Audi A5 2.0 TFSI 180PS Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Audi A5 2.0TFSI 180PS
Prices: £26,710-£27,660 - on the road
Insurance Group: 14
Emissions: 154g/km
Performance: 0-60mph 7.8s / Max Speed 148mph
Fuel Consumption: 42.8mpg (combined)
Safety: Twin airbags, side & curtain airbags, ABS, stability control
Dimensions: length/width/height 4625/1854/1372mm

AUDI ADDS 4 TO 5

Our Rating: 7.4 / 10

If you fancy an Audi A5 coupe but don’t fancy paying over £30,000 for one of the six cylinder models, there is another option. Jonathan Crouch checks out the 180PS four cylinder 2.0TFSI entry-level model

If you accept that the main purpose of Audi’s A5 coupe is to provide a welcome alternative to BMW’s 3 Series Coupe, then the importance of the entry-level 180PS 2.0 TFSI variant we’re looking at here can hardly be stressed highly enough. The A5 range was originally launched without a four cylinder option and starting prices of over £30,000 made it look like a car you needed an understanding accountant to buy into.

The 180PS 2.0TFSI variant, meanwhile, brings the starting price for ownership back to the £27,000 mark, an almost identical figure to that being asked by BMW for the 320i version of their 3 Series Coupe. The Beemer even has a similar 170PS power output to the 180PS Audi.

The A5’s engine is the familiar 2.0-litre Turbo petrol unit also used in A3, A4 and TT models in the past. You can also order it in the A5 in 211PS guise if you’re prepared to stump up a couple of thousand more. Performance-enhancing turbocharging and fuel-rationing FSI direct petrol injection combine in this unit to deliver a healthy 320Nm torque peak that remains available from 1,500rpm through to 4,000rpm. In other words, owners more used to six cylinder power shouldn’t notice too much difference.

It’s reasonably quick too, the car passing the 62mph yardstick 7.8 seconds after take off, and continuing to a top speed of 148mph. All the while, this car is able to demonstrate a healthy dislike for petrol, with up to 42.8mpg possible according to the combined cycle test.

You don’t lose out too much in terms of equipment by opting for a four cylinder A5 either. The extensive equipment list found in the six cylinder models is largely carried over. It includes luxuries such as 17-inch seven-spoke alloy wheels, 3-zone electronic climate control, a 10-speaker Concert CD audio system, full Milano leather upholstery and rear acoustic parking. Sport models with sports suspension ride 20mm lower on larger 18-inch 10-spoke V design alloy wheels, and inside upgrade to sports seats. All A5s include sophisticated features like a space-liberating electromechanical parking brake which are more commonly to be found only in larger luxury cars. 

Key options for this lead-in model include Xenon head lamps with LED daytime running lights, a Sport upgrade bringing larger 18-inch wheels, sports seats and further lowered sports suspension, a 505-watt, 14-speaker Bang & Olufsen audio system, the Audi Parking System Adva

Of course, if as a keen driver you choose to buy one of these over a 3 Series, your BMW-owning friends will likely come over all sniffy in the pub, droning on about the benefits of rear wheel drive for the true enthusiast. Let them have their say, then give them the ‘front mid-engined concept’ with both barrels. If you’re not sure what that is, then you need to know that with this car, Audi’s engineers have shifted the front axle as far forwards as possible and shunted the engine and gearbox as far back as they can.

For years, chassis engineers have known that bringing weight to the centre of the car improves its responses and agility, which is why Formula 1 cars and all serious supercars have their engines mid-mounted. More recently, engineers have explored the concept of the ‘front mid-engined’ car, that is, a car with the engine ahead of the driver but behind the line of the front axle. It might sound techy but it offers real benefits. You’ll experience these at the wheel of an A5. It may not be quite the drivers car that journalists expected after stepping out of Audi sports models like the R8 or the RS4 but it gets close enough to the 3 Series for most owners not to care about the difference.

Leaving aside its radically improved chassis, the most significant factor for most buyers will be the simple fact that here at last is an Audi coupe that real people with legs and a head will be able to sit in the back of, something that could never really be said of the TT. Despite the attraction of the TT’s styling, this one caveat was enough to send many potential buyers down the road, only for them to return with Mercedes CLKs or, more frequently, BMW 3 Series coupes. The A5 will seat four adults in reasonable comfort and still leave room for 455 litres of boot space.

The styling is reminiscent of the Nuvolari concept car, first shown in 2003, albeit with a good deal more shape in its flanks, the wavy beltline that runs from the headlights right back to the tail li