CAR GAZING
S5 another stunner from Audi
High-performance coupe impresses with power, sophistication
By Derek Price
Audi is making all the right moves lately.
This German company has set the industry standard for interior quality for the past 10 years. It's won awards for its expressive, sensual, tasteful designs like the TT. It's dominated modern Le Mans racing. It's beaten BMW and Mercedes at their own game with the RS4 ultra-performance sedan. And it's built one of the best supercars in history, the R8.
It's no wonder, then, that its latest creation – the S5 coupe – is among the best the world's ever seen.
This car is stunning. Simply stunning.
Every single atom of this car – from its sleek body to its mechanical guts – is designed for comfort and speed, making it one of the rare vehicles that seems to transcend time. You lose your sense of reality when you're piloting this machine, accelerating so fast and traveling so silently that it looks like the world is going by on a movie screen just outside your glass window.
The two-door S5 is lower, wider and a whole lot meaner than the A4 sedan on which it's loosely based. It has the kind of engine that never lets you forget its credentials: a 4.2-liter V8 that makes 354 horsepower with a wonderfully nasty, American-style snarl.
While the S5 is electronically limited to a top speed of 155 mph, its speedometer goes all the way to 200. And you don't get the sense that it's bragging. Step on the gas pedal, and this car shoves you into the back of your seat like you're about to launch into space.
And yet, oddly enough, this coupe doesn't feel nearly as raw and abrasive as the four-door RS4. It's a creamy car, one that soothes and relaxes you at speed with its unusual combination of frightening power and complete serenity.
Judging by how freakishly quiet the cabin is at high speed, you'd think the S5 was a pure luxury car like a big Cadillac, Lexus or Lincoln. But it doesn't respond at all like a traditional luxury car. It's quick and precise, and – just like a great sports car – seems to become an extension of your own body.
But your body, no matter how gorgeous you are, will never look quite as good as an S5.
With a front end inspired by Audi's R8 masterpiece, a sleek, sexy roofline and the taut, sophisticated lines of an all-time classic coupe, this car looks amazing without drawing too much attention to itself. It's tasteful and understated, yet has just the right amount of chrome and wildness to let everyone know it's no ordinary luxury car.
Now for the big question: Can you afford it?
The S5 starts at $50,900, while you can get the just-as-gorgeous but slower A5 for around $10,000 less. That may sound like a lot, but compared to around $55,000 for the Mercedes-Benz CLK550 Coupe or $74,000 for a BMW 6 series, the Audi looks like a downright bargain.
(Derek Price is a newspaper editor and freelance writer living in Texas.)
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