Audi A5 Coupé – The Fun German

We often joke that Germans are an overly efficient and humourless bunch, and we are often proven right. Often, we also transfer those qualities to the cars they make, which is an unfortunate thing, really. The Volkswagen Audi Group make some truly spectacular cars, but unfortunately they sometimes come across as cold, emotionless tools. It’s is very hard to become excited about a car when it induces no emotions and that’s why I’m glad to report that the new Audi A5 has broken the mould.

To put it mildly, the new Audi A5 Coupé had me laughing and smiling and then cursing the tech and then giggling like a schoolgirl, pretty much every single day that I had it.

It's probably one of the first Audis that I’ve driven that has done this since the R8, and its only a 2.0-litre turbo. Now I know some of my colleagues that have driven the A5 might argue the new model is just another cold emotionless piece of machinery from the German automaker and they may be right, but this car made a dent somewhere in that façade.

It's all in the extras 

It took me a while to figure it out, but it may have something to do with the extensive options list fitted to my test vehicle. It’s the rule of (German) thumb, that you get a base model, very efficient and emotionless, and then you can add things to make it more friendly and fun.

In my case, the A5 Coupé had had over R172 000 of options fitted, and I don’t doubt that it is because of all these gadgets that I was able to connect with it. Much like plying that stuck-up guy at the bar with drinks to liven things up, the list of options given to this Audi just made it fun. These were just some of the features that made my time in the A5 that much better.

S-Line Package

City Assist Package with parking aid plus

Electric Front Seats with memory

MMI navigation with MMI touch

LED Headlights with dynamic indicators

Milano Leather

Panoramic glass sunroof

Auto Air-conditioning

Audi virtual cockpit

Comfort Key including boot sensor

Audi smartphone interface

And yes they aren’t cheap, the electric front seats come in at a hefty R22 000.

Performance and drivability 

As mentioned before, VAG (Volkswagen Audi Group) do make brilliant cars, but as soon as you start getting towards the middle of the range they begin to lose their sense of humour before getting to the bottom of the list and the aforementioned emotionless machines. Not that all of us want a friend that gets rowdy at 4am and dances on bar tables, but it’s nice to know that you can have one if you want by simply checking a few boxes on the options list.

The Audi A5 Coupé is powered by a 2.0 TFSI turbocharged motor that delivers 140kW that will rocket to a top speed of 240km/h. It’s deceptively quick up through the seven-speed transmission and if you set the car up to run in Dynamic mode, it doesn’t nip at corners so much as take large bites of them.

Despite driving around as if my hair was on fire half the time, I still managed to keep the A5 at a respectable 7.2l per 100km, which is very good when taking into account how heavy one’s foot gets.

Verdict

The Audi A5 Coupé proves that you can have the serious no-nonsense friend that is perfectly straight-laced until Friday - and then you had better strap in because the weekend is going to be a rip-roaring ride through the cosmos, or the Oktoberfest, at least.

Price

Audi A5 Coupé 2.0T FSI Sport S Tronic

Base Price	R623 000
As tested	R795 470