Audi A5 review

The A5 offers you all the poshness and comfort you’d expect from an Audi saloon pushing towards £50k in most trims. The materials are well judged, but not so fancy that you wouldn’t be able to drive anywhere with kids in the back. Audi’s signature black gloss plastic is everywhere up front, though, and we know from experience that that gets dirty very quickly.

We’d still argue that the Volkswagen Group has lost its way a little with its interiors, but the A5 gets a more advanced voice control system (if you’re into that sort of thing), a range of steering wheel controls (still easy to activate by accident if you’re not careful though) and some of the touchscreen real estate permanently allocated to the climate control.

That’s a lot of screen though.

It is, isn’t it? It’s not a Mercedes Hyperscreen scenario in here, but it still dominates the dashboard to the point where you overlook everything else. Especially if you’re in a higher spec car that has the 10.9in touchscreen display for the front passenger, as well as the standard 11.9in digital display and 14.5in infotainment screen. Sheesh.

You’ve got wireless Apple and Android connectivity as standard, as well as wireless charging, which comes with a cooling fan underneath to stop your phone from exploding. We also liked the ambient lighting, which has LED strips in the doors and along the base of the windscreen that light up along with the navigation instructions and various safety reminders that pop up on the dash.

What’s the tech like?

It’s a mixed bag: the screens work well, with sharp responsive displays and plenty of information to aid your journey. Maybe too much. Having to fiddle with the central touchscreen can be distracting, no matter how big and jab-able the icons.

The passenger screen is a miss for us: we suspect it's the kind of thing that helps shift cars in the showroom, but it has very little practical use. As well as nav and radio it'll run video (no, not VHS) if you want it to. But... most people will just watch their phones, won't they? The central touchscreen is angled away from the passenger, so you'd think there'd be heated seat and temperature controls at least. But no. That's an oversight.

Is it roomy in there?

The A5 is relaxed up front, with plenty of space to get comfortable, and offers a decent amount of legroom in the back. Watch out if you've got long legs though: the seatbacks are finished with a hard plastic, which won't be very nice for your knees. That sleek roofline means a compromise on rear headroom... six-footers will struggle without a very scalp-hugging hair do. So you’ll want the Avant if you’re taking adults along for the ride. 

The boot amasses 445 litres of space and that's only 30 litres shy of what the estate can manage. Knock the seats down (yup they actually fold, unlike typical saloons of yore) and you're looking at 1,299 litres. Yup, one shy of a nice, round thirteen hundred. Twitch.