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2018 Audi S5 Sportback Road Test and Review

Ron Sessions
by Ron Sessions
April 22, 2018
5 min. Reading Time
18audis5frontsessions ・  Photo by Ron Sessions

18audis5frontsessions ・ Photo by Ron Sessions

An interesting consequence of booming sales of compact and mid-size crossover SUVs is a renewed interest in hatchback cars among American consumers. It seems once some buyers get hooked on the cargo versatility and lifestyle-enabling capability of a large rear liftgate and fold-down rear seat, it’s hard to go back to the limitations of a squarish trunk in a traditional four-door sedan. But even so, they don’t necessarily want to drive something that's too big or bulky.

The 2018 Audi S5 Sportback, priced from $55,375, is well positioned to take advantage of this advancing trend. The performance version of the new A5 Sportback, the S5 Sportback shares its bones with the popular A4 and S4 sedans. This new hatchback body style, however, cranks up the volume with a sexy fastback roofline that like its larger A7/S7 sibling possesses a smartly integrated and discreet rear hatch.

Sleek and Versatile

The key word here is discreet. Casting a profile view like this, there’s little chance of anyone confusing the new Audi S5 Sportback with a crossover suv. If you are looking for an elevated SUV driving position from which to lord over the earth, look elsewhere. Even though the low and sleek Sportback offers some of the same cargo versatility as a small wagon or crossover, it moves with a much faster crowd.

But the Sportback doesn’t let sleek styling get in the way of practicality. Unlike the other 2018 S5 models — the two-door $55,575 coupe or $63,275 cabriolet — the Sportback gives back-seat patrons their own doors for easy entry and exit.

 Photo by Ron Sessions

Photo by Ron Sessions

V6 Turbo Swagger

The biggest piece of what turns an A5 Sportback into an S5 is a lively 354-horsepower 3.0-liter turbocharged V6. While the A5’s 252-hp 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbo is plenty entertaining in its own right, the added 102 horsepower and swagger of the S5’s V6, accompanied by a hearty but never brash sound from the quad-tipped exhaust, is smile-inducing. The 3,924-pound S5 Sportback goes from zero to 60 in about 4.5 seconds. With 369 lb-ft of twist dolloped on from just 1370 rpm all the way to 4500 rpm, the torquey turbo V6 offers good response across a wide engine speed range except for a tiny bit of turbo lag at low rpm. 

A new eight-speed automatic transmission replaces last year's choice of a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic and a six-speed manual. While enthusiasts love the involvement of a manual, the automatic provides quicker acceleration. The driver can also use steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters to control the automatic gearbox. EPA estimates for the S5 are 21 mpg city/30 mpg highway/24 mpg combined on premium fuel. A stop/start system shuts off the engine at stoplights to aid city fuel economy.

 Photo by Ron Sessions

Photo by Ron Sessions

Luxe Accommodations

We’ve come to expect upscale cabin fitments and meticulous assembly quality in Audi products, and the S5 Sportback delivers. It's dressed in standard leather and Alcantara faux-suede. The S5’s heated power sport-contoured front buckets feature four-way lumbar adjustment, power side bolsters, and a massage function.

The car's climate-control system features three zones, one each for driver and front passenger and one for the rear seat. Its controls are easy to reach and straightforward to operate and ergonomically sound. You just need to figure out the logic of Audi’s infotainment controls and get used to the audio volume knob residing on the passenger side of the console. The S5 comes standard with a 7-inch infotainment display perched atop the center of the instrument panel, and it can be upgraded to an 8.3-inch unit. Standard fare also includes a smartphone interface for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integration via a USB cable. An optional full-color head-up display is also available.

 Photo by Ron Sessions

Photo by Ron Sessions

Virtually Yours

One of the coolest features in the S5 is an optional "virtual cockpit" display. It includes a 12.3-inch TFT configurable gauge cluster with 60 frames-per-second color and quad-core NVIDIA processing power.

Among the available screen displays is one with a virtual representation of a classic speedometer and tachometer; another with trip data and system status updates; one with a big tach and a small map; and one that shrinks the speedometer and tachometer, pushes them out to the corners of the display, and turns the rest of the space over to the navigation screen's breathtaking Google Earth terrain map imagery into the instrument binnacle.

 Photo by Ron Sessions

Photo by Ron Sessions

Sporty, not Shorty

Despite a roofline that slopes nearly an inch lower at the rear than the A4 and S4 sedan, the Sportback doesn’t subject rear-seat passengers to unnecessary indignities. Rear headroom is reasonable, and thanks to the Sportback using the same 111.2-inch wheelbase as the sedan, legroom is within a fraction of an inch of the A4’s as well. The rear seat is firm and comfortable and seats three across. It’s not limo-roomy, but it's respectable for a sporty car. Compared to the two-door coupe and cabriolet versions of the A5/S5, the five-door Sportback is way more convenient to climb in and out of through its sedan-like rear doors. You just have to duck slightly.

 Photo by Ron Sessions

Photo by Ron Sessions

Open Wide

The Sportback’s rear hatch is power operated and a gateway to a station wagon-like 21.8 cubic feet with the rear seat up and a big-screen-television-swallowing 35 cubic feet after folding down the 40/20/40 split back seat. The rear seat doesn't quite fold flat, but it's plenty roomy for larger, longer items that you’d never be able to snake into an A4 sedan’s trunk, even with its rear seat folded.

 Photo by Ron Sessions

Photo by Ron Sessions

Dynamically Speaking

On the S5, 18-inch summer performance tires replace the A5’s standard all-season rubber. Other upgrades include firmer S Sport suspension and confidence-inspiring larger-diameter front disc rotors. Our test car included a great-looking $800 optional set of 19-inch alloy wheels and grippy Continental ContiSportContact 5P summer performance tires. Meanwhile, its $2,500 S Sport package added red-painted six-piston front brake calipers; adaptive damping for a firm but civilized ride; and a torque-vectoring rear differential that improves steering response and reduces understeer. The S5’s standard-ratio electrically boosted steering is more precise this year, and it's more predictable than an optional dynamic steering that changes ratios on the fly.

Audi’s Quattro all-wheel drive system comes standard. It defaults to 60 percent rear-wheel drive in normal driving and delivers plenty of grip and confidence under low-traction driving conditions. Although the yawning cargo hold makes it perfectly suited for impromptu Costco runs, the S5 Sportback is at its best as a grand touring machine: capable, balanced, and hunkered down in high-speed sweepers, but not as tossable or agile in lower-speed twisty bits.

 Photo by Ron Sessions

Photo by Ron Sessions

Drive Select

The S5 comes standard with a Drive Select system that lets the driver customize throttle response, transmission shift schedules, suspension damping, and steering effort via a dash-mounted switch. Choices include Comfort, Dynamic, Auto, and Individual.

The Comfort setting helps take the sting out of frost heaves and rough pavement. It's great for bopping around town, but it also launches the S5 from rest in second gear. Together with the V6 engine's small bit of turbo lag, this setting makes the car less responsive than some will like. The Comfort setting also makes the transmission less willing to downshift. Switching to Dynamic mode improves responsiveness all around, but fuel economy will be reduced somewhat. Auto mode remembers your most recent driving style and selects it accordingly. Or you can select Individual mode, which allows you to pick and choose dynamic responses from the car's various systems according to your own taste.

 Photo by Ron Sessions

Photo by Ron Sessions

Casting a Safety Net

The 2018 Audi S5 comes standard with a backup camera, rain-sensing windshield wipers, rear cross-traffic assist, and Audi’s "pre sense city" pedestrian and vehicle collision warning and automatic brake initiation system that works between 6 and 52 mph.

Dynamic cruise control, an active lane-keeping assist system, traffic sign recognition, automatic high-beam control, and a 360-degree overhead-view camera are among the features that are available as options.

 Photo by Ron Sessions

Photo by Ron Sessions

A Hatchback with Attitude

America’s hatchback aversion appears to be subsiding. Memories of the Chevrolet Vega, Ford Pinto, and other noisy, clunky, cheaply-built bottom-feeder hatchback cars from the 1970s and '80s have faded. And a new generation of buyers who grew up with the lifestyle-enabling possibilities of crossover suvs is looking at hatchback cars with a fresh perspective.

As evidence of that, a majority of A5 and S5 models sold since the start of the 2018 model year have been the new Sportback body style. The 2018 Audi S5 Sportback’s handsome flanks, lively V6 performance, engaging driving dynamics, meticulously detailed interior, and cutting-edge technology are going to turn some heads.

 Photo by Ron Sessions

Photo by Ron Sessions


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