuck where those designers smoking.
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That might be a justifiable option if the USB-C ports were 150W instead of the baseline 7.5W, but when even the Kia K4 includes USB-C ports standard, it comes off as greedy as hell.
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You entrust the life and safety of your family to their product. Why any designer would optimize for pretty product shots over usability and safety in that context is beyond me.
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Keith Tanner
Ars Tribunus Militum
Depends on when the shots were taken. We had some wildfire smoke problems on the Western Slope last week.
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You can get a wired to WiFi CarPlay adapter on Amazon or elsewhere for like $50 that works surprisingly well IMHO. It actually connects faster and more reliably than a lot of built in wireless CarPlay implementations I’ve seen.I really really really love my 2018 S5. Perfect balance of practicality and sporty fun. No touch screens, just lots of convenient buttons and levers.
I really want a version of this car with some minor modern upgrades (Wireless CarPlay). Its so close to a perfect car, and they're ruining it
Just give me the 2018 with more modern styling, add a touch screen but keep the physical buttons and switches!
I also have a 2018 S5 and that adapter dongle makes CarPlay usable — the input side (touchscreen) isn’t as easily fixed but the WiFi part I’m now happy with.
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This. Fairly recently I bought a BMW 230i instead of a Golf GTI. At the time, the 2025 GTI hadn't arrived yet with its real buttons. The capacitive buttons on the steering wheel literally ruled out the Golf for me, despite my wife and I having owned several Golfs prior. Given that half the appeal of their cars is their good design, it's shocking to me that VW/Audi would make such an incredibly stupid design decision, and continue to make it with the new A5!
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As much as I give my Integra some crap for its Civic roots showing a lot for the price point, you will not find me complaining about the fact that it uses the Civic climate controls which is all clicky knobs, buttons and vents that are adjusted manually.
It has everything easily within reach, very little nonsense, an excellent shifter. Materials could be better for what is a 50K+ USD car, but as far as driver engagement goes, there is no complaint. It gets me itching to drive it and since the weekend looks to be nice and sunny, I foresee backroads in my near future.
Something the A5 looks to not be matching, though the S5 might, but at the price point, there are other options.
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It's actually a fastback, not a hatchback, if we're trying to get pedantic. And a fastback sedan is a thing. It's just a way to describe the body type, number of doors, and style of trunk.
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That front on the S5 is pretty atrocious...the silver trimmed "intakes" look like they only exist to encourage people to pay for an upgrade package to black them out or color match them.
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You stated precisely what I was thinking when I saw the images. Just unimaginative and boring. Could be a toyota, or a kia, or hyundai.That A5, in that color, is the blandest vehicle I could imagine. Just buy a Camry, it has more personality. The S5 looks marginally less boring but those front air scoops are stupid.
Other notes:
- It's just way too much screen. Obviously the marketing geniuses are in a race with BMW and Merc to see who can add more useless screens to the cars in order to sell premium packages, but I'll pass hard on it. All I want is a reasonably sized panel with great CarPlay/Auto integration and not much else (love the display in my CX-50).
- Too much capacitive touch everywhere. Our Mk8 GTI has most of the same parts bin touch controls, and they suck.
- Rear hatch seems better than a traditional sedan trunk, but its silly to not offer this in a wagon format. All you'd do is just reshape the rear quarter and hatch shape a bit.. I think the hinge itself could stay right in the same spot, right?
- Piano black:
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HandsomeRob
Smack-Fu Master, in training
I got to drive the A5 a couple of weeks ago. It was generally pleasant. I (used to) drive a pick-up truck, so just about anything closer to the ground feels sleek and refined to me.
The version I drove didn’t have the third screen. The infotainment system wasn’t bad, but the AC controls without proper buttons did feel annoying.
A few notable things for me:
The upcoming A6 looks attractive and the dealer seemed to be trying to get rid of the last gen ones, which makes me think the new ones are coming soon. But according to some Youtuber, it only adds about an inch of rear space.
The version I drove didn’t have the third screen. The infotainment system wasn’t bad, but the AC controls without proper buttons did feel annoying.
A few notable things for me:
- The side mirror controls were horrible.
- The clit-shifter — that’s what a redditor called it, and I’m not opposed to the name — felt very foreign to me. I imagine one would eventually get used to it. But driving a car (not truck) and being unable to grab on to the shifter seems kind of weird.
- This is not a car for people with families. The space on the back seat was very limited. And the center column on the floor makes the middle seat effectively unusable.
The upcoming A6 looks attractive and the dealer seemed to be trying to get rid of the last gen ones, which makes me think the new ones are coming soon. But according to some Youtuber, it only adds about an inch of rear space.
