Test drive Audi A5 and S5
Поменять что-то кардинально в A5 было невозможно – для немецкого производителя это табу после того, как Вальтер де Сильва назвал машину лучшим своим творением Воздух в лифт заканчивался, а вызволить меня было некому – все ушли на ужин. Взаперти я пробыл больше получаса, нажимая на все сенсорные кнопки – они не реагировали. Вот тебе и новые технологии – неудивительно, что некоторые автопроизводители внедряют их очень аккуратно. Audi с новой A5 пошла своим путем, вразрез со многими современными трендами: в купе минимум сенсорного и алюминиевого.
It was impossible to change something drastically in the A5 - for the German manufacturer this is taboo after Walter de Silva called the car his best creation. This means that the "a-fifth" is cooler than the Lamborghini Miura and Alfa Romeo 156. A5 - if not the most beautiful model of Audi, then certainly the most elegant, which is only the bend at the junction of the roof and the C-pillar. Therefore, the designers have re-drawn the recognizable features of the predecessor and focused on what the VW group is especially strong in - on intricate embossed details, for example, stampings on the bonnet.
The car slightly increased in length, added 13 mm to the wheelbase, but became narrower. The cabin is more spacious in the shoulders and in height, the reserve for the knees has increased in the back, but it is still cramped in the second row. The folding backrest of the rear sofa now consists of three parts, the trunk has grown to 465 liters and has retained a niche for a spare wheel - the sports coupe has turned out to be unexpectedly practical.
The coupe is built on the new MLB Evo platform for cars with a longitudinal engine arrangement, which has already formed the basis of the A4 sedan. It implies the widespread use of aluminum and carbon fiber in the body structure of future models. In the A5, as in the A4, there is not much winged metal: it is used for suspension parts, A-pillar supports and braces, and crushing elements. Everything else is made of steel. Interestingly, Audi actively used aluminum in its models: for example, the front fenders in the previous generation A5 were made from it.
The weight of the new coupe was reduced by lightening the transmission, steering, brakes - three kilograms were removed there, five kilograms here, and in total the new generation of the coupe dropped 60 kilograms. The robotic S-tronic transmission has become lighter and more compact, but now it is unable to digest the torque of the most powerful versions - they are equipped with the classic 8-speed "automatic" ZF. As a result, a conventional front-wheel drive coupe with a two-liter gasoline engine weighs less than one and a half tons. The more compact BMW 4-Series is heavier, as is the aluminum Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe.
The new economical all-wheel drive ultra - with it the car is front-wheel drive by default - is offered only for entry-level manual transmission versions. Two-pedal coupes continue to feature permanent all-wheel drive with a Torsen differential, and for high-performance machines, they offer a crown-gear differential, both of which send more traction to the rear wheels. The petrol two-liter four now develops 190 or 252 hp, and the output of the 2,0 liter turbodiesel remains the same - 190 horsepower. Top-end V6 engines are completely new, but retained a three-liter volume. The 3,0 TDI turbodiesel is available in two boost options - 218 and 286 hp, and the power of the gasoline engine of the same volume, which replaced the drive supercharger with a turbocharger, has increased to 354 horsepower.
The interior of the A5 is made in the same style as the A4. The same elongated front panel, massive overlays made of wood or aluminum, resembling rather open power bars, continuous air ducts - as if you are sitting not in the latest novelty from Ingolstadt, but in the Audi 100 of the 1973 model.
The shape of the key is made in such a way that it is fixed between the edges of the cup holder - a good solution, there is no such thing even in the "smart" and highly practical Skoda. The lever giving the seat belt to the passenger does not work well, which is strange - such "feeders" have long been used on sports cars. While you sit in the chair, adjust the backrest contour, lateral support, it will already hide. In addition, the belt is often twisted - there is something to work on.
The 8,3-inch display of the multimedia system is similar to a tablet mounted on the front panel. But you can't take it with you and flip through the pages with your finger. Media control is still assigned to the puck and button combination located on the center tunnel. The lever of the "machine" was flattened, making it a comfortable soft support under the arm.
Audi implements sensor technologies very carefully and dosed - first on the surface of the MMI washer, now on the climate control unit. As soon as you put your finger to the empty silver keys, their functions are displayed on the screen. The block of the climate system itself rather resembles a radio from a retro car - in the new Audi "classics" go hand in hand with high technology everywhere. A huge virtual dashboard - in fact, a display on which you can even display a map, is adjacent to real indicators of temperature and fuel level.
Audi has reserved a whole block of real keys in the lower part of the dashboard for various functions, but some of them are still empty. To switch the driving modes of Audi Drive Select, two buttons are allocated: one for moving up the list, the other for down. Moreover, one key cannot be flipping through the modes continuously, which cannot be called a good solution - you are constantly distracted either by looking for a button or by a list. The most running modes are "comfortable" and "sporty" dynamic, but besides them, there are also "eco-friendly", "automatic" and "individual". You can leave the car in the Auto position, but in this case, the electronics regulate the response of the motor and the stiffness of the shock absorbers after the fact, it has no foresight.
