Audi’s 2017 A5 Sportback will take a while to arrive in Malaysia
Seven years after the birth of the Audi A5 Sportback, the new version now makes its appearance. The five-door coupé blends elegant, emotional design with high functionality and abundant interior comfort. The family-friendly car is perfectly connected and offers the latest infotainment features. Plus, the second generation comes with a completely reengineered suspension, high-performance drives and innovative driver assistance systems. The S5 takes to the road with a new six-cylinder turbo engine developing a mighty 354 hp and 500 Nm. In a new departure, the A5 Sportback is also available as a bivalent g-tron, which customers can run on either Audi e-gas, natural gas or gasoline.
Exterior design
4,733 millimeters (186.3 in) in length, a 2,824 millimeter (111.2 in) wheelbase, 1,843 millimeters (72.6 mm) wide and 1,386 millimeters (54.6 in) high – the new Audi A5 Sportback displays sporty, balanced proportions. Audi’s designers have combined dramatic shapes and athletically taut surfaces in the design of the five-door coupé. The stretched wheelbase, the short overhangs and the long, wraparound front lid with power dome emphasize the model’s dynamism.
Another distinguishing feature of the new A5 Sportback is the sporty front end. The three-dimensionally modeled Singleframe grille is significantly flatter and wider than on the previous model. Depending on specification, the radiator grille comes in subtle black matt. On the sport trim line its basic color is twilight gray matt with horizontal slats in aluminum silver matt. In the design trim line it is in elegant dark titanium black with horizontal slats in chrome. The side air intakes have bold edges and optionally – with the S line exterior package – honeycomb grilles and a sporty, horizontal trim strip in aluminum silver matt extending across the entire front end.
The wave-pattern shoulder line imparts the Audi A5 Sportback with emotional elegance. The characteristic design feature, already present on the previous model, is now even more striking with its three-dimensional character. The interplay of light and shadow becomes all the more alluring. The long sweeping wave with the pronounced bulges over the wheel arches underscores the quattro DNA. At the transition from the front wheel arches to the doors, a three-dimensional chrome trim element highlights the sporty ambitions of the new A5. From the A-pillar, which has been shifted far to the rear, the roof extends over the athletic body with its frameless doors as a flat, flowing dome. The front and rear side windows are given emphasis by a trim strip in aluminum silver, matt.
Rear body
The rear end exhibits clearly horizontal and three-dimensional styling. The stretched luggage compartment lid in aluminum terminates with a striking spoiler edge that also enhances the aerodynamics. Separate reflectors in the lower section of the rear apron, which is painted in the body color, emphasize the width.
The slim, three-dimensionally shaped rear lights come in LED technology as standard, and an LED lighting signature underlines their sculptural geometry. The delicate brake light sits below the luminaries, and the dynamic turn signal (with LED headlights and higher) forms a precise strip in the upper section. The third delicate brake light on the upper edge of the rear window spans its entire width.
Lighting technology
The finely contoured headlights in the new Audi A5 Sportback harmonize perfectly with the horizontal lines of the front end. They are positioned slightly above the top edge of the Singleframe grille, which is drawn down quite far – a surprising design detail and a first in the A5 model line. LED technology is used for all lighting functions. The new lighting signature of the Audi Matrix LED headlights creates a characteristic, focused four-eye face reminiscent of the Ur-quattro.
Interior
The new A5 Sportback offers perfect build quality and optimum practical utility. The ambient lighting with 30 selectable colors provides scope for creating a fitting mood for the high-quality materials. The horizontal architecture of the instrument panel creates a sense of spaciousness.
The new A5 has grown in virtually all dimensions. The interior has gained17 millimeters (0.7 in) in length. The shoulder room has also been increased for both the driver (plus nine millimeters (0.4 in)) and the front passenger (plus eleven millimeters (0.4 in)). Knee room in the back has even increased by 24 millimeters (0.9 in).
The rear seat back splits 40:20:40 as standard. The load-area width measures exactly one meter (3.3 ft). The rectangular-shaped layout of the 480-liter (17.0 cu ft) luggage compartment makes it outstanding in terms of practical use. With the rear seats folded down, it can even accommodate 1,300 liters (45.9 cu ft).
