Article by:
David Gluckman
The Audi A4 is no more, and in its place is a new sedan-esque five-door named simply A5. You can think of it as the spiritual successor to the A5 Sportback, because that's precisely what it is, just without the Sportback appellation, as there's no A4 sedan from which to differentiate it. We always preferred the looks and added liftback practicality of the A5 Sportback anyway, so no big loss. This combined effort makes sense given the rapid expansion in nameplates as Audi fills out the electric half of its portfolio.
Audi's compact car hasn't gone e-tron yet, however. This latest A5 and its S5 performance partner are built on what may be the brand's final internal-combustion architecture, dubbed Premium Platform Combustion. In addition to being bigger than the outgoing A5 Sportback in every dimension, this new A5 has new looks wrapped around updated tech and a familiar yet slightly improved powertrain.
An A5 That Looks Kind of Like an A4
In profile, the A5 looks like the average between a sedan and a Sportback—call it an A4.5—as it's not obvious that its raked rear glass is attached to a hatch instead of terminating ahead of a traditional sedan trunk. Its surfaces appear a little more chiseled than those of the old A4 and A5, and flush door-release pockets add to the muscular sleekness. Audi's busy lighting department came up with available DRLs and OLED taillights that feature eight lighting signatures that an owner can choose from for an extra bit of personalization.
There's one more light innovation inside, where an available Variable Light Control glass roof offers six dimmable liquid-crystal panels. While the opaque-to-clear treatment is not new, the A5 offers an interesting stripe mode that alternates the pattern between blocks of opaque glass and ones that are clear. We couldn't discern a great use case for this other than to get a noncontinuous tan, and we expect the function that mimics a traditional sunshade will get more action.
Your eye is likely to be drawn to the A5's wall of screens, which Audi calls Digital Stage. It consists of an 11.9-inch gauge display (Audi still calls this Virtual Cockpit) that sits next to a 14.5-inch center touchscreen. An available 10.9-inch passenger display lets your co-pilot mess with audio and navigation and features an active filter that blocks the driver from seeing video content when the vehicle is in motion. We appreciate the subtle curve to the center display, which makes its farthest edge easier to reach. If that's not enough to look at, a color head-up display is optional. Read more...
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