Audi A5 Coupe Review

Audi A5 Coupe

From its prominent honeycomb grille to it's wonderfully sophisticated interior, the Audi A5 Coupe is an absolute stunner with a wide range of powerful engines.

Overall Verdict

The Audi A5 Coupe is a sleek looking car with a well-designed interior and excellent performance stats. It’s great on the motorway, as its suspension makes for some seriously comfortable motoring. Those seeking sporty thrills may want to look elsewhere, as the handling isn’t quite on the level of competitors like the BMW 4 Series Coupe. 

Inside, the A5 Coupe is great looking, and easily rivals the Mercedes C-Class Coupe. The Audi MMI infotainment system and the sat-nav are excellent. There are a lot of great engine options, whether you opt for a more efficient 2.0-litre diesel or a powerful 3.0-litre petrol. The automatic gearbox on the Audi A5 is excellent, and moves between gears smoothly. Audi's all-wheel-drive quattro models are particularly good - you can really notice the difference in power in comparison to the front-wheel drive options.

In terms of practicality, it’s decent for a 2-door, 4-seat coupe, but it's obviously never going to be anywhere near the practicality of an Audi A5 Sportback.  The boot space is enough for everyday life though, but your taller passengers won’t appreciate the rear seats. The A5 Coupe’s fuel economy is good, but it’s expensive to insure and it’s long-term reliability is dubious. 

Overall, the A5 Coupe is a great car, but it’s a touch too similar to the cheaper Audi A4. The interior is almost identical, and most of the tech you get on the A5 can be found in cheaper models. That being said, if you want smooth driving, and a fantastic looking car, you can't really go wrong with an Audi A5 Coupe.

Before you settle on a model, see our Audi A4 vs A5 post for a rigorous comparison. 

Available Trims

Sport

This base trim level is anything but basic. The A5 Coupe sport trim comes with 17-inch alloy wheels, panoramic sunroof, LED interior lighting, Audi’s quattro all-wheel drive, three-zone climate control, and much more.

S Line

The next step up, the Audi A5 Coupe S line has plenty of quality of life features. With 18-inch alloy wheels, electric heated mirrors, as well as a sportier design inside and out, the S line is great mid-range trim.

Black Edition

The Black Edition A5 Coupe is very similar to the S line, but with a darker aesthetic design. With black mirrors, body kit, and grille, the A5 Black Edition is an effortlessly cool looking coupe. It also comes with 20-inch alloy wheels, sports suspension, dark interior leather or alcantara seats, and full LED headlights.

Vorsprung

The most expensive trim in the line-up, the Audi A5 Coupe Vorsprung has everything included in lower trims and much more. It comes with 20-inch ‘5 star’ design alloy wheels, Audi’s 12-inch Virtual Cockpit, adaptive suspension, and Matrix LED headlights.

For more information on pricing head over to our Audi A5 Coupe deals page to see how much you can save on your next lease.

Exterior

A coupe is all about style, and the Audi A5 delivers this in spades. With two-doors, it's a much sleeker car than the likes of an A4 Saloon. With a fairly aggressive, angular styling, the A5 Coupe is a guaranteed head-turner.

Driving Experience

The entry level model is the 35 TFSI Sport 2dr S Tronic. With 150 bhp and a 0-62 of 8.9 seconds, this model delivers a respectable performance. It also nets 47.9 mpg, so it's a nice compromise between performance and efficiency.

A popular mid-range choice is the diesel engine 40 TDI Sport 2dr S Tronic. With a 0-62 in 7.7 seconds, the highlight of this car is the fuel economy, with an mpg of 62.8!

The fastest engine is the 45 TFSI quattro 2dr S Tronic, which reaches 0-62 in an incredible 5.8 seconds. With a BHP of 245, this engine means serious business. With performance, fuel economy obviously takes a hit, but it's not too bad with this engine - you can still expect an mpg of around 41.5. 

Driving Position

The A5 Coupe’s driving position is excellent. It has plenty of steering wheel adjustments, and the sports seat makes it really easy to find a comfortable position. The A5’s seats have plenty of upper and lower back support, so you’ll have no problem driving long distances. 

Handling

While it doesn’t handle as well as rivals like the BMW 4 Series Coupe or the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, it copes well with tight corners and keeps its composure. 

Suspension

The A5 Coupe is best suited to long drives due to its excellent ride quality. It's extremely comfortable, with adaptive suspension (optional) that makes driving over rough roads a total breeze. That doesn't mean that sportier set ups aren't fun to drive, although there are better cars for the price in that regard (the BMW 4 Series, for instance).

Audi A5 Coupe Interior

Audi’s always look excellent on the inside, and the A5 Coupe is no different. The dashboard is well-built, with aluminum accents and soft suede prevalent around the cabin.

