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New look, new platform, new powertrain tech, new four-wheel drive system and even new name for compact executive car

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You can now order a new Audi A5 Avant, and that’s neither a typo nor the promise of some sort of coupé-based shooting brake.

As you might have noticed, Audi is shaking up its naming structure so that all the odd-numbered cars have combustion engines while all the even-numbered cars have batteries and electric motors.

After being known as the 80 for 25 years and the A4 for 20, Audi’s compact executive saloon/estate now prefers to be known as the A5 – and, as per tradition, there’s a faster Audi S5 version which we've reviewed separately.

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DESIGN & STYLING

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Audi A5 Avant review 2024 02

In some ways, the A5 is reassuringly familiar, because here stands a compact executive car with a a choice of petrol and diesel engines, including a V6 in the sporty S5.

Beruhigung durch Tradition, or something. Actually, that’s not fair, because there are plenty of changes from the old A4 and S4.

Audi has finally sworn off fake exhausts. The double square tips on the diesel are real, as are the twin trapezoid ones on the petrol.

First off, this car isn’t actually all that compact any more. It has grown 67mm in length and 13mm in width, making it very similar to an early-2000s Audi A6. It remains manageable, but we can’t help but wonder where the bloat will stop.

We can’t even blame an all-new platform, because while it has a new name (Premium Platform Combustion, or PPC), it’s really an evolution of what went before.

The A5 remains slightly unusual among similarly sized Volkswagen Group cars (like the Skoda Superb and Volkswagen Passat) in carrying its engine lengthways rather than transversely. This layout enables it to have that V6, send most of its power to the rear wheels if the situation calls for it and ride on more sophisticated suspension (four-link front, five-link rear) than a car based on the MQB platform.

The most interesting development is in the powertrain. The engines are fundamentally familiar, but the 2.0-litre diesel and the 3.0-litre V6 petrol in the S5 are now hybrids.

Audi calls the new hybrid system MHEV Plus, even though it’s not actually a mild-hybrid system. As well as the usual integrated starter-generator (ISG) that handles the start/stop, there’s an electric motor acting on the output side of the gearbox that can regenerate up to 25kW of energy and contribute 25bhp, either to augment the engine or to power the car by itself and allow the engine to shut off.

There are knock-on effects too. Because the motor can fill some low-rev torque gaps and the turbo on the V6 now has variable geometry (for more low-down shove), the engine no longer needs the capacity for torque multiplication that a torque converter gives. As a result, Audi has ditched the eight-speed automatic gearbox for a seven-speed dual-clutch unit, which it says is more efficient.

If you want Quattro four-wheel drive, as befits an Audi, your choice is limited to the 2.0-litre diesel or the S5 with its petrol V6. All others stick with front-wheel drive. The 4WD system itself moves away from the traditional torsen centre differential in favour of a multi-plate clutch, even for the S5.

As usual, the A5 offers a wide choice of powertrains. These used to be a confusing affair to identify with Audi, but it has now ditched its 30/35/40/45/etc nomenclature to indicate the power level and instead it refers simply to the output in kW or PS, which is much more logical.

As such, in the UK there’s a 2.0-litre petrol with front-wheel drive and either 150PS (148bhp) or 204PS (201bhp).

A pair of plug-in hybrids will join the line-up in spring 2025, but Audi won’t say anything about them other than that they will have 295bhp and 362bhp and an electric-only range of more than 70 miles.

Visually, the new A5 clearly belongs to a new generation of Audi, with softer lines and a reinterpreted ‘single-frame grille’. Audi’s long-standing design cue has got wider and is flanked by triangular inserts in either black or silver, depending on the trim level.

The saloon actually isn’t a traditional three-box one now, having traded its traditional bootlid for a big ‘liftback’ hatch, thus taking the baton from the outgoing A5 Sportback.

INTERIOR

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Inside, the A5 follows the new design philosophy introduced on the Audi Q6 E-tron and goes all in on screens, which is no improvement: rather than giving a modern, tech-forward feel, it just looks generic.

The main touchscreen works fairly well, with no usability disasters, but some actual buttons for the climate and infotainment shortcuts would have made a big difference.

While a colleague was driving, I played with the passenger display, and I still can’t see the point. You can add various apps to it, like YouTube and Amazon Music, but it doesn’t do anything that an iPad can’t. It doesn’t even have climate controls.

Perceived quality has also regressed from the outgoing generation. The slab of gloss black plastic in the centre console doesn't feel very upmarket, and you don't have to look very hard to find scratchy plastics.

Space in the back is pretty good for the class – and the boot likewise (445 litres in the saloon and 476 litres in the estate), even if it is a bit smaller than a BMW 3 Series’.

That new hybrid system also takes up all the space under the floor, which means the 2.0-litre petrol version has a bit more practicality.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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00102 Audi A5 saloon UK 2025 review diesel engine

Talking of the hybrid system, it suits the A5 quite well. An engine isn't very efficient in low-speed running and doesn’t even give you back much in sound or character. If you can shut it down and run on electricity instead, that’s a win-win.

