A5/S5/RS5 4 Season Test: 2009 Audi S5 Coupe - Report 1

[Bartek S.]

When Walter da Silva introduced the Audi S5 at the 2007 Geneva Auto Show, the illustrious Audi design chief - now head of design for the entire Volkswagen Group, literally wept. “It is the most beautiful car I have ever created,” said the Italian. When you consider the man’s resume, with cars like the Alfa Romeo 156, 157 and the Lamborghini Miura concept, you begin to realize just how special the A5/S5 coupes are for Audi and how significant they are within the automotive market place. That they were the first car from Ingolstadt to utilize Audi’s new modular longitudinal architecture (MLP), with its configuration redesigned for better weight distribution, lower weight and improved dynamics, it’s also easy to see that Audi is back in the B-segment coupe business with authority. When trying to determine a new Audi to add to our fleet, the S5 seemed like a natural.

Our focus on the S5 was not a novel one. The car hit the US market around December 2007 and has been in short supply ever since. High demand for the car worldwide has left American allocations limited… nowhere near enough to appease the USA’s own appetite for the new GT.

No doubt the S5 is special and we decided to make it even more so by investigating what Audi Exclusive had to offer for our America-bound S5. A recent visit to the Audi Exclusive showroom managed by quattro GmbH at the company’s Neckarsulm facility this year left us plenty impressed on the division’s capabilities. Finding out what was available for our market became our mission and the building of a special S5 would be our goal.

Inquiring about the process, we came into contact with Erin Goward – the American manager of Audi Exclusive whose office is at Audi of America headquarters in Herndon, Virginia. Erin walked us through the Audi Exclusive program in the USA.

For most vehicles, tailoring is focused on the most obvious and striking of changes – custom paint. Audi Exclusive is willing to paint your new Audi literally any color you want with just two limitations. First, Audi AG utilizes water-based paint systems nowadays, so any paint code has to be compatible with that process. Second, Audi has decided not to paint any cars in codes utilized by its wholly owned Italian subsidiary Lamborghini. Other than that, the sky is the limit. For this service, Audi charges a $2,500 premium.

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[Bartek S.]

Re: 4 Season Test: 2009 Audi S5 Coupe - Report 2

Report 2
0-2189 Miles

This is not the first time we’ve driven an Audi S5. We spent a number of hours at the wheel of an early-build example in Italy and a week at the wheel of a U.S. specimen last year to better get a feel for Audi’s sultry two-door. However, spending weeks on end with a car gives you a whole new perspective, as many intimate details only reveal themselves when a car is used daily.

From the moment our S5 arrived, we’ve constantly been reminded what a great car it is. Sure, we already loved the S5 - that it was tailor-painted to our preference by Audi Exclusive only augmented that - but we were honestly surprised at how much of a reaction it receives out and about.

On the road it gets nods of approval from more than just overly exuberant Audi owners; comments at stoplights or in parking lots happen too often to count. The S5 has been available in the U.S. for nearly a year now, but its charismatic design hasn’t yet become passé in the eyes of the automotive aware. That supply of S5s to American dealers has been considerably inadequate supports our theory of this car's popularity.

Day-to-day driving in the S5 has also given us a newfound level of respect for the refinement of the car’s B8 MLB chassis. Noise levels at speed are low and there’s no hint of vibration or rattles, but one confounding local piece of pavement speaks the most about the abuse the car can take. We’ve hit this particular recessed manhole cover more times than we care to admit and we’re not the only ones. Either a municipal worker with a sense of humor or a vigilante-***-vandal painted the word ‘OUCH’ with an arrow on the far side of the cover so it’s clearly seen as you approach. We haven’t hit it by accident since, but that avenue’s imperfection has become a staple in testing a car’s refinement.

Full article:fourtitude