Driving the 2025 Audi A5 Status

The 2025 Audi A5 has many duties, however I feel it handles the load properly.

For one factor, it’s changing two vehicles. Audi has let its lineup develop too sophisticated lately, and it’s utilizing 2025 to attempt to simplify all of it. The A4 is gone, with the brand new A5 changing each the previous A5 and the A4.

For an additional, it strains up towards some spectacular competitors. Consumers on the lookout for a small luxurious sedan have a tendency to decide on the BMW 3 Collection in the event that they’re out there for sport, and the Lexus ES in the event that they’re primarily on the lookout for consolation. Lately, Audi’s sedans haven’t threatened their gross sales dominance.  

The all-new A5, nonetheless, may need the mojo to do it. I spent per week driving the 2025 A5 quattro on the top-of-the-line Status trim stage and walked away impressed. It flows round corners exactly, coddles its driver in consolation, and gives some sensible applied sciences each automaker ought to copy.

When you’re out there for a compact luxurious sedan, the A5 deserves a take a look at drive earlier than you place cash down on one thing else.

Which Trim Degree

Audi builds the A5 in Premium, Premium Plus, and Status trims. My tester was the Status — the fanciest of the group, with luxuries like a Bang & Olufsen sound system with headrest audio system and a separate 10.9-inch touchscreen for the entrance seat passenger, shielded from the driving force’s view.

All get the identical powertrain, that includes a 268-horsepower turbocharged 4-cylinder engine mated to a gentle hybrid system.

Favourite Function

The 2025 Audi A5 has one know-how so sensible that I hope each automaker steals it on the first alternative.

Almost each 2025 automobile has parking sensors and emits a beep as you get near autos, partitions, and different objects whereas trying to park. Nonetheless, that beep doesn’t offer you any actually helpful info.

The A5 beeps, too, nevertheless it additionally reveals you on the show display how far-off the automobile is from every object round it, in inches. So that you don’t simply know you’re near one thing — you understand you’re 22 inches from it.

I examined it a number of instances, measuring distances to see if a tape measure agreed with the automobile’s judgment. It was inside half an inch each time. That’s a lot extra helpful than a obscure warning sound that it would properly qualify as the perfect new automotive know-how of 2025.

The A5 is filled with considerate touches like this. Many 2025 vehicles allow you to open the trunk by sweeping your foot underneath the rear bumper someplace. The A5, nonetheless, tasks a light-weight on the bottom to indicate you the precise spot to make use of.

What It’s Wish to Drive

The A5, in fact, is a sports activities sedan. Is it sporty?

The turbocharged 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine makes 268 hp — sufficient to get the automobile from zero to 60 in simply 5.6 seconds. That’s half a beat slower than the bottom mannequin of the BMW 3 Collection, which is shut sufficient to make it really feel simply as fast.

Audi constructed its legend on its quattro all-wheel-drive (AWD) system, and it’s as grippy as ever right here. Not one of the main compact luxurious sedans struggles with foul climate. However none of them beat the A5 at it.

Its dealing with places it within the high half of the category for individuals who like to drive, however right here’s the place it doesn’t fairly catch as much as the BMW. The Audi Drive Choose driving mode system has a Dynamic setting that corporations up the suspension. However its Particular person setting doesn’t supply a lot likelihood to tune it to your tastes the way in which some rivals do. You should use it to change how the cockpit controls show, flip driving assists on and off, and alter the steering. However you possibly can’t alter throttle response or suspension dampening with it.

These are minor nits to choose — that is an satisfying automobile in a visitors jam and on an open highway.

Inside Consolation and Expertise

The A5 debuts a brand new inside design model for Audi, and it’s a profitable one.

Nearly each luxurious automaker has moved to roughly the identical fundamental dashboard format — a pair of screens, one for the driving force and one within the heart, mounted collectively to appear like one large, curved display. Some supply an optionally available passenger display, shielded from the driving force’s view.

Audi does the identical, however makes it look attention-grabbing with uncommon shapes. It’s in the end trivial that your automobile’s display is a little bit of a trapezoid, however it will possibly make one automobile a bit extra attention-grabbing than one other.

The cabin feels open and ethereal, partly as a result of the middle console shifter is sort of flat. My tester’s cabin was upholstered in cream leather-based with gentle matte wooden tones all through, contributing to the spacious really feel.

Two of three trim ranges, together with my Status tester, include what Audi calls a “panoramic glass roof with variable gentle management.” It’s an electrochromic setup that goes from opaque to clear on the contact of a button. However Audi designers have gotten playful with it — animations that play throughout it let the opacity scroll off like a gap sunshade or seem in stripes.

It’s the type of factor programmers do after they have a funds and free time, however I’m undecided anybody will use it repeatedly. Nonetheless, if it delights you, don’t you desire a automobile that delights you?

Limitations

The A5 is accessible in three trim ranges, however the dearer trims don’t supply mechanical enhancements. Select to spend extra provided that creature comforts like headrest audio system and heated rear seats are definitely worth the premium.

Key Issues

Each compact luxurious automobile is sweet, however there are poles to the market — you purchase a BMW 3 Collection if efficiency issues most to you, and a Lexus ES when you’re in it for the luxurious expertise. This new A5 could do the perfect job of balancing these traits of something in its class.