German Car Forum

In Germany and many European countries the A5 is currently available as:


1.8 TFSI (FWD)
3.2 FSI (FWD or quattro)
2.7 TDI (FWD)
3.0 TDI (quattro)
S5 (quattro)


In your opinion should Audi offer their A5 Coupe only as quattro or should they keep offering the FWD as well?

That depends of a driver and why is he/she buying the car on the first place.
Some buy it for showing off, others for great interior, third for...

So it's good in my opinion that Audi offers FWD A5 too, because not everyone need quattro, so why would they pay for it?

No, I don't believe so.

Honestly, I wouldn't even consider an A5 unless it was a Quattro, but I can completely understand the need to offer a cheaper drive train.

every damn audi should be quattro ..cause FWD is just blaaahhh

Personally I think Audi should drop the FWD from A5 models. The A5 is quite expensive here as it starts at 46,450 euros (1.8 TFSI) and most of the models cost more than 60,000 euros. For that kind of money I think many people expect the car to have quattro as it is one of the most important things Audi is known for.
I also think this is a price class where vast majority of the ordered cars are loaded with options so there isn't really much need for low equipment level models.
Coupes are usually considered to be sportier than their 4-door siblings so it makes more sense to offer FWD in the A4 than in the A5. Furthermore, A5's main competitors (3er Coupe & CLK) are both RWD so you could say Audi is giving them some advantage by not offering quattro as standard. The 3.2 FSI is at the higher end of A5 range and with FWD it can't compete with a E92 powered by a comparable engine. And like I said, money is hardly big an issue in this price class so why keep offering FWD with this engine?

I recall that the 1.8T in the B6/B7 A4 was propably the most popular engine choice (at least where I live) and most of them were ordered with quattro so there is likely to be a similar demand for a 4WD low-end model (A5 1.8 TFSI quattro) especially because it's not that much more expensive.

Well i reading AutoBild today (a translated version in Greek is now sold here) and according to the testers even a FWD A4 is very very close to 3 series in driving dynamics.
So i see no reason why a FWD 1.8TFSI A5 (or A4) should not exist. Of course as power increases quattro is a must.

I just read the test from Autobild.de. They do say that the A4 1.8 TFSI comes close to the 3er Sedan but they also say this (translated with Babelfish):


Anyway, I think FWD A4 makes perfectly sense but it's the A5 that I'd rather see only with quattro.

naaa, fwd uses less fuel, so if you bought the car for showing off, not ragging it around your not needing to pay 4 more fuel

Quattro only,the FWD A4 handles decently but not as good as say Alfa's FWD cars.

I'll stick to my opinion that FWD AUDI's are worthless. So yes, A5 should be AWD the whole way around.

I can pretty much guarantee they are NOT worthless.

The front-wheel-drive Audi TT Coupé 2.0 TFSI S-Tronic with Magnetic Ride, lapped around the Top Gear test-track faster than the Mazda RX-8.

But is it as fun as the RWD RX-8? In my opinion no. The Acura TSX/Euro Accord beat the crap out of 3er, A4 and Mazda6 cars in SCCA racing series. Does that mean that the FWD accord is as fun as the 3er? No? I didn't think so.

In my eyes, a premium brand like AUDI should have something that cheapo japanese cars don't have. For me, Accord > FWD A4 any day.

I think it depends of the engine.

-I can pretty much guarantee, that an Audi A5 1.8 TFSI with Quattro would be a sluggish car.

FWD A4 > Accord for me at least.

The front-wheel-drive A4 2.0 TFSI is surprisingly good fun to drive, whether the A4 with the same engine feels a bit hampered by the extra weight of the 4WD system.

And it's not like I'm used to drive something very fast (I drive a Passat Variant 3.2 V6 4Motion) but in my opinion, the normal A4 Quattro works better if it's got the 3.2 V6 or the 3.0 V6 TDI.

No. That would remove many potential customers off Audi's list who a) don't want the weight of quattro and b) the redundancy of it especially for city drivers.

So at this point about 2/3 would prefer quattro-only and 1/3 think FWD should be available as well.

Shouldn't be quattro only, but i know i'd never buy a FWD Audi, simple as that.

Amen. Audi and it's FWD makes me lol.
If they can't do RWD, please stick with quattro only. It's heavy and no fun, but better than FWD.

Hey I think there is a misundertanding here.
Nobody says a FWD is a good solution. AWD is much better.
BUT is is expensive and needs gas...

Off course, everybody who really know and appreciate cars, who like to drive them fast, or who know the real difference between FWD, AWD and RWD will order a Quattro. Fot these people, FWD is just not good.

But lots of buyers of A5 buy it because 1) they have the money 2) they find it beautiful, 3) they like the image of Audi.

They just don't know what it means to be a FWD! Sometimes they order a Quattro, because it is more Audi like that, and they think it increases the safety. For these people FWD is not an issue.

So, I think it is not really a problem that the A5 exists as FWD.

However the bigger motors will have traction problems, so they need to be automaticly associated with Quattro.

I think it is the case, a 3.2 FSI is always Quattro I think?

They should at least offer it as option for all the engine models. My dream choice would be the 2.7 diesel but NO, it only comes with FWD...

Still, it is FWD vs. RWD... What is driving dynamics anyway? Sounds like a very subjective issue.