Amirul
Resident Journalist
What is it?
Audi will be introducing their new A5 and S5 Sportback, which is set to make public appearance at the upcoming 2016 Paris Motor Show. The A5, S5 and RS5 are primarily coupe and cabriolet guised, so the new Sportback version of these will slot above the 2-door equivalents, and just under the A7 and S7 family.
Apart from the base A5 and the more powerful S5 Sportbacks, Audi is also reported to offer the g-tron derivative of the mid-size 4-door coupe.
Exterior
With two additional doors, the A5 Sportback is, umm, longer than the Coupe by 60mm. The width and height however are almost the same with the two-door. The Singleframe grille is now flatter and wider, just like all other new Audis, flanked by a pair of Xenon headlights that has soft curves on its top edges. The car will also come with optional LED and Matrix LED headlights.
The shoulder line and rear haunches are now more prominent. Just like the A7, the A5 Sportback gets frameless doors. At the rear, the car is equipped with 3-dimensional tail lights.
Interior
The cabin design is taken from the B9 A4 and A5 Coupe, but with improved spaciousness. It is now 17mm longer, 9mm wider and has 24mm longer knee room for rear passengers.
However, Audi’s tablet in-car entertainment system from the A5 Coupe is absent in the A5 Sportback. Instead, the Sportback gets a 10.1-inch screen and full HD camera with Android connectivity, and connected to the MMI navigation. There are also optional 16-channel 3D Bang & Olufsen sound system with 19 speakers offered to the car.
Boot capacity is at 480-litre. The 40:20:40 split folds for the rear seats will expand boot capacity to 1,300-litre.
Engine
A5 Sportback buyers will have two TFSI and three TDI engines to choose from. The TFSI engine is a new turbocharged 3.0-litre unit, producing 354hp and 500Nm of torque from 1,370 to 4,500 rpm. Meanwhile, the TDI engine is available with power output ranging from 190hp to 286hp.
The engines can be mated to 6-speed manual, Audi’s S-tronic dual-clutch unit or an 8-speed automatic, although the former is very unlikely to make its way to our shores.
Front-wheel-drive comes standard, but buyers can also tick the box for all-wheel-drive configuration. Audi says that the Quattro AWD will deliver sporty handling with rear-biased power distribution. Wheel-selective torque control will help improving stability and handling in high speed cornering with individual brake intervention if necessary.
Chassis
The A5 and S5 Sportback can be fitted with standard 18-inch wheels and 245/40 rubbers or optional Audi Sport 19-inch wheels. Unique to the S5 model is the S sport suspension and adaptive Continuous Damping Control (CDC) dampers. Featuring 350mm ventilated brake discs up front, with black- or optional red-painted six-pot units with S lettering.
Audi will be introducing their new A5 and S5 Sportback, which is set to make public appearance at the upcoming 2016 Paris Motor Show. The A5, S5 and RS5 are primarily coupe and cabriolet guised, so the new Sportback version of these will slot above the 2-door equivalents, and just under the A7 and S7 family.
Apart from the base A5 and the more powerful S5 Sportbacks, Audi is also reported to offer the g-tron derivative of the mid-size 4-door coupe.
Exterior
With two additional doors, the A5 Sportback is, umm, longer than the Coupe by 60mm. The width and height however are almost the same with the two-door. The Singleframe grille is now flatter and wider, just like all other new Audis, flanked by a pair of Xenon headlights that has soft curves on its top edges. The car will also come with optional LED and Matrix LED headlights.
The shoulder line and rear haunches are now more prominent. Just like the A7, the A5 Sportback gets frameless doors. At the rear, the car is equipped with 3-dimensional tail lights.
Interior
The cabin design is taken from the B9 A4 and A5 Coupe, but with improved spaciousness. It is now 17mm longer, 9mm wider and has 24mm longer knee room for rear passengers.
However, Audi’s tablet in-car entertainment system from the A5 Coupe is absent in the A5 Sportback. Instead, the Sportback gets a 10.1-inch screen and full HD camera with Android connectivity, and connected to the MMI navigation. There are also optional 16-channel 3D Bang & Olufsen sound system with 19 speakers offered to the car.
Boot capacity is at 480-litre. The 40:20:40 split folds for the rear seats will expand boot capacity to 1,300-litre.
Engine
A5 Sportback buyers will have two TFSI and three TDI engines to choose from. The TFSI engine is a new turbocharged 3.0-litre unit, producing 354hp and 500Nm of torque from 1,370 to 4,500 rpm. Meanwhile, the TDI engine is available with power output ranging from 190hp to 286hp.
The engines can be mated to 6-speed manual, Audi’s S-tronic dual-clutch unit or an 8-speed automatic, although the former is very unlikely to make its way to our shores.
Front-wheel-drive comes standard, but buyers can also tick the box for all-wheel-drive configuration. Audi says that the Quattro AWD will deliver sporty handling with rear-biased power distribution. Wheel-selective torque control will help improving stability and handling in high speed cornering with individual brake intervention if necessary.
Chassis
The A5 and S5 Sportback can be fitted with standard 18-inch wheels and 245/40 rubbers or optional Audi Sport 19-inch wheels. Unique to the S5 model is the S sport suspension and adaptive Continuous Damping Control (CDC) dampers. Featuring 350mm ventilated brake discs up front, with black- or optional red-painted six-pot units with S lettering.