Audi A5 2024 review – Better than a BMW 3-series?

Audi’s cool A5 coupe has donated its nameplate to a petrol-powered replacement for the Audi A4 saloon and Avant. It's all part of the marque’s two-pronged ICE and electric powertrain approach where the odd numbers are ICE cars and the evens are EVs. 

One thing’s for sure, though. The Audi A5 in its new form, has never been more important, in what is an overhauled and diversified Audi lineup. For, although it’s set to be joined by an electric A4 before too long, it’s these cars, the Audi A5 saloon and A5 Avant, that will be squaring up to the BMW 3-series and Mercedes C-class in the lucrative compact exec segment. Audi has been absolutely sensible not to commit in totality to battery electric. Instead, this plan sates the demands of a market nervous about an all-EV future while still giving a presence in the all-electric space.

Audi claims the new A5s bring some of the premium sensibilities of the coupe the name was once attached to, taking this replacement for the A4 further upmarket within the segment and making the ICE option also the sporty option in Audi's mid-size saloon and estate lineup.

The Audi A5 will be available with a small selection of engines to begin with, sitting under the V6 petrol S5 flagship. The entry-level powertrain is a 2-litre 148bhp four-cylinder, sending power to the front wheels only via a dual-clutch transmission. Two 201bhp options sit above it – a 2-litre TFSI petrol and a 2-litre MHEV plus diesel. Only the latter will be available with four-wheel drive in the UK, which is strange given that offering power to all four wheels was once what made Audi unique. Everyone offers it now but why hold back? Another quattro option in the form of a plug-in hybrid, which is set to deliver over 100km of electric driving range, is confirmed to be joining the ranks in 2025.

While the petrol engines do feature a revised combustion process and a variable vane turbocharger, it’s the diesel, weirdly, that’s the big news tech wise. That’s because it features Audi’s 48-volt MHEV plus tech, which lowers emissions and improves efficiency by handling more low speed and low effort motivation, allowing the engine to be off in the situations where it would ordinarily be the least efficient, like parking, pulling away from the lights and so on. The system can even shut the engine down when cruising at speed, if minimal throttle is being used to maintain that speed. The V6 in the Audi S5 also features this technology.

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The slowest Audi A5s with 148bhp manage 0-62mph in 9.8sec, on the way to a 134mph top speed, while the 201bhp TFSI and TDI sprint to 62mph in 7.8sec and 7.7sec respectively. Add quattro to the diesel and that time drops to 6.9sec. The TFSI is quicker at the top end, managing 154mph, while the diesel tops out at 150. If truth be told, the 148bhp petrol that Audi claims will sell the best feels a little breathless, like it too could have done with a bit of an MHEV+ boost. If not going all out on the S5, it’d be one of the 201bhp mills we’d plump for.

The sound of a diesel rattling away distantly in a modern car feels a little incongruous in 2024 but in combination with mild hybridisation, it makes the A5 as compelling a package as oil burning A4s of old ever were, with strong low down torque and excellent efficiency. It is odd hearing that typical diesel noise, albeit one that’s quieter than ever, that was once the sound of big trouble for the Volkswagen Group, combined with the futuristic whirring of an electrified element. Chalk and cheese springs to mind.

A huge goal of Audi’s with the new A5 was to create a car befitting the badge – a more premium product than the A4s it replaces in terms of the design inside and out, the quality and the driving dynamics. A big part of this involves extending the bandwidth of the car’s personality within the Drive Select driving modes.

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Sport had to be sportier in the new A5, just as Comfort had to be genuinely comfortable. We can report that, with the adaptive dampers optioned at least, the new A5 is a compliant and comfortable car, more so than some Audis of old were with their big wheels and sport suspension. By the same token, when you ask it to strap itself down in the Drive Select for a brisk run across ground, it does so. This is a composed and resolutely neutral car that has to be driven in an undignified manner to get it to lose its cool.

Audi made a good bit of noise about how the new A5 on its Premium Platform Combustion underpinnings should be a nicer car to steer, with more feel and response. The latter is fine but the new haptic-buttoned, squirkle wheel isn’t exactly fizzing with information and is for the most part, overly light. It’s perfectly pleasant in normal driving but isn’t exactly dynamic.

Feelings will be mixed on the inside, especially among the Audi A4 faithful, and depending on where you stand in the buttons vs pixels debate. For the A5s and the S5 flagship feature (across the range, so points for value) what Audi calls the Digital Stage. This is a giant pair of screens, one the 11.9-inch virtual cockpit driver’s display, the other the 14.5-inch MMI touch screen. Edition 1 cars get a 10.9-inch passenger MMI display too, while the whole 2025 A5 range gets over-the-air update capability and Audi assistant - with its 800 functions and ChatGPT integration.

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A large curved panel with rounded corners houses the main screens, with the crisp OLED MMI display canted towards the driver. This was a good decision ergonomically, putting the screen that much more within view and reach. But there’s no beating buttons. Fewer physical controls also means fewer opportunities to feel the quality and tactility once typical of Audi.

The outgoing car’s combination of physical climate and media controls and some touch controls is preferable for ease and safety of operation, too. Admittedly the menus are well resolved with a healthy dose of Audi common sense but still, crucial stuff like the climate controls that used to be one movement, now involve a couple more steps of navigation through the digital space they’re contained within.

The width-spanning softwrap is a pleasant touch and the cabin overall is reasonably spacious – enough to house four average sized adults for a medium journey without bother. That’s thanks to the larger dimensions, including the longer wheelbase. It is worth noting that quattro cars offer around 30 litres less boot space than their front-driven counterparts.

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The general impression, in terms of the materials and the design of the A5, is that this could just as believably have been the cabin of a new premium coupe, but it’s as spacious as a saloon. The best of both worlds – exactly Audi’s intention for the latest A5 and S5. 

In terms of the design, from the front, the new A5 is a success. It could be the nose of a new coupe. Move rearward, though and Audi’s attempt to combine A4 and A5 Sportback elements errs a little on the side of amorphous. These are 67mm wider and 30mm longer than the cars they replace and have shorter overhangs but while premium, sporty, wide-set proportions were the goal, this isn’t quite the miniature e-tron GT it perhaps could or should have been. The Avant does, however, wear the new look more confidently to our eyes.

The new Matrix LEDs that come on the Edition 1 cars are impressive things, lighting up the road ahead like an operating theatre. The eight light signatures are, depending on your stance on these things, either a bit of a gimmick or an impressive tech showcase. Kids playing ‘guess the car by the lights at night’ might not enjoy the variety, though. At the rear the lighting gets more impressive, even if the inclusion of yet another full width light bar is lamentable, with an OLED design that’s verging on display status, rather than common or garden lighting.

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With the new A5 Audi has done exactly as it hoped; succeeded the A4 with a model that inherits some of the style and sporting sensibility of the coupe from which it borrows its name. The A5 drives pleasantly, is well equipped and is built well, with keen pricing. But most importantly, it picks up exactly where its predecessors left off, without asking buyers to make any lifestyle jumps to accommodate a new powertrain. Audi’s really is the shrewdest of strategies with hedged bets across the range, of which some rival manufacturers who have made braver, possibly ill-fated bets, will undoubtedly be jealous.

The 2025 Audi A5 is squarely aimed at the BMW 3-series and Mercedes C-class, though it could find other rivals in the excellent but somewhat aged Alfa Romeo Giulia and from within the ‘Group’, in the shape of higher-spec versions of the Volkswagen Arteon and Skoda Superb. There’s no ignoring the Tesla Model 3, either. 

The range starts from £41,950 for the most basic 148bhp TFSI Sport saloon, rising to £44,100 in S Line spec and £49,100 for the top-level Edition 1. For comparison, the BMW 3-series and Mercedes-Benz C-class start from £40,220 and £45,120 respectively.

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The 201bhp car starts from £44,290, rising to £46,440 and £51,440 for S-Line and Edition 1 specs. The diesel commands a decent premium, starting from £48,475 and rising through £50,625 and £55,625 for S-Line and Edition 1 trims. The equivalent Avant at every level commands a £1,900 premium.

Sport spec will be enough for many in terms of standard equipment, with the ‘Digital Stage’ infotainment standard across the board, along with adaptive cruise, three-zone climate control, 360-degree parking view and heated front seats. S-Line trim adds lower sports suspension, S-Line badging and interior trimmings and sportier styling with bigger wheels.

Edition 1 spec brings all the toys, including the passenger display. You’ll want the Sound & Vision pack further down the range for £2,495, which adds the head-up display, Bang & Olufsen sound system, enhanced ambient lighting and improved USB C charging.