Yahoo Autos 2025 Audi S5 Is a First and a Last
After some 30 years playing in the premium-compact segment, Audi is retiring the A4's jersey. The new-generation car is the A5/S5. The body-style count is shrinking from five to one. A four-door hatchback is the lone offering, and since it no longer needs to draw a distinction with a trunk-back sibling, it's skipping the Sportback label. The coupe, convertible, and Allroad wagon also are not making a return appearance. (There is a fetching Avant wagon in Europe, but we can only admire it from afar.)
The new S5 is bigger in every dimension than the outgoing Sportback, especially so in both length and wheelbase at around three inches. The wavy creases that decorated the preceding model's flanks have been ironed out; with the new car, Audi designers are instead letting the proportions do the talking. Other markets get trick adaptive matrix LED headlights and taillights that can display a triangle warning light or switch to a shimmering effect with brighter and dimmer OLED elements, but Audi says these features run afoul of U.S. regulations. We will, however, get the ability to select among eight patterns for the DRLs and the taillights.
Inside, a curved screen extends from in front of the driver across the center of the dash and encompasses two displays: an 11.9-inch digital instrument cluster and a 14.5-inch touchscreen. The former is less configurable than before (you can't have the map in front of the driver), but the center display is huge and incorporates a lot of functions, although a volume knob survives. There's also an available passenger screen that can show navigation and audio among other features, and there's a head-up display too. A suede-like material dresses up the dash and door panels, ambient lighting stretches across the base of the windshield and is splashed around the interior, and U.S. cars will have a panoramic sunroof. Still, the overall vibe isn't as luxe as a Mercedes C-class. The front buckets are high-back seats with a fixed headrest; thanks to the wheelbase stretch, the back seat goes from cramped to livable. A six-footer can sit behind a similar-sized driver, and headroom is adequate, but the middle position is pretty untenable. There's 26 cubic feet of luggage space under the large liftgate—four cubes better than before.
The A5/S5 is the first model to ride on Audi's new Premium Platform Combustion (PPC) architecture—said to be the brand's last new internal-combustion platform. Whereas the A5 variant uses a 268-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter four, the S5 is fortified with a turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 that's good for 362 horsepower and 406 pound-feet of torque—those S5 numbers represent an increase of 13 horses and 37 pound-feet. For both engines, Audi is swapping out the existing eight-speed automatic for a seven-speed dual-clutch unit. All-wheel drive is standard. The European-spec cars we drove were equipped with a 48-volt hybrid-assist system, but that won't be making the trip stateside. Otherwise, they were largely what we'll see.
Acceleration is plenty brisk—Audi claims 4.5 seconds to 62 mph (we managed 4.2 seconds to 60 mph with the outgoing car). The dual-clutch automatic is crisp and responsive, as is typical of the genre, yet doesn't suffer lurching engagement at low speeds. There's a subtle snarl from the V-6, but any exhaust note is largely muted. The S5 has by-wire actuation of the hydraulic brake system, and we found the pedal to be a little aggressive in its initial bite but mostly free of wonkiness.
The S5 gets a sports suspension, and the cars we drove also had the optional adaptive dampers. The suspension and steering offer three modes: Comfort, Balanced, and Dynamic. The latter doesn't do much to mask sharp-edged bumps, but it exhibits admirable body control. Comfort mode, by contrast, was less inclined to telegraph bad pavement but did suffer some head-toss. Brake-based torque vectoring is on hand, and this S5 feels more balanced than previous models, with less front-end push than you might expect, even in hairpin corners. The S5 would be more engaging, though, if the steering weren't so light and mute. Dynamic mode is a bit heavier, but there's no buildup of effort as you wind on lock.
In characteristic VW/Audi style, this 2025 S5 (and its A5 sibling) will make an exceedingly plodding trip to the USA. Don't look to see either until late spring or early summer next year. (Confusingly, the outgoing A5 and S5 will be sold as 2025 models until the new version arrives.) When the new car gets here, we expect buyers will warm to the smooth new look and appreciate the greater space within. It's too bad we'll never know how the design language might have translated to a coupe or convertible offering, but Audi's product lineup is in transition, and we're just glad to see the gas-fed S5 get another go-round.
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