2018 Audi S5 Sportback Review: First Impressions
CARS.COM — Audi is following in the footsteps of BMW in launching a five-door version of its luxury coupe, the 2018 Audi A5 Sportback and S5 Sportback.
The A5 Sportback was not present at the 2016 Los Angeles Auto Show, but an S5 Sportback was and I had a chance to get up close with it to see if increasing the number of doors adds to the appeal.
Audi calls the S5 Sportback a five-door coupe because of its sleek shape, but to me, it feels in practice and execution more like a low-slung hatchback. Put it next to the A4 or S4 with which it shares a wheelbase and the differences are apparent. Audi is getting away from the symmetrical side-profile aesthetic, and I think it’s a change for the better. To me, Audi’s vehicles with leaner profiles like the S5 Sportback, A7 and R8 are the most attractive cars in the lineup.
The S5 Sportback’s entire front end looks lower and sleeker than what’s found on the A5/S5 coupes, and it works well with the elongated fastback profile in the rear.
Under the hood, the S5 Sportback has the same powertrain as the S5 coupe: a 354-horsepower, turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 that makes 369 pounds-feet of torque. Quattro all-wheel drive is standard on both the A5 Sportback and S5 Sportback, but the S5 Sportback gets its own transmission, an eight-speed automatic versus the seven-speed found in the A5 Sportback.
Inside, the interior has a few features that surprised me, including sport seats with quilted-diamond stitching that Audi says will be standard on the S5 Sportback. The seats have a thin, futuristic form that fits the rest of the interior. They will also come with standard power bolstering and massage functionality, but they trend on the firmer side.
Looking at the S5 Sportback’s profile worried me in regards to backseat headroom. On cars like this where the cabin tapers off toward the rear, it can sometimes give taller backseat passengers a kinked neck. But I was pleasantly surprised to find ample headroom and legroom as well. I hopped into the backseat of an A4 sedan to compare the two, and they’re similar in leg and headroom. That’s a vast improvement on the backseat found in the A5 or S5 coupe, which is almost like a medieval dungeon in this latest iteration.
Fitting three adults across the second row will still be a challenge. There’s a large floor hump, so anyone in the middle seat will play footsie with the passenger on either side — whether they want it or not.
Audi says that cargo room is doubled versus the coupe, with 21 cubic feet of storage behind the rear seats that expands to 35 cubic feet with the seats folded.
The S5 Sportback on display at the show was a European-spec version, but Audi representatives said that it is will be in essence the car that will come to the U.S. Stay tuned for pricing and more details on the A5 and S5 Sportback before they launch in the first half of 2017.
