Fast Facts

Verdict:
Performance, comfort, style: the A5 is a top-class luxury coupe.

A superb all-rounder: good driving dynamics, superior comfort, style and long equipment list

Headroom is a bit short, sometimes finicky user interface

The ‘A’ in A5 might as well stand for the grade with Audi’s accomplished new coupe

By Derryn Wong

FORMER AUDI CHIEF designer Walter de Silva, now head of Volkswagen Group Design, has described the new Audi A5 as the most beautiful car he has ever designed. Automobile design is probably one of the more contentious facets of the industry (BMW flame surfacing anyone?) and it would seem a statement like that means the car in question has looks of the extremely polarizing sort.

de Silva’s design brief states his desire to include the elements of a typical grand tourer: long front, short, flowing rear and sculpted sides. Arguably he’s achieved his goal because by any standards, the Audi A5 is a very handsome vehicle.

Highlights of the design include strong shoulder lines which flow all the way from the rear to the signature wedge-shaped Audi grille, flanked by two air-intakes and a kinked front lip spoiler.
No sharp angular bootlids, or overly-pointy front ends to ruin the façade, although the oval fog-lamps do look slightly out of place. The sloping roofline is a definite bonus, giving the A5 the low-slung, ‘going fast while standing still’ look.

In fact it looks like a stretched-out TT, a car which looked sort of like a squashed egg from some angles and now the overall effect achieved is balance.

The family resemblance doesn’t stop there though. Perhaps one criticism that could be leveled at the A5 is that it looks exactly like the new A4 from straight on. But it’s a minor point really, and once you look at the GT curves on the side there’s no mistaking it for anything else.