Special Feature: ABT Audi AS5 Sportback Studio Shoot

Aggression is most commonly associated with human behavior and caused by a heightened level of testosterone in the body, but we have also heard of the word being used to describe a car. Humans and animals may be the only biological force in the world that are capable of displaying such unsympathetic behavior towards others, or so it may seem for what I experienced earlier this week totally changed my understanding of this rather complex behavior .

If you’re a religious “fella” you may be familiar with Moses parting the Red Sea to let the Israelites flee the invading forces of the Egyptians well over 2000 years ago, I’m a man of science so I find this hard to believe, but this past Monday I successfully parted traffic as if Moses himself was seated next to me.

It was not a spiritual experience but rather a highly tuned automotive occurrence built to thrill and to awe. I was seated in the yet to be introduced to the Malaysian market, Audi A5 Sportback, and not just any Sportback, it was the ABT AS5 Sportback. Yes it was lowered, aggressive looking, tuned, and packed to the edge of its metal suit with aggression and power.

We were given the opportunity by Federal Auto Sports Tuning (a division of Federal Auto Sdn Bhd) to take the car out after it was used to display the latest ABT Sports Tuning Kit at the launch of the new ABT showroom in Glenmarie.

This car belongs to a Singaporean friend who distributes ABT parts there and since the A5 Sportback has already been launched in the island nation, it was a no-brainer that this is the car to use to display the specialized kit that the German tuner put together for the Sportback.

Unlike other tuners around that just give you a dash of visual and handling upgrades, the kit boasts the full works.

The Sportback retains the sleek sexy lines it has coming out of the factory, but sexy can also be a killer and the AS5 is exactly that.

The body kit that helps “sexify” the AS5 includes a front skirt, an upgraded grill, fender insets, a tiny rear spoiler, rear skirt and most importantly huge 20-inch wheels that ABT calls the ‘Special Matte Black Edition’. The kit works great as in it’s not too low; our ride through shopping mall car parks and over speed breakers posed no problems with scrapping deeming the AS5 a brilliant daily car, and there’s more, much more.

The kit does wonders in providing all the show, but the AS5 is not all about the bling alone, it can go as fast as it looks too.

The power upgrade kit is called ABT POWER and helps boost the standard 2-liter TFSI engine by an incredible 95hp. The standard turbocharged engine churns out a puny 180hp, but after some chipping, poking and prodding, the AS5 now boasts a fun 275hp and 390Nm of torque!

This is when Moses appeared in the car, and not just seated next to me, but all around me in the car. With that much power on tap and an aggressive visual stance, traffic along the North South highway just seemed to part as I thundered my way through with the ABT quad-exhaust providing a low rumble and an addictive “pop” at every shift.

When faced with aggression, most people will choose to flee rather than fight, but every once in a while you will meet someone who stands up and wants to fight. So here I was doing deep triple digits when suddenly some ‘fighter’ refused to heed the Moses call and did not move out of my way, giving me no choice but to summon up some speed retardation in the form of the ABT braking system and it’s massive dinner plate sized 345mm discs.

The aggressor was seen off in a cloud of dust as I made my way past him, relying on just a tiny fraction of the power available. The ABT handling kit, with it’s stiffer setting allowing me to drive around him and through a sweeper with almost no body roll at all. The AS5 was proving to be a brilliant all rounder capable of cruising in comfort and tearing up tarmac when need be.

So cocooned inside this brilliant German machine with all it’s tuning and upgrades, I made my way to the Jaya One Shopping Mall in Petaling Jaya for the glamorous photoshoot you see here. Darren Chang of Auto Detailer was kind enough, and secretly I think he was just as excited to check out the car as I was, to conduct this photoshoot at his brilliant studio.

Even though the Sportback may not be officially available in Malaysia, our source reckons that the car, together with the kit, costs somewhere less than RM600,000. And with the AS5 proving to be a brilliant all rounder and a great every day car, it’s hard to think about another that is able to give you such a desirable package at such a price. Sadly though, this feature is as close as Malaysians will get to it unless the Sportback gets officially introduced here.