Good ol’ German logic
Audi has successfully combined a sedan, coupe and estate all into this package
Looks great, bootlid opening is great for large items 
Proportions are slightly odd at certain angles, costs slightly less than an E-Class or 5 Series Can we blame things like the A5 Sportback if Greece’s economy goes down the drain?
By Andy Hum
THE POOR GREEKS. Their country’s economy is in a bit of a mess and the Europeans are hoping the Germans will save them from a complicated currency catastrophe, while complaining that they weren’t spending money on the other European countries’ technology and products. It doesn’t look like the pressure is going to change Germany’s spending habits, though, especially when there’s Audi’s latest creation – the A5 Sportback.
It’s a very logical justification by zee Germans (what else would you expect from them?), and after all, the best four-wheelers that the Greeks ever made were last seen in 549 AD and had only two or four horsepower, depending on which race event they were in.
But the A5 Sportback isn’t anything like that. It doesn’t have four horsepower, it has 211 and is based on the A4’s platform. It also has something called a seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch gearbox, which helps to mechanically translate that power into an impressive 0-100km/h time of 6.6 seconds – a smidge quicker than a Volkswagen Golf GTI.
Despite its moniker, the A5 Sportback is a lot more comfortable than its name suggests. That’s good for the executives who have some business associates in the back. Once they’ve gotten out, though, hit a button on the Audi dynamic drive panel and the A5 Sportback turns into something else.
‘Dynamic’ mode stiffens its suspension, its steering becomes heavier and the throttle response sharpens up. Add the four-wheel drive quattro system into the picture and you get one adrenaline-filled drive.
Don’t, however, think that just because it delivers a pretty good drive, your wife can’t handle it. In fact, she’d probably love it for its practicality, on top of its looks. The boot-lid includes the rear windscreen and opens up as a whole, which is great for ladies who want to quickly drop their shopping bags into the 480-litre trunk, easily expandable to 980 litres.
The A5 Sportback 2.0 TFSI is, then, a great option for those who’ve always wanted a coupe that is handsome and practical. It costs $177,500 with COE, about $13.5k more than the A4 2.0 TFSI Sedan, and neither BMW nor Mercedes have something to rival it in this category. And neither do the Greeks. The Germans then, as usual, have good reason to be proud of their own.