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My congratulations: you made every point that I was going to make—but you made them much more eloquently.That A5, in that color, is the blandest vehicle I could imagine. Just buy a Camry, it has more personality. The S5 looks marginally less boring but those front air scoops are stupid.
Other notes:
- It's just way too much screen. Obviously the marketing geniuses are in a race with BMW and Merc to see who can add more useless screens to the cars in order to sell premium packages, but I'll pass hard on it. All I want is a reasonably sized panel with great CarPlay/Auto integration and not much else (love the display in my CX-50).
- Too much capacitive touch everywhere. Our Mk8 GTI has most of the same parts bin touch controls, and they suck.
- Rear hatch seems better than a traditional sedan trunk, but its silly to not offer this in a wagon format. All you'd do is just reshape the rear quarter and hatch shape a bit.. I think the hinge itself could stay right in the same spot, right?
- Piano black:
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Agreed on all points, with one minor quibble – Audi absolutely do make hatchback-/wagon versions of all their sedans, A3*, A4, A5, A6, the A8 being the sole exception. It's just that they don't offer all of them in regions where consumers don't buy hatchbacks/wagons, like here in the US, for example.
(* – technically the A3 Sedan being a sedan version of the original A3 hatchback, since the latter came to market first)
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I know, I owned a '99 A4 Avant, which I loved (K04, coilovers, etc.. first car I ever modified and I lOVED that thing). Came very close to picking up a later model A4 a few years ago. I guess my point was just frustration WHY they don't bring them here. Another poster made the probably correct answer that they have to crash test them separately from the sedans.Agreed on all points, with one minor quibble – Audi absolutely do make hatchback-/wagon versions of all their sedans, A3*, A4, A5, A6, the A8 being the sole exception. It's just that they don't offer all of them in regions where consumers don't buy hatchbacks/wagons, like here in the US, for example.
(* – technically the A3 Sedan being a sedan version of the original A3 hatchback, since the latter came to market first)
The A3 hatchbacks are always cute, that RS4 gives me the fizz and I think that was their peak styling. The A5 wagon is still boring, the A6 wagon looks vastly better despite similar lines. Something about the more upright stance, the snub nose, and the way the rear roofline isn't blending down like the A5 does.
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I'm not sure that's really the reason for Audi not bringing their full fleet of wagons over here. People just don't buy wagons. And for the very few affluent ones that do Audi's got the über-niche RS6 Avant, which at some point, probably when the A6 Avant Allroad was introduced, had to be crash-tested as well. But let me also put out that I wasn't able to dig up any kind of definitive source for that hunch of mine, so in the end it's just one nerd's gut feeling vs. that of another ("me").
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Searched the article and only found HP and Torque and starting price.
To complete an at a glance picture what are these values for the cars:
Curb weight
MPG
0-60 MPH
1/4 Mile time
Lateral g
(And Any other useful metric for a sport tuned sedan.)
Price fully configured
Price dealers actually charge both lowest and highest
?
To complete an at a glance picture what are these values for the cars:
Curb weight
MPG
0-60 MPH
1/4 Mile time
Lateral g
(And Any other useful metric for a sport tuned sedan.)
Price fully configured
Price dealers actually charge both lowest and highest
?
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And those "carbon" trim pieces aren't really carbon, it's just a plastic wrap textured to look like carbon, you can even see the end of the wrap on the gear shifter close-up, that part should have been a NOK and rejected, because it's not correctly trimmed, that thing will be flapping in months..
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Modern Audi design is just so depressingly bland. I just don't understand how we went from the B8 and B9 S5 into this blob-like, Kia Stinger knock-off.
And then the cost-cutting interior, with piano black plastic everywhere. I still dig the e-tron GT for what it is, but Audi really needs to send its designers back to the drawing boards.
And then the cost-cutting interior, with piano black plastic everywhere. I still dig the e-tron GT for what it is, but Audi really needs to send its designers back to the drawing boards.
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Piano black was already annoying in a Subaru. The only thing this does better than the soon-to-be-defunct Legacy XT is interior build quality (rattles and whatnot), and infotainment, and not by nearly as much of a margin with either as one might expect.
By contrast, Mercedes and BMW both have desirable improvements in their similar-range cars. While there's still a value argument for the Accord/Camry/Legacy (RIP)/others, it's a real tradeoff.
Tough to watch Audi get pulled down by the VW decline. I still think of the TT as a "dream non-daily" despite its growing absence from the market.
By contrast, Mercedes and BMW both have desirable improvements in their similar-range cars. While there's still a value argument for the Accord/Camry/Legacy (RIP)/others, it's a real tradeoff.
Tough to watch Audi get pulled down by the VW decline. I still think of the TT as a "dream non-daily" despite its growing absence from the market.
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