Styling

Unfortunately, there’s not a massive difference on the inside from the cheaper Audi A4. While the old adage of “if it's not broke, don’t fix it” certainly applies, it can be irritating for drivers to pay up for the seemingly more luxurious A5 Coupe to be met with more-or-less of the same interior as a cheaper model. 

Tech

The Audi MMI infotainment system (available in a 6, 7 or 12-inch screen, depending on trim) is easy to use and fits in well. We highly recommend the Audi Virtual Cockpit, which replaces old-school rev counters with an all-digital display. You can also display sat-nav information on this screen, which makes driving in unfamiliar territory a painless experience.

Practicality

A coupe is never going to be as practical as a saloon or a hatchback, but the Audi A5 does a decent job. The car is definitely easy to live with, assuming you know what you’re getting into. If practicality is important but you’re not into an SUV, consider the A5 Sportback instead.

Dimensions

4,673 mm L x 1,846 mm W x 1,371 mm H

The A5 is quite a bit smaller than the A4 Saloon, but it’s not a huge downgrade in space. While the A4 fits 5 people, the A5 Coupe only has 4 seats. The boot is fairly decent though, and if you’re not looking for a big family car and fancy style over practicality, the A5 Coupe could be a good choice.

Boot Size

The A5 Coupe offers a decent size boot, at around 455 litres. The rear seats fold 60:40, so you've got that bit of extra storage for the airport run. With seats up, you could fit a decent sized shop and around 2-3 suitcases. 

There’s plenty of side storage for water bottles, as well as plenty of compartments to store your phone or tablet computer.

Passenger Room

In terms of headroom, there’s plenty of headroom in the front, so taller drivers will be very comfortable in the A5 Coupe. That being said, it’ll be a tight squeeze to fit taller adults in the two back seats. 

Onto legroom - same story: the front seats have plenty of legroom, but it’s limited in the back. It’s good enough for kids or for short trips, but a long journey in a packed A5 Coupe won’t be too fun if you’re stuck in the back. Still, it’s better than the Mercedes C-Class Coupe. 

Safety Features

The Audi A5 shares the 5 star NCAP rating of the A4 (a few tests are taken to confirm they react the same in a crash).

Audi takes safety seriously - all trims come with active lane control assistance, as well as emergency braking to reduce the chances of a collision. 

Running Costs

While it has good fuel economy and decent CO2 emissions, the Audi A5 Coupe is let down by high insurance groups and poor reliability scores. 

MPG

Fuel economy on the Audi A5 Coupe is pretty good. For the most efficient car, you need the least powerful diesel option, the 2.0-litre TDI Ultra Sport S Tronic, which can net you a claimed 70.6 mpg. Of course, the more powerful the engines the lower the mpg, but even the fastest engine available doesn't provide less than 40 mpg. 

Opting for Audi’s four-wheel-drive system, quattro, will reduce the fuel economy quite a bit compared to the front-wheel drive options. Similarly, the seven-speed automatic transmission will net you a better mpg than the manual.

CO2 Emissions

The A5 Coupe’s CO2 emissions are fairly low for the cars size. For the 2.0-litre diesel engines, you can expect emissions of around 118g/km. For faster petrol engines, like the 349bhp Audi S5, you could emit as much as 174g/km - which really isn’t too bad for the performance!

Insurance Group

The lowest insurance group on offer with the A5 Coupe is the 1.8 TFSI 2dr, which is in group 26. Most of the mid-range models will be between 27 and 32, with the high performing S5 3.0 TFSI quattro 333bhp S tronic 2dr coming it at group 42.

Reliability

The A5 has a fairly poor reliability index score, with average repair costs coming in at a steep £498.99. The high repair cost is in part due to Audi parts being at a premium, and not necessarily because the car is likely to fail - so keep that in mind. 

Warranty

Since Audi reliability stats are less than fantastic, you can put your mind at ease a bit with a 3 year/60,000 mile Audi warranty. With brands like Kia offering huge 7 year warranties, this is nothing special. Audi’s fellow German rivals BMW also offer a better warranty - offering 3 years with no mileage limit. It’s better, however, than Mercedes 2 year/50,000 mile warranty. You can upgrade for an Audi extended warranty if you wish.

Servicing

For those who drive short distances and in town a lot, Audi recommends a fixed service schedule - every 9,000 miles or 1 year. If you’re typically driving long distances on the motorway, they recommend flexible - up to 19,000 miles or every 2 years. 

When you buy a new car from Audi, you can opt in to the ‘Audi Complete Plan’. This lets you pay monthly instalments for 3 types of scheduled maintenance.

 The 3 types are: 

• Service - all services for the first 3 years.

• Service and maintenance - same as above but with engine, suspension, gearbox, and brake components cover. You also get three years breakdown cover added in! 

• Service, maintenance, tyres - All of the above but covers any issues with tyres, including replacement as needed (fair wear and tear applies).