Audi A5 review

Is the Audi A5 a good car?

The latest Audi A5 replaces the A4 saloon and Avant, as well as the various incarnations of the old A5, and is bigger and better finished inside than any of its predecessors, but it’s also much more expensive. 

The experience behind the wheel won’t tempt keener drivers, but the A5 doubles down on being a high-quality, solid and sensible car with smart looks and better legroom (although not headroom) for rear passengers. It’s also more practical than the old A4, thanks to having a hatchback tailgate rather than the restrictive letterbox-style opening of a saloon car.

It’s a shame efficiency doesn’t make a big leap in the petrol cars, at least until the plug-in hybrids join the range, but to a large extent, the A5 is a case of ‘meet the new boss, same as the old boss’.  

How much does the Audi A5 cost?

You’re going to have to bear with us for a second, because while the car you see here is the replacement for the Audi A4 saloon, it’s also very much not the new Audi A4 saloon. As you might have already deduced, going up one number means that pricing across the board has seen a bit of an increase, because the A5 starts at around £42,000, jumping to a little over £44,000 for the mid-range S Line. Push the boat out for the top-of-the-range Edition 1, and you’ll need to fork out just over £49,000.

The change from A4 to A5 is necessary to differentiate between Audi’s EVs and internal combustion-engined cars; all ICE models will now have odd numbers, so the A4 needed to become A5. This also means the old A5 models – the Sportback and Coupé – are gone forever, and the A5 is now only available as a saloon or an estate. 

To make things more complicated, the saloon is actually a hatchback, and is very similar to the old A5 Sportback. So if you’re in the market for an A4 saloon, the A5 is your only option. The A4 name, which has been around since it replaced the Audi 80 in 1994, will disappear for a couple of years until an electric compact executive saloon is revealed. 

Admittedly, the A4 has diminished in importance in Audi’s range in recent years, as the move to SUVs has eaten into the popularity of saloons and estates. Even with the discontinued Coupé, Sportback and Cabrio A5, the A4/A5 models were no better than the sixth-biggest sellers in Audi’s UK line-up.

The latest car comes with a choice of two 2.0-litre petrol engines, with 148bhp or 201bhp, or a 201bhp diesel, the latter the only regular A5 available with a choice of front or quattro all-wheel drive. There’s also a hot 362bhp S5, and a range-topping plug-in hybrid RS 5 will be added in the future. 

All A5s get a seven-speed S tronic gearbox, while the diesel is the first TDI to get hybrid tech. The MHEV+ system can run the car in electric-only mode for very short distances, and Audi says this improves official emissions by up to 10g/km. The two petrol cars have claimed economy figures of up to 42.8mpg, depending on spec, while the diesel returns up to 58.9mpg. The price gap between the 201bhp petrol engine and the identically powered diesel unit is more than £4,000.

A pair of plug-in hybrids will add interesting new alternatives not offered on the old A4 when they join the line-up early in 2025, complete with a range of more than 60 miles on battery power.

The A5 has grown and is larger than the BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé, the car’s most logical rival. Prices have also increased to match its new stature, with the 201bhp petrol in our favoured S line trim costing more than £46,000, while the same engine and trim in the old A4 was less than £42k. Now, for that price, you’ll only be able to afford a Sport-spec A5 with the lower-power petrol engine. A 2.0 TDI quattro Edition 1 is more than £55,000.

Yes, you get a bigger car – around 70mm longer, 24mm taller and 13mm wider – a step up on what was already a nice cabin, and a lift in standard kit, but it’s still quite a price hike.  

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While Audi claims to have worked on the handling dynamics of the A5, it still plays second fiddle to the BMW 3 Series in terms of driving enjoyment – particularly in terms of steering weight. Based on our experience so far of the sports suspension and large 19- or 20-inch wheels, the A5 isn’t all that adept at soaking up bumps and ripples in the road – although we hope that the standard comfort suspension fitted to Sport models and smaller 18-inch wheels might yield a more forgiving ride. If comfort is your priority, a Mercedes C-Class might be a better bet. The 2.0-litre TDI is our preferred engine choice at the moment (at least until we’ve tried the upcoming plug-in hybrid versions) for its blend of efficiency and performance, with 201bhp offering up a swift 7.7 second 0-62mph time (or 6.9 seconds if equipped with quattro four-wheel drive). Read more about the engines, performance and drive of the Audi A5...

Efficiency for the petrol engines doesn’t improve on what BMW offers. Both versions of the 2.0-litre top out at an official 42.8mpg, and a best of 150g/km CO2 emissions for the 148bhp petrol, and 151g/km for the 201bhp. But those numbers rise with bigger wheels. The diesel offers up to 58.9mpg and a best of 125g/km, helped by its new MHEV+ tech. It’s better than most existing mild-hybrid systems, because it can power the car independently. But it can be hard to coax the car into battery-only work unless you're driving in Eco mode. Read more about the MPG, emissions and running costs of the Audi A5...

Even though the A4 had a nicely finished interior, the latest A5 feels like a step on again in terms of quality. It’s not completely perfect, though, with a little too much reliance on touchscreen controls. You do get some nice haptic feedback, but it’s still harder to use on the move than physical controls. Speaking of screens, all versions come with an 11.9-inch digital instrument cluster with the excellent Audi Virtual Cockpit system, plus a large 14.5-inch central touchscreen, and even an optional 10.9-inch touchscreen for the passenger that seems like the answer to a question nobody asked for, which can be used for navigation, trip computer info, or streaming video. Read more about the interior, design and technology of the Audi A5...

There will be few complaints up front in the Audi A5 because there’s plenty of space inside for a pair of six-foot adults. However, while similarly-sized adults will find plenty of leg space in the A5, headroom in the rear is compromised by its sloping roofline. The boot isn’t particularly deep, yielding a disappointing 445 litres of space for the petrol and 417 litres for the diesel; both of which are down on the non-plug-in hybrid versions of the BMW 3 Series and Mercedes C-Class. It does win back some practicality points in having a larger hatchback opening compared with its saloon rivals, and there’s no awkward loading lip to contend with. Read more about the practicality, comfort and boot space of the Audi A5...

There are whole menus devoted to operating the driver-assistance systems in the A5, with up to 18 systems depending on the spec. All cars get tech such as adaptive cruise control, 360-degree and rear-view cameras, the Park Assist Plus system, lane-departure warning, front emergency brake assist, and intersection, turn and swerve-assist systems. All these assistance systems contribute to its top five-star Euro NCAP safety rating. While the A5 should protect you well in a collision, the Audi brand has work to do when it comes to keeping its customers happy, because the brand is languishing in 27th place out of 30 manufacturers. Read more about the reliability and safety of the Audi A5...

Audi A5 alternatives

While the mid-size company car market has been gravitating away from the traditional saloon car body style, there are still the usual suspects in the BMW 3 Series and Mercedes C-Class to contend with. At the moment, the C-Class has the greatest choice of engines, with a selection of mild-hybrid petrol and diesel options, plus a plug-in hybrid with a long electric-only range. The 3 Series still has the edge over the A5 in terms of the driving experience, though.

It’s hard to argue with the latest range of electric cars – especially if you are a company car driver paying Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) tax. Of the choice, it's the Tesla Model 3 that gets our nod, but the BMW i4 isn’t far behind (if you can afford its heft list price), while the Volkswagen ID.7 provides a big battery with a usefully long electric range.