SA Road Tests

Welcome

This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.

*To read one of our road tests, just select from the menu on the left.

*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the stories.

We try the new Audi A5 3.2 FSI Quattro S Tronic Sportback

Pics by audipress@motorpics

Probably as close to Nirvana as you can get without a clutch.

Published in The Witness Motoring on Wednesday June 23, 2010

Audi tells us that its third A5 model, the Sportback, combines the emotion and elegance of a coupé, the comfort of a sedan and the practicality of a station wagon. Detractors say it’s simply a “me too” quick answer to BMW’s 5-series GT and an attempt to create a market niche where none is needed.

Whichever camp you pitch your tent in; it’s a four-door rendition of the A5 coupé, it’s 36 mm lower than the A4 on which it is based and with that swoopy Kamm tail, its rear three-quarter view is as sexy as hell. To be brutal, the four-door coupé look is by no means new; pretty well everybody offers folding rear seatbacks for “station wagon practicality” and sedan comfort? I’ll get back to that later, but damn, it looks good. It goes well, too.

Our test car was fitted with the 3.2-litre FSI petrol motor that develops 195 kW at 6 500 rpm and 330 Nm of torque at 3 300 rpm. Putting the power on the road via a seven-speed twin clutch automatic, the 1 720 kg car is whisked to the benchmark 100 km/h in just under six and a half seconds and tops out at a governed 250 km/h. An alternative 3.0-litre turbodiesel puts out 176 kW/500 Nm and offers similar performance with better fuel economy, but its greater front end mass (plus 65 kg) would certainly make itself felt in high speed manoeuvres.  As they say, “it’s your money…”

Internal ambience is pure Audi with black leather upholstery, all black trim with a minimum of contrasting textures and the bulk of the electronic gadgetry grouped together in the centre stack. Both front seats are electrically adjustable for height, lumbar support and all the usual backward, forward and seatback angle positions. A single-CD and radio combination offers auxiliary input, while optional head units, iPod adaptor, CD shuttles and 14-speaker B&O kit are available for those who want them.

Our test car was fitted with the optional (R9 500) sunroof that provided open, airy motoring with the merest hint of wind flutter at 120 km/h. Unfortunately, it also stole valuable headroom, making comfort marginal for taller drivers and passengers. The situation was similar in the rear. Individually sculpted chairs for two, with acres of knee space, were spoiled a little by the fact that the coupé styling steals headroom in the rear. Perhaps the designers should ask the A4 for that 36 mm back? Just kidding, but tall people seem to be the curse of the designing classes more often than they might choose to be.

The boot is long, square and fairly deep, with an extra indentation for knick-knacks on the right. For the technically inclined, it measures 480 litres, expanding to 980 litres when the 60/40 rear seatbacks are folded. They go down to about 90 percent flat, by the way. Rather than the usual pull out and curse cargo cover, the Sportback offers a neat two-part solution. A short section stays in place over the front quarter or so (easy to see under) while a second blind is clipped to the inner surface of the hatch glass.

The combination literally closes itself and both parts can be removed to accommodate bulkier loads. Two bag hooks and four lashing rings extend the boot’s usefulness. The spare wheel is a space saver, stored in the usual wheel well under the boot carpeting.

While the A5 is happy enough chugging away through your daily grind, its element is open roads, both straight and wide or narrow and twisty. The combination of torquey power plant and willing seven-speed gearbox with choice of normal and sport settings, with or without manual override, via stick or paddles, is what motoring is all about. It’s probably as close to Nirvana as you can get without a clutch.

My handwritten notes on this car say: “Firm. Solid. Squats on road. Good over humps. Goes like a Turk.” Pretty much sums it up, actually. Now if only I had a spare half-mil stashed away and was about two inches shorter…

The numbers

Price: R503 500

Engine: 3 197 cc V6

Power: 195 kW at 6 500 rpm

Torque: 330 Nm at 3 000 rpm

Zero to 100 km/h: 6.4 seconds

Maximum: 250 km/h

Real life fuel consumption: About 11.6 l/100 km

Tank: 64 litres

Maintenance plan: 5 years/100 000 km

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day-to-day transport and barely experience them for themselves.

What this means to you is that every car reviewed is given my own personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.

Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I am based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa. This is the central hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and go to kick back and relax. 

So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!

Comments?

Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you thoroughly disagree with what I say? That's your privilege, because if everybody agreed on everything, the world would be a boring place. All I ask is that you remain calm, so please blow off a little steam before venting too vigorously. Contact me here

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