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After a week of cold, leaden skies we eventually got to drop the top on Audi's S5 quattro cabriolet when the sun broke through on a fine Monday morning. No tin-top here, but an old fashioned rag-top which comes down quickly, and returns almost as fast. Some 15 seconds down and 17 seconds up. You should see the looks on passer-by faces as you deploy the roof at up to 50 km/h. Handy when it starts to rain.
In an age when the tin-tops have found favour, mainly for security issues, Audi's S5 is swimming against the tide. There are a number of good reasons for this. Not the least of which is price. Secondly, there's the amount of room required and lastly, and to some drivers, most importantly, the car's driving dynamics.
A soft-top weighs a lot less than a tin-top and by reducing weight it means a faster car with a lower centre of gravity. As I sliced through some tight, winding roads in the Gold Coast Hinterland flicking the steering wheel paddles and taking in the roar of the supercharged V6, having a tin top was far from my mind. At $138,100 - before any of Audi's seductive options – the S5 is likely to make a dent in most wallets.
The current tin-top phenomena is also linked to appearance. They are not called coupe/cabriolets for nothing and many with roof intact are hard to pick as convertibles. There's also the issue of the hard top reducing flex or scuttle shake, which the S5 soft top suffers from on harsh, uneven surfaces. Not badly, but it is there, as it is to some degree in all convertibles.
Some convertible variants of sedans and coupes simply do not make the transition well. They look like a car with the roof sliced off. Not so the S5 which is beautifully proportioned with, or without, the roof deployed. The down side of this is that the convertible is on a slightly shorter wheelbase and the rear seat passenger leg room is the compromise. What the heck, convertibles are selfish cars, aimed at those who only use the front pews. In any case the rear seat helps increase luggage space when only two are on board.
Those who do draw the short straw and abandoned to either rear seat will at least have no trouble getting in or out with Audi's lift lever and electric push-button system to move the front seats out of the way. The luggage capacity is a bit ugly. Just 320 litres with the roof down growing to 380 litres with the roof up. But, with rear seat folded this grows to a healthy 750 litres.
The S5 feels like a heavy car, mainly because it is at 1875 kg. Yet, when underway, the car feels light and ready to be pushed to it's considerable limits. The 3.0 litre supercharged V6 is simply a cracker: 0-100 km/h in 5.6 seconds and speed limited to 250 km/h. Grunt is run through a seven speed DSG dual clutch transmission with paddle shifters on the steering wheel or manual shift on the gear lever. Or simply let the transmission do the work. With the roof up the engine exhibits no great personality, but that changes with the roof down and the V6's burble enters the cabin. It's no V8 rumble, but it's not bad. Added to that is the engine note changes as the DSG gearbox does it's thing – particularly in enthusiastic down shifts.
The engine is new from Audi and the supercharger sits in the gap between the two cylinder banks. It pressurises the direct injection TFSI engine up to 0.8 bar. Two intercoolers downstream reduce the temperature of the compressed intake air. Torque remains constant between 2900 rpm and 5300 rpm at a substantial 440 Nm.
With quattro and a suspension that has been well and truly sorted, this pretty car has a sharp edge in handling. It corners flat, points well with just a hint of understeer into tight corners. It would be interesting in the wet where we suspect the understeer might raise the blood pressure. One of the benefits of supercharging over turbo is there's precious little lag and the S5 answers the question each time with immediacy. The S5 Cabriolet sits on the same platform as the Audi A4 Avant (wagon).
Inside the cabin the passengers are greeted with a home away from home. If there's one thing we like for winter top-down driving, it's heated front seats. These make fine mid-winter driving with the roof down a pleasure not a pain. The big ticket items are all standard: quattro, seven speed DSG transmission and servotronic speed sensitive steering which varies between light at slow speeds and gaining weight at higher speeds.
The S5 3.0 TFSI convertible's main competition comes from BMW's 3.0 litre 335i.
FEATURES
ABS Brakes: Standard
Air Conditioning: Standard
Automatic Transmission: Standard
CD Player: Standard
Central Locking: Standard
Cruise Control: Standard
Dual Front Airbags: Standard
Front Side Airbags: Standard
Stability Control: Standard
Traction Control: Standard
SPECIFICATIONS
ENGINE:
Capacity: 2.995 litres
Configuration: V6
Head Design: DOHC
Compression Ratio: 10.3:1
Bore/Stroke: 84.5 mm x 89.0 mm
Maximum Power: 245 kW @ 5500 – 7000 rpm
Maximum Torque: 440 Nm @ 2900 - 5300 rpm
DRIVELINE:
Driven Wheels: AWD
Manual Transmission: N/A
Automatic Transmission: Seven Speed DSG
Final Drive Ratio: 3.875
DIMENSIONS, WEIGHT AND CAPACITIES:
Length: 4635 mm
Wheelbase: 2751 mm
Width: 1854 mm
Height: 1380 mm
Turning Circle: 11.0 metres
Kerb Mass: 1875 kg
Fuel Tank Capacity: 64 litres
SUSPENSION AND BRAKES:
Front Suspension: Five link, upper and lower wishbones
Rear Suspension: Independent wheel, trapezoidal-link, anti-roll bar
Front Brakes: Ventilated discs
Rear Brakes: Discs
PERFORMANCE:
0-100 km/h Acceleration: 5.6 seconds
FUEL CONSUMPTION:
Type: Premium unleaded 95RON
Combined Cycle (ADR 81/01): 9.7 L/100km
GREEN VEHICLE GUIDE RATINGS:
Greenhouse Rating: 6/10
Air Pollution Rating: 6.5/10
STANDARD WARRANTY:
3 years/ unlimited km |
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