Audi has built a great deal of boring cars over the years, but it's our humble opinion that the A5 is not among them. In a stroke of class, the Germans dumped the A4 cabrio and replaced it with a standalone two-door model that's just as beautiful as the other premium models in its class.
Not much has happened since the facelift and now we're eagerly awaiting the arrival of an all-new generation. However, a promo from Audi UK has reminded us that we'd be just as happy owning the current model.
The Audi A5 is aimed at people for whom image maters more than practicality. If we're to judge it purely based on its looks factor, the quiet and easy to understand design is just as good as the brand new BMW 4 Series.
In 2012, it received a refresh to ensure it's back at the cutting edge of car fashion This included a new headlight design that mimics the one on the biggerA6 and a new hexagonal grille design. These minor touches helped revive what was already a nice-looking premium coupe.
A drive though Welsh backroads brings driver and machine back in unison with each other. But perhaps this is where the A5's biggest flaws lie. Some base models like the 1.8 TFSI and 2.0 TDI get a multitronic gearbox, which is a fancy way of saying "CVT". These base cars also come with front-wheel drive, a bit of an embracement, when you look at BMW and Mercedes' models. Adding quattro and power is one way to avoid continually variable nonsense, but fuel economy are affected by permanently sending power to all wheels.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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