A coupe with a two-liter petrol engine (252 hp) on Portuguese serpentines growls so juicy that I began to suspect that the "turbo four" is being helped by an audio system - later the car developers denied my assumption. The A5, which can accelerate to 100 km / h in 5,2 seconds, tries to show itself even faster and more athletic. In dynamic mode, the coupe seems to be assembled, springy, and the 7-speed "robot" no longer cares about smooth shifting and ecology.
"What car do I have? Ummm… Blue one,” the colleague did not suspect that she was driving an S5, and from her point of view, the exchange of cars looked equivalent. In comfort mode, when driving half-pedal, the coupe rides too relaxed for the most powerful and fast “five”. The car gently, slightly swaying, follows the unexpectedly long steering wheel. The mighty three-liter turbo engine does not seek to show its vocal and traction talents, the accelerator is smoothed out, the “automatic” selects higher gears. These settings make the S5 the perfect long-distance grand tourer. Turned on the seat massage, set the active cruise - and drive at least 500 km at a time. Even in sports mode, the coupe does not annoy with an overly stiff suspension and loud motor arias, but it drives in a disciplined, confident, stable manner. With increasing speed, the steering wheel changes the gear ratio to a shorter one, the reaction time to the gas pedal is reduced, the rear sports differential is more active, the all-wheel drive transfers more torque to the rear axle. The balance of the components of a sports car is almost perfect. "Almost" - because you need to leave something for the future RS5.
On the serpentine S5 - what a diligent excellent student at the board. She deals with difficult tasks too easily and calmly, but in the numbers with which she proves superiority, there is not enough emotion. The turbocharger lacks the charm of a drive supercharger, which was equipped with the previous generation "Esca", but it does its job perfectly - peak 500 Nm are available on first request from 1350 rpm, and the power of the gasoline engine has increased to 354 horsepower. Acceleration to 100 km / h takes 4,7 seconds - the same amount is needed for the more powerful Mercedes-AMG C43 Coupe, and the BMW 440i xDrive was 0,3 seconds slower. At the same time, the new S5 is also more economical than its predecessor.
A regular A5 with a top-end three-liter turbodiesel (286 hp) can be considered as an alternative to the S5. The maximum torque of the new motor of 620 Nm is capable of grinding the insides of the S-Tronic “robot” into dust. Therefore, it is paired with a traditional "automatic", while the less powerful version 3,0 TDI (218 hp) is offered with robotic boxes.
There is less balance and more madness in a three-liter diesel car. In the comfort mode, it is stiffer than the Eski, and in dynamic mode, its suspension is not so finely tuned. The incredible thrust with which the coupe takes off is impressive, although the V6 diesel doesn't sound as luscious as the petrol one. Apparently, it is not much inferior to the S5 in overclocking, but the exact data is surprisingly lacking in press releases. Not a car - a dark horse. Engineers are more willing to talk about the environmental friendliness of the new family of three-liter diesel engines, and talk about the most powerful version in passing.
On the straight line, it easily hangs on the bumper of the S5, but where the "Esca" calligraphically prescribes the turn, the diesel car at the same speed rests, rolls and slides outward. And the point is not so much in weight (the difference between the versions is a couple of tens of kilograms), but in the fact that a cross-axle differential is not available for a diesel engine, which could turn in a coupe with a heavy front end in a bend. And the efforts of electronics are not enough for this. Yielding on a winding road, the diesel car nevertheless captivates with its power.
A diesel supercoupe does not shine in Russia: only four-cylinder cars with a well-known 2,0 TDI engine are planned to be delivered to us. This Audi A5 turned out to be the most rigid and noisy, and its handling - the most common, civilian: the test car was front-wheel drive. The advantages of this version include a transparent steering wheel and a modest consumption - 5,5 liters according to the on-board computer. For unhurried fashion shows around the city and quick starts from a traffic light 190 hp and 7,2 s to "hundreds" is enough. The car can be additionally decorated with S-Line sports styling, but it hardly affects the speed.
In Russia, the A5 sold well, and in its segment was second only to the BMW 3 and 4 Series coupes. In a difficult 2015, dealers sold four hundred cars, with 2,0-liter four-wheel drive versions being in demand. Sales of the new generation are scheduled to begin by the end of the year.
Audi first showed the new A5 against the background of its historic coupes in order to emphasize continuity. And indeed: in the A5 there is something from the graceful crumbs of the Auto Union 1000, and from the big-nosed Audi Quattro. The car does not look like a retro craft - it is a fast, light and spectacular car. Although it has more classics and good old steel than avant-garde and digital technologies.
