New Audi Car Reviews
New Audi A5 Sportback Range Car Review

BRANDS HATCH?

Audi’s A5 Sportback may be hard to pigeonhole but it’s a tempting proposition. Jonathan Crouch reports

When it comes to prestigiously-badged compact executive German cars, traditional thinking suggests that estates are fine but five-door hatchbacks aren’t. Audi however, hasn’t made it to the top of the pile by traditional thinking and their A5 Sportback aims to turn such thinking on its head, with coupe styling married to a couple of rear passenger doors and hatchback practicality.

You can’t imagine, nor would Audi, BMW or Mercedes ever offer you, a five-door hatchback version of their A4, 3 Series or C-Class saloon or estate compact executive models. The German prestige brands look down their noses at that sort of thing, leaving it to mainstream Mondeos, Lagunas and Vauxhall Insignias. Yet a nicely styled hatchback can look very coupe-like, which, especially in business circles, is exactly what an increasing number of buyers are looking for. The style of a sportscar: yet to keep your Fleet Manager and/or your partner happy, the practicality of having four passenger doors.

Suddenly, with cars of this kind, it isn’t only the MD who can have the slinky coupe in the corner of the office carpark. Volkswagen’s Passat CC proved that buyers would pay a premium for a basic design that kept doors for rear seat passengers but built them into a coupe silhouette clothing familiar mechanicals. Audi’s A5 Sportback aims to pull off much the same kind of trick, but with even swoopier styling courtesy of a five-door rather than a four-door bodyshape. A5s run on Audi A4 mechanicals, so this is essentially the A4 hatchback that that the German brand could never be seen to build. Or is it? Let’s find out.

Since on paper, the A5 Sportback is exactly the same under the skin as any of Audi’s A4 or A5 models, you might expect it to be little different from any of those cars to drive. In fact, that’s not quite true for in its wisdom, Audi has decided to make this variant a little softer and ‘GT’-like, which might not suit those used to the sharper, more focused approach of the A5 coupe. You could opt for stiffer S line trim to try and sort this out but the end result is rather over-firm for British roads. Fortunately for enthusiasts set on an Audi, wanting an A5 and needing those extra doors, a better extra cost package is available. Called Drive Assist, it transforms the car through tweaks to everything from the suspension to the gearbox, the throttle mapping to the steering, via pre-set ‘Comfort’, ‘Sport’ and ‘Automatic’ settings. It’s another couple of grand but it really ought to be standard, since there’s something here to suit every driving preference.

All models get Audi’s latest ESP stability control system, incorporating an electronic differential lock that mimics the action of a mechanical limited slip differential for enhanced steering response and traction out of corners. You’re more likely, however, to notice excellent refinement that suits this car’s Grand Touring demeanour, despite the frameless windows. The optional twin-clutch DSG semi automatic gearbox is equally well suited to this kind of journey, one that could be completed with extra piece of mind if you’ve the money to tick the boxes for extra cost gadgetry that prompts you when you drift out of lane, warns you if there’s a car in your blind spot, dips the lights for you at night and even brakes if you’re about to hit another car.

As with the A5 coupe, only the nicest of the A4’s engines make it under the bonnet and all but the very cheapest 167bhp 2.0 TDI model feature quattro four-wheel drive. This version has a hefty 350Nm of torque and features a fuel-saving stop/start system to cut the engine at traffic lights or in urban jams, but if you’re not watching the fuel gauge quite so much, the alternative six cylinder diesels – a 187bhp 2.7 and a 236bhp 3.0-litre - are equally tempting options. Mainstream petrol choices centre on the four cylinder 208bhp 2.0-litre TFSI powerplant borrowed from the Golf GTI. With a 6.6s 62mph from rest time that matches that of the smoother but thirstier 261bhp 3.2-litre FSI V6, this ought to be quite fast enough but if it isn’t, there’s even a 333bhp supercharged V6 S5 version.

Imagine what an A4 saloon might look like if it had a hatchback, was slightly wider and lower and had an A5 coupe nose and you’re pretty much picturing this Sportback model. To be fair, you wouldn’t necessarily immediately guess its A4 ancestry from a casual glance. This design, though just 8mm longer, is a significant 26mm wider and has the A5 coupe model’s wavy waistline and frameless doors. The extra width and slightly longer wheelbase ought to create cabin space somewhere between Audi’s A4 and A6 saloons but if it does, you don’t notice thanks to the designers’ decision to offer only two seats at the back, an irritation for family users. Still, legroom at the back is quite adequate and, contrary to expectations, rear headroom isn’t too compromised by the sloping coupe-style roof.

Luggage space in the long, flat loading bay is pretty much the same as you’d get in an A4 saloon or Avant estate, 480 litres to be exact, which you can extend to 980 litres by lowering the split-folding rear seat backs. A neat touch is the 70/30 split luggage cover, the larger part permanently attached to the tailgate so that it lifts out of the way when the hatch is raised. The remaining 30% is a small, hinged shelf which offers easy access to the boot space. On the negative side, the tailgate opens from quite a high loading lip, does without a rear wiper and lifts so high that it might be difficult for shorter owners to lower.

For some reason, Audi has decided that the Sportback A5 should be priced below its Coupe stablemate, despite its extra doors, but it’s still a hefty £1,700 more than a comparable A4 saloon. That means list prices that will likely see you paying in the £28,000-£40,000 bracket for your A5 Sportback, depending on the specification you choose. Audi says that this car doesn’t have any immediate rivals but you might beg to differ on that. If you don’t need the fifth door, pricier versions of Volkswagen’s Passat CC offer the same kind of thing but don’t have the same badge equity. If you don’t care about that, one of the more powerful fully kitted-out Vauxhall Insignia five-door models looks just as ‘coupe-like’ to our eyes.

A5 Sportback buyers in search of diesel power will choose between a 168bhp four cylinder 2.0-litre TDI diesel or either 187 or 236bhp 2.7 or 3.0TDI units. The main petrol choice is centred on a four cylinder 208bhp 2.0 TFSI or V6 3.2-litre normally aspirated or 3.0-litre supercharged units putting out either 261 or 333bhp. There a three transmission choices, a 6-speed manual and two automatics - an 8-speed Multitronic or the slick seven-speed S tronic with its double clutch configuration. Standard equipment includes cruise control, a decent CD stereo and a Driver Information System trip computer.

Audi is narrowing the cost of ownership gap to rivals BMW but hasn’t quite got there yet. Still, the 54.3mpg that the 2.0-litre TDI version returns on the combined cycle is creditable, as is its 137g/km CO2 reading, both figures aided by the start/stop system that stops you burning needless fuel in stationary traffic and is unique to this variant. Go instead for the 2.0 TFSI petrol and the fuel and CO2 figures drop to 43.5mpg and 152g/km. Residual values are class-leading, courtesy of this model’s relative rarity on UK roads. It’ll certainly hold its value better than an Audi A4. Insurance groups for most variants sit in the 14 to 17 bracket.

Whether there a gap in the market for a compact executive hatchback is less of a question than whether there’s room for a version of one of the German market leaders in this sector with sleeker styling and an added dose of charisma. Though the answer to the first question is almost certainly a resounding ‘no’, the second is much less clear-cut. So much so that we don’t expect Audi will have any trouble shifting the relatively limited number of A5 Sportbacks it plans to bring here.

Whether the people who will buy them will be conquest customers is another issue entirely of course but when you’re offering models to suit every conceivable market niche, you can never be quite sure of that. One thing’s certain though: here’s another very desirable Audi.

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