Nobody really knows anymore why Audi didn’t have a real competitor against the BMW 3 Series Coupé, a Mercedes CLK or the E-Class Coupé for so long. One thing is certain, the Audi A5 was a great hit for the Ingolstadt company, especially in terms of design. The beautiful two-door car is slowly becoming interesting on the cheap used car market. If you want, you can also get it as a four-door or a chic cabriolet.
When the Audi A5 was presented as a coupé at the Geneva Motor Show in spring 2007, the public celebrated it as a real beauty. Finally, the Ingolstadt team had a real opponent who could hold their own against the competition from Munich and Stuttgart. There had always been coupés at Audi, but the Audi two-door models with the elegantly tapered rear had never been as successful as at BMW or even at Mercedes. That was to change from 2007/2008, because even the competitors had to admit that the Audi A5 with the internal designation T8 – initially only available as a two-door coupé – was more than impressive, both visually and technically. Two years later, Audi expanded its A5 into a family by adding a convertible version with an electric fabric roof and a four-door coupe called the A5 Sportback.
In the second half of the 2000s, the equally economical and high-torque diesel models were very popular. This is also noticeable in the A5. Those who didn’t want an Audi A5 3.0 TDI Quattro back then mostly looked over to the sport versions S5 and RS5. That doesn’t make the search on the used car market any easier these days, because the diesel models, despite their undisputed strengths, have long since become slow sellers and nothing works without a green sticker anyway. Many A5 models are also powered by the two smaller diesel engines with 2.7 and 2.0 liters. The cheapest A5 models on the market are usually equipped with the two-liter turbo four-cylinder, which delivers either 180, 211 or 224 hp. That’s not too much for a sovereign coupé propulsion and you should at best avoid the front-wheel drive if your own A5 is supposed to be a cool classic with value retention. This applies more than ever to the even smaller brother, the Audi A5 1.8 TFSI, which usually delivers a moderate 125 kW / 170 hp and is a little underwhelming for a chic coupe. This also applies to the equipment, because the Audi A5, as a 1.8-liter four-cylinder with 118 kW / 160 hp or 125 kW / 170 hp, is often a budget version without a large navigation/sound system, electric leather seats, automatic air conditioning or xenon lights. Stay away from the continuously variable Multitronic, which is vulnerable and not conducive to driving pleasure.
Exactly these equipment details are the absolute minimum for a chic coupé. The Audi A5 2.0 TFSI with moderate equipment costs less than 12,000 euros from 2008/2009 with less than 120,000 kilometers – a good price for a class car – if four cylinders, manual transmission, front-wheel drive and halogen headlights make you happy. The four-wheel drive versions cost around 1,500 to 2,500 euros more and are consistently more popular. Anyone who chooses one of the two four-cylinder turbos should pay more attention to the maintenance history than ever before. Both engines sometimes have to contend with considerable oil consumption – a risk, especially when inspections have been left out. It is also important to be careful when it comes to the timing chain, which can cause problems if the car is used too often for short trips in the city centre.
The four-wheel drive versions without a diesel engine are often the early Audi A5 3.2 FSI, whose six-cylinder naturally aspirated engine is no wonder when it comes to revving, but in combination with automatic transmission and all-wheel drive it is a good choice for a superior mid-range coupé that seriously competes against the BMW 3 Series Coupé and Mercedes CLK / E-Class Coupé wants to exist. The 3.2 FSI Quattro Tiptronic start at around 16,000 euros with less than 100,000 kilometers and offer more cars for the money. The 265 hp six-cylinder is not as lively as the four-cylinder turbo with two liters, which has grown to 224 hp over the years and consumes significantly more in everyday life. Less than twelve liters is little to do with a befitting driving style. In general, the Tiptronic as a converter automatic is less susceptible in older models than the Steptronic as a dual-clutch transmission.
Many Audi fans dream of the sports version of the Audi S5, which is ideally motorized for coupe and cabriolet alike. In the early years, there was the S5 with a 4.2-liter naturally aspirated engine from the Audi S4, which offered 260 kW / 354 hp and a roaring V8 sound. Later, the magnificent eight-cylinder was reserved for the top model of the Audi RS5 and the S4 was powered by a V6 supercharger with 245 kW / 333 hp, which significantly reduced consumption and was more agile, especially at low and medium speeds. Such supercharged V6 start with around 100,000 kilometers at around 20,000 euros. Top-equipped S5 eight-cylinder engines from 2008 cost between 22,000 and 25,000 euros with less than 80,000 kilometers. Vehicles after the 2011 facelift are particularly popular.
Even sharper, but hardly faster in normal driving than the Audi S5, is the first-generation RS5, whose 4.2-liter eight-cylinder naturally aspirated engine delivers an impressive 331 kW / 450 hp and usually offers the spoiled customer exclusive complete equipment that leaves little to be desired. The price range for models from 2010 starts at just under 30,000 euros. A small spoiler then extends out of the trunk lid and the beefiest of all Audi coupés blows out its cheeks.
Source: Stern
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