SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Many of the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

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Evolution: 2021 Audi A5 40TDI Sportback, quattro

Streamlined new way

Pics by Motorpress
Posted: August 5, 2021

The numbers
Base price: R897 000
Engine: 1968 cc, DOHC 16-valve, four-cylinder turbodiesel
Power: 140 Kw between 3600 and 4200 rpm
Torque: 400 Nm between 1750 and 3000 rpm
0-100 km/h: 7.6 seconds
Top speed: 235 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 7.2 l/100 km
Tank: 58 litres
Luggage: 465-1280 litres
Towing, unbraked/braked: 750/2000 kg
Turning circle: 11.7 metres
Ground clearance: 114 mm
Standard tyre size: 245/40R18
Spare: Spacesaver
Warranty: 1 year/unlimited km
Maintenance: 5 years/100 000 km Freeway Plan                                              

A5, S5, Coupé, Sportback, Cabriolet: It can be confusing. There are eight choices, altogether, fitted with three engines; two-litre petrol in fwd only, three-litre petrol with quattro and a two-litre diesel also in quattro. The three-litre motor belongs exclusively to ‘S’ Models and, although available in Coupé and Sportback, is the only way to get a cabriolet.

Coupés and Cabrio are essentially the same size although the Coupé is slightly lower. Sportback, on the other hand, is 68 mm longer on a wheelbase stretched by 61 mm. This gives you more interior space but adds 200 mm to the car’s turning circle; probably no real hardship in daily life. But it does look ‘way sleeker and sexier, accentuated by a long, flowing rear window and hatch. It might be a plan to tick the box offering Comfort Key, with automatic boot opening, at R9100. Just a thought.

This is the second generation of A5 so there have been some changes. Most notable is the EA288, 2.0 diesel fitted to ‘our’ TDI Sportback, with seven-speed S-tronic, in S-Line trim. It’s a much-modified and cleaner, development of the EA189 motor that was at the centre of all the controversy in 2015. It’s stronger too; power is up 10 kilowatts while torque increased by 20 Nm, both occurring over wider rev bands, so the thrust begins sooner and tapers off later.

Compared with the Multitronic (CVT) version I drove in 2012, zero to 100 km/h is now half a second quicker with top speed increased by 24 km/h. Not shabby. Real life fuel consumption appears to be much the same. But you can’t have everything.

S-Line, the only trim level available with this motor, adds sport suspension lowered by 20 mm along with stiffer springs and shocks, 18” wheels, widened side skirts, titanium black grille trimmed in chrome, matt black rear diffuser and various other trim items.

Despite having all-wheel drive, these cars are not recommended for off-road use because of ground clearance limitations. Quattro is there for overall handling ability and occasional slippery conditions like mud and snow.

In line with Audi’s streamlined new way of offering options, one can choose from five basic packages - Comfort, Sport, Technology, Black Styling or S Line Interior - although wheels, lighting, tow hitch, sunroof, fancier sound equipment, uprated aircon and various other items are still available separately.

One of ‘our’ fitted options was a triple-split rear seatback, with armrest, at R5800. Unlike other triple-split, Audi rear seat options however, this one does not offer individual fore-aft adjustment or recline facilities. It’s just a split that allows owners greater variety in the ways they can extend cargo length from 1070 mm to about 1.7 metres.

The boot loads at any easy 666 mm over a lip just under six inches deep, so loading and unloading should be easy. The space is long, wide and neatly rectangular, fitted with a pair of lights, two bag hooks and four lashing rings. The seatbacks fold almost flat and nets are available optionally.

Rear seat accommodations were perfectly adequate for this 1.84-metre tester. Knee space was plentiful and foot room, below the fully lowered driver’s seat, acceptable although passengers with longer upper body measurements might find headspace cramped. Despite there being three head restraints and full belts, there is really only room for two, owing to a high central tunnel that would make life uncomfortable for a third adult.
 
The freeway drive was easy and effortless with the engine ticking over (stand outside while it’s idling) at 1400 rpm, in seventh, at 120 km/h. It hadn’t reached its maximum torque level yet although it was 90 percent there. And when situations become urgent and welly is applied, the dual clutch gearbox doesn’t feel as though it’s really kicking down although you can see, on the gear indicator, that it has down-shifted a couple of cogs. It simply gathers speed. Rapidly. The experience is the same in either Comfort or Dynamic mode.

You could, of course, enjoy all this in the equivalent coupé version and save R15 000 into the bargain. But who’d really want to?

Test unit from Audi SA press fleet

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.

Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads or goat tracks as well. As a result, my test cars do occasionally get dirty. It's all part of the reviewing process.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material.

If ever I place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with a very similar vehicle already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. There are no advertisers and no “editorial policy” rules. I add bylines to acknowledge sponsored launch functions and the manufacturers or dealerships that provide the test vehicles.  And, as quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.

Comments or questions?
Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you completely disagree with what I say? If you want advice or have a genuine concern, I will be happy to hear from you. All I ask is that you write something in the subject line so I know which vehicle you're talking about.