Interior equipment
Inside, the A5 Sportback features white LEDs as standard. The driver can operate the reading lights via sensors. At night, the interior lighting package or the ambient lighting are optional ways of setting accents. The latter changes the lighting color, with a choice of 30 hues. This can also be linked to the mode selected in Audi drive select. Slim LED light guides in the door trims create highly effective contours.
Choice materials and colors emphasize the generous dimensions and elegance of the interior. There is a wide range of new colors and combinations to choose from in the sport and design trimlines, and in the S line and design selection packages. They afford plenty of scope for customization. Besides black, the instrument panel can be divided into two color zones with the design trim line: a dark upper area and a light lower zone. The colors of the lower zone of the instrument panel are repeated in the seat upholstery.
Convenient climate control
A continuous air vent strip and the plunging center console underscore the impression of a floating instrument panel in the new Audi A5 Sportback.
The control panel of the automatic air conditioning is another highlight, particularly with the optional deluxe automatic air conditioning, which has the digital temperature displays integrated into the control dials. Just a few buttons and dials are sufficient for convenient control. When a finger approaches one of the rocker switches, the function is shown enlarged on the dark LCD display and selected at the push of a button.
Both the standard single-zone system and the triple-zone deluxe automatic air conditioning have been completely redesigned. Both systems have low energy consumption. They also provide extremely high air quality: In both fresh air and recirculating operation, an active-carbon combination filter removes the finest particulate matter.
Display and controls
The new Audi A5 Sportback has a large, easy-to-read analog speedometer and tachometer as standard. Between them is the display of the driver information system (DIS). In the basic version, the DIS monitor has a 5-inch screen diagonal. The color Audi MMI display in the center console measures 7 inches. MMI navigation plus (and Audi design selection) bring a color 7-inch driver information system and an 8.3-inch Audi MMI display on board.
The MMI system is controlled via the control elements on the wide, asymmetrically split center console. The focal point of the terminal is the round rotary pushbutton. Its surface is home to the touch-sensitive touchpad option. The touchpad is used to input characters and also for multifinger gestures, enabling the driver to zoom in on the map, for example. The whole MMI control logic is similar to that of a smartphone, including the intelligent free text search function. The new, more natural voice control system can recognize inputs made using everyday language, such as: “I’d like to call Peter” or “Where’s the nearest gas station?”
Audi virtual cockpit and head-up display
The Audi virtual cockpit is an alternative to the analog instrument dials for the new A5 Sportback. It assumes that MMI navigation plus with MMI touch is on board. The various display options bring the driver added convenience. Thanks to its resolution of 1,440 x 540 pixels, the large (12.3 inch) TFT monitor displays richly detailed graphics.
The head-up display projects all relevant information onto the windscreen as easily comprehensible symbols and digits, minimizing driver distraction. The information appears to hover around two meters (6.6 ft) in front of the driver within a window area measuring 200 x 80 mm (7.9 x 3.1 in). The human eye registers the information extremely quickly – there’s no need to switch from the accustomed long-range vision.
Infotainment and Audi connect
Audi’s top version is MMI navigation plus with MMI touch. In addition to the Audi MMI navigation features, it includes 10 GB of flash storage, a DVD drive, Audi connect services for three years, up to five free navigation updates (available at six-month intervals) and an 8.3-inch monitor with a resolution of 1,024 x 480 pixels. Audi MMI navigation plus works in close cooperation with many of the assistance and safety systems.
It also incorporates the “personal route assist” function. The navigation system makes a note of routes and destinations that the customer regularly uses, and links this information with the parked position and the time of day. The system thus learns from the driver’s behavior and uses this information to suggest optimized route planning for the next trip – even if destination guidance is inactive. The navigation system builds the three most likely destinations into the calculation, taking account of both the arrival time and current traffic levels.
The top version of the 2.0 TFSI produces 252 hp. 370 Nm of torque is available between 1,600 and 4,500 rpm. Performance is sporty: With quattro all-wheel drive, it sprints from 0 to 100 km/h in 6.0 seconds on its way to an electronically limited top speed of 250 km/h. The unit consumes 5.9 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (39.9 US mpg), which corresponds to 136 grams of CO2 per kilometer (218.9 g/mi).
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