Three in one Sportback ‘Drop-dead gorgeous’

AUDI A5 Sportback
Engine: 2.0 litre diesel
Power: 170bhp
0-60: 8.7secs
Top Speed: 141mph
Economy: 54.3mpg
CO2: 137g/km
Price: £25,440

The best of three worlds. That’s what Audi are offering with their sleek new A5 Sportback.

On sale on October 3, its a saloon, hatchback and coupe all rolled into one.

Its got the comfort of a spacious saloon; practicality of a hatch, and drop dead gorgeous looks of a coupe.

Yet its got five doors and a big boot.

With 480/980 litres of luggage space, that’s almost as much as an A4 Avant (estate). Despite its cool sweptback roofline, two passengers can sit in the back in comfort without compromising leg or head room.

Its long, flowing tapered lines look fantastic. And with groundbreaking driving dynamics and outstanding roadholding its a perfect example of vorsprung durch technick (progress through technology).

Joining the A5 Coupe and Cabriolet, its arrival next month brings the total number of Audi models now available in Britain to 33 – more than double the number they had 10 years ago.

It’s this wide choice as well as the quality of its products over the past decade, that has taken Audi from a BMW/Mercedes challenger to earn it an established place in the top echelons.

With new models coming thick and fast, Audi has the freshest and most varied range of the prestigious Germand big three.

And consumers like variety. It’s not enough nowadays just to offer us a saloon or a hatchback. By providing a totally new car in a new sector with no direct competitors, it tempts new customers to switch to Audi, perhaps for the first time, and also encorages existing Audi owners to stay with the brand because it is differnet to everything else in the showroom.

There’s a choice of four engines in the first phase of cars arriving in the showrooms in October. They are two FSI petrol (2-litre 211PS and 3.2 litre 265PS) and two diesels, a 2.0 170PS and a 3.0 240PS.

These will be followed in November by a two litre 180PS petrol and 2.7 litre 190PS Diesel.

Transmissions, depending on the engine, are six speed manual. Top models have quattro all wheel drive and multitronic or seven speed S-tronic transmissions.

There are three trim levels – standard, SE and S Line – and prices range from £23,710 for the 2.0TFSI (180ps) six speed manial to £36,220 for the 3.0 TDI (240PS) quattro S line.

The two litre diesel featured here is likely to be the best seller at £25,440 with standard trim.

With its sweptback roofline its got a very low drag (0.29CD) helping fuel economy. A start stop system saves fuel in city traffic.

The two litre diesel gives 54.3mpg and 137g/km CO2 emissions.

Stop-start is available on both diesel and petrol two-litre manual models.

All models are equiped with a recuperation system that recovers energy during breaking and deceleration and sorest it temporarily in the battery.

Among the technological highlights are high-intensity LED adaptive swivelling headlamps. An option on top models is “drive select” which allows the driver to chose differnt throttle and steering response and suspension settings in any combination.

And a newly developed optional “Sport Differential” varies the power between the rear wheels for improved dynamics and safety.

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