Audi A5 Cabriolet review

Audi’s interior build quality and the overall experience is very good indeed. You’ll search in vain for wonky or low-rent plastics in here. And even though this is in an interior that’s been with us since the current-generation A4 was launched in 2016, it still looks and feels modern.

The A5’s 2020 facelift was mercifully minor – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it etc, etc. With one irritating exception – Audi swapped the old infotainment system, which was controlled by an excellent BMW iDrive-style rotary controller on the centre console, for a touchscreen.

Audi does good touchscreen interfaces – far better than parent company VW, in fact – and thankfully the climate controls are still entirely separate. But this is still a backwards step far as safety and usability goes.

WHAT ABOUT IN THE BACK?

You can fit four adults in the A5 Cabrio, but ones in the back would need to be closer to 5ft than 6ft and not mind arriving at the pub looking a bit windswept. The rear seats are more blustery than the fronts anyway because of how the aero works, and those in the front seats will feel more turbulence too because with the rear seats occupied, you can’t erect the wind deflector. Generally the A5 Cab’s cabin is calm and quiet up to around 50mph, then the deflector really comes into its own. If you never put people in the back you may as well leave it up all the time.