The motor emits a gentle whine when speeding up or regenerating energy, but it gives the whole thing a bit of character, rather than impacting refinement.

When you see the entry-level petrol engine has 148bhp, you might assume it's the 1.5-litre four-cylinder found in the A3 and Golf, but it's actually the EA888 2.0-litre, because the 1.5 is currently only suitable for transverse applications.

If the engine is running, the dual-clutch automatic gearbox can be slightly clunky at low speed. The rest of the time, though, it does a good job and has lost the habit of keeping the revs excessively low.

The 2.0-litre diesel four itself is a pleasant known quantity. Although it’s clattery from cold, it quietens down as it warms up and provides plenty of effortless shove.

Audi says diesel sales in the UK will likely linger in the single-figure percentages, but it’s continuing to offer them because they’re still popular in Germany and even that quiet UK business will mean a few hundred sales not going to BMW, which has pulled the 320d and 330d from the market.

The vast majority of UK-bound A5s will be 2.0 TSIs, which we've driven only very briefly so far.

With 148bhp, the entry-level A5 gets out of its own way well enough, but it just doesn’t have much in reserve and sounds quite strained and thrashy when you inevitably have to push it. Upgrading to the 201bhp version therefore seems sensible.

Audi’s engineers told us that they hadn’t put the hybrid system on the 2.0-litre petrol to keep costs down on what is the entry-level offering, which checks out when you look at the price premium for the diesel.

For our impressions of the 3.0-litre V6, read our separate Audi S5 review.

RIDE & HANDLING

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00103 Audi A5 saloon UK 2025 review front cornering

We would love to tell you how the A5 rides and handles, but unfortunately we've not had the opportunity to drive one in a specification that will be offered in the UK.

All of our test cars so far, including the right-hand-drive, UK-registered diesel pictured here, have had adaptive dampers, which are an option in most countries and standard on the S5 but won't be offered on normal A5s in the UK.

Instead, they will have one of two passive suspension set-ups. Rather confusingly, Sport trim gives you 'Comfort suspension' while S Line and Edition 1 have 20mm-lower 'Sports suspension'.

For what it’s worth, on the adaptive dampers, the A5's ride feels a touch too firm yet underdamped.

On our brief early drive in the UK, the A5 TDI seemed to be a very capable cruiser. The Volkswagen Group’s adaptive cruise control is one of the better such systems out there, and the annoying bings and bongs are easy to turn off.

Noise refinement is pretty good if not outstanding, and the electrically adjustable seats in our high-spec test car were very supportive.

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

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Audi expects the big seller in the UK to be the 150PS (148bhp) 2.0-litre petrol, priced from £41,950. For an extra £2340, it’s upgraded to 204PS (201bhp). The diesel represents quite a price jump, at £46,950 or £48,475 with Quattro four-wheel drive.

Want an Avant estate instead of a saloon? That will be an extra £1900, regardless of powertrain or trim.

Audi makes an A5 with a 2.0-litre petrol and four-wheel drive but doesn't offer it in the UK.

In our experience, the hybrid system makes more of difference to fuel economy of the S5's naturally thirstier V6 petrol than to the diesel. The WLTP figure for a front-wheel-drive, 201bhp A5 Avant is 53.3mpg, which is the same as for the Skoda Superb Estate with an unhybridised 148bhp version of the same engine. In other words, you get an extra 53bhp for no fuel economy penalty. In practice, our test car returned high-40s on a mixed loop and appeared capable of low-50s at a motorway cruise.

We've yet to do any significant mileage in the 2.0-litre petrol versions. Depending on spec, they're rated for 37-43mpg on the combined WLTP cycle.

VERDICT

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The latest Audi A5 follows the Q6 E-tron as a new generation of Audi, with a new exterior design language and a very different approach to interior layout and technology. As with the electric SUV, we’re not sold on many of those changes, although the A5 seems to carry them off a bit more naturally.

We will need more time in the standard A5 to get a handle on the all-important fuel economy, ride comfort and noise refinement on representative UK-market cars, since those are the things the A5 needs to excel at to make sense against the BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and cheaper, roomier Skoda Superb. As it stands, the A5 is quite rounded and very pleasant to drive but lacks the BMW's driver appeal or the Skoda's do-everything utility and value.

Illya Verpraet

Illya Verpraet Road Tester Autocar
Title: Road Tester

As a road tester, Illya drives everything from superminis to supercars, and writes reviews and comparison tests, while also managing the magazine’s Drives section. Much of his time is spent wrangling the data logger and wielding the tape measure to gather the data for Autocar’s in-depth instrumented road tests.

He loves cars that are fun and usable on the road – whether piston-powered or electric – or just cars that are very fit for purpose. When not in test cars, he drives an R53-generation Mini Cooper S.