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By EWAN
KENNEDY
18 January 2010
Audi has added a third body style to its A5 range; a five-door
hatchback tagged as being a ‘Sportback’. It joins the two
-door coupe and cabriolet. The prestige German car maker regards
the new model as being a five-door coupe rather than merely
another family style hatchback.
Adding rear passenger doors to a sporting coupe certainly gives it
plenty of versatility and there's no doubt that the lines of this
latest A5 make it look more like a coupe than a hatchback. Indeed,
when viewed from the front and rear the wide stance and low,
swooping lines are likely to be mistaken for a sports model by
anyone who doesn't know their cars.
So confident is Audi Australia in this new body shape that it
predicts far more A5 Sportbacks will be sold than the A5 coupes
and convertibles.
As well as the rear doors, the Audi designers have also increased
the wheelbase of the Sportback by 60 millimetres over that of the
coupe and cabriolet. This gives good legroom in the back seat and
four adults can travel for extended trips without feeling cramped.
Headroom may prove marginal for those over about six-feet tall
(I'm right on that number and only had a couple of centimetres to
spare), so try it for yourself as part of your private road test.
In true coupe fashion the rear area is set up with seating for two
rather than three. There's quite a distance between the two seats
and the rear armrest can be folded up or down to suit individual
needs.
With a volume of 480 litres with the rear-seat backrests up, and
980 litres with them both folded, luggage carrying is considerably
better than that of the average coupe. However, the sporting swoop
of the roof limits the size of boxy items that can be inserted.
The frameless doors add further to the sporting feel of the car.
There's certainly no doubt that the Audi A5 Sportback can be used
as a family car. And Audi points out that should you need a
squared-off luggage space and an extra seat in the rear, it's
quite happy to sell you an A4 Avant station wagon.
Two engines are offered in the initial A5 lineup for Australia.
Both are familiar units from other Audi models: a four-cylinder
2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine developing 155 kW, and a V6
3.0-litre turbo-diesel producing 176 kW.
The diesel is the quicker of the two, being able to accelerate to
100 km/h in just 6.1 seconds. Yet this powerplant has an official
fuel consumption of only 6.6 litres per hundred kilometres. That
fuel figure makes the A5 TDI eligible for a lower luxury car tax
rate under Australian regulations.
At this stage quattro all-wheel drive is the only transmission
being offered in Australia. It runs through a double-clutch
automated manual gearbox (Audi calls its system the S-Tronic).
Front wheel drive models may come later.
We drove both models on a 600-kilometre two-day drive program from
Sydney to Canberra using a fascinating inland route by way of the
Blue Mountains. The A5 Sportback really does feel like a sports
coupe on the road, with superb road grip and a nicely balanced
feel through the steering and the seat of the pants.
Engine response is good, though there's, naturally, some turbo lag
before you really get it going hard. As is common in double-clutch
transmissions, there can be some hesitation at very low speeds,
but once it's up and running you wouldn't realise this isn't a
conventional automatic transmission.
Audi's typically immaculate interior design and build quality
continues to impress and the sporting seat, instrument and
steering wheel design appealed to our sporty car instincts.
Ride comfort and noise suppression is fine, though we found there
is a slight ‘station-wagon’ type drumming in the rear area on
rough roads.
Audi is on a roll in Australia at the moment – indeed for
considerably longer than a moment, as it has recorded record
monthly sales for 60 consecutive months in this country. An
impressive feat, and one that looks likely to continue with this
clever new A5 Sportback providing an excellent combination of
slick looks and interior practicality.
The Audi A5 Sportback models, with prices (excluding government
and dealer charges), is:
2.0 TFSI: $78,400
3.0 TDI: $89,100
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Marque Publishing Company
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