There’s something very special about S-badged Audis. While they are not as manic as their RS line cars, they come packed with more than sufficient grunt to keep you smiling when you’re behind the wheel, while simultaneously looking and feeling subtle enough to be useable everyday like their ‘A’ labeled siblings. The one here is the S5 Sportback. As its name suggests, the S5 is based on the A5, which in turn sits between the A4 and the A6. The term Sportback, is again a term we are familiar with on the A7 and the RS7, which basically means that this car has four doors nevertheless, but gets a swooping roofline unlike what you see on conventional sedans. And finally, not alluded to by the name, is the fact that under the skin, it’s basically an Audi S4, which will undoubtedly be phased out soon enough. The S5 has the same basic chassis, suspension, engine, gearbox and Quattro AWD system as the S4, and that’s a car we liked quite a lot. So this one has a lot of promise. If you’re accustomed to seeing an abundance of Audi A4s on the streets of our big cities, then you might not realise at first glance that this is a different model altogether. It is only slightly lower, longer and wider than an A4, after all.
Look a bit longer though, and you’ll see that the roof stretches further back towards the edge of the boot, the window line is longer, curvier and lower, and that the shoulder line is ever so subtly curved over the wheel arches – this is a superb touch actually. You can also have it in this striking yellow colour, which is unlikely to be on the menu for a standard A4.
The small joy of a frameless window sliding out of its slot each time you pull at the door handle is one of those small but special things about owning a coupé or Sportback. Less so is the fact that this car is largely restricted to being a four seater; you could get a fifth person in there, but he’d be very cramped. Still, headroom in the back is not as bad as you’d think for a car with a sloping roof, partly because it’s scooped out at just the right place, and partly because the roof extends further back than in a conventional coupé. Legroom is more than sufficient though, and the other advantage of this being a Sportback with a Skoda-Octavia-like liftback tailgate, is that the boot is massive enough to hold weekend luggage for four with ease.
At the front, since the S5 is based on the A4, you get the same dashboard as that car, albeit with some sporty flourishes like carbon fibre on the centre console. Here, it’s worth mentioning that although quality as always is top drawer, the design doesn’t feel as sharp as in newer Audis. The optional sports seats on this car, upholstered here in a tasteful brown and black, are really good even for long distances though.
The 3.0-litre supercharged V6 from the S4 is brilliant in its ability to go from smooth and refined daily driver to savage beast depending on how firmly you flex your right foot. Even the seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox does a great job in traffic, scooting you around with minimal intrusion. In fact, leave the Drive Select switch in ‘Efficiency’ mode and don’t go too hard on the gas, and it can even be quite frugal – so yes, it can conceivably be used every day.
However, it is a performance car at the end of the day, so you’ll want to know how it feels to unleash all of that 328bhp and 44.86kgm, right? Well, because it’s supercharged rather than turbocharged, there’s no lag before all that torque comes in. In Dynamic mode particularly, it’s always raring to go, and the gearbox will lock you into the heart of the powerband, shifting down quickly and intuitively to do so.
The paddles work really well too, but honestly, the gearbox does a good enough job all on its own. The sense of speed is also helped by the nice little purr this motor emits – again, not a raucous growl like you’d get from an RS5, but just enough to let you know it means business.
As for ride and handling, the first thing you should know is that the S5 Sportback doesn’t have adaptive suspension, so changing the Drive Select modes won’t affect the ride in any way; that’s a shame because it would have been a great differentiator from the conventional sedans.
Still, the good news is that, though it’s based on the A4, the S5 doesn’t have the same soft, floaty suspension as that car, because it is an import. As a result, the car isn’t raised or altered in any way for India, and the ride is actually better for it. It feels controlled enough for you to corner enthusiastically, but it actually handles bumps and potholes quite well too. And yes, though it’s a fair bit lower than the average luxury sedan, only the very largest speed breakers will pose a problem for the S5’s belly. Where this chassis age does show is the steering, which has that numb lifelessness that characterised Audis of old, but is much improved on the newer cars. The S5, like all S-line cars, has Quattro All-Wheel-Drive, and an Electronic Stability Program system with a Sport mode of its own, which lets you have a little bit of fun while still keeping you safe.
The S5 is a rather unique proposition and currently has no direct rivals here in India. It’s Rs 62.9 lakh sticker price may seem pricey for its size, but then given its combination of smile-inducing performance and daily usability, what you get is proper bang for your buck along with all the perks of a luxury sedan, and not to forget, a little more sex appeal than the regular A4 and even A6 for that matter.
