Nikon1

No need to defend — sounds like you did your “pre-buying due diligence” and determined what fit your circumstances. Drive it with Audi Pride!

— John

dafantom

The S Line Sport Package was most definitely available on the 2018 A5

Me thinks it may not be offered on 2019 A5's.

I have it, and utilize it every day.

JD15

S Sport Package and S-Line Sport Package are completely different. The S Sport Package includes Sport Differential and adaptive sport suspension, neither of which are available for the A5 in the US.

The G Man

the bmw 3 series is actually in the same class as the a4/5. A3 is a compact entry level sedan, the a4 offer more luxury than the a3. Middle of the road luxury is a6/s6 and high end luxury is the a8/s8.
I consider the a5 when i was shopping for my car, the a5 is plenty fast but the s5 sound so much better plus the s5 is beyond fast. i think the s5 is faster than my old mercedes cls550 with the 4.2 L v8 twin turbo. A 3.0L v6 turbo out powering a 4.2L v8 twin turbo, who would have thought.

dafantom

Thanks for the clarification.

Teemos

Or you can just get a A5 add a stage 1 tune and bang yo got S5 performance and saved 10k

mhoran89

Thanks for reviving a dead thread. I had an A5 with stage 2 tune and lots of bolt-ons, suspension work, etc. and it still is not the same as a stock S5...

You cannot get the same seats, exhaust note, nor suspension. Not to mention things like dynamic steering and sport rear diff. There are reasons why the S5 is clearly different than an A5. I came from a B8.5 A5 to a B9 S5 and I understand the platform is different but they do have totally different feels. Same thing between a Q7 and a SQ7. They are literally the same car except drive train and suspension, but they are totally different feeling cars... each to their own though.

Teemos

Guess so but my point is for the money you can spend that extra 10k on parts that will blow a S5 out the water. S5 are not really that much faster than a A5 to being with. A B9 A5 with Sport Suspension is the same as a Stock non adaptive S5 I'm told. So all that feel stuff is in your head. IMO S5 seats are terrible I prefer A5 Sport Seats. Spend 2-3k on a good KW suspension and it will also greatly outperform a stock S5 and you still in the green. I have Dynamic steering in my A5, Sport diff is not avail though but nothing that can't be fixed with a thicker rear sway bar to help with understeer.

SolventSolution

VAG or any auto maker for that matter did not become billion dollar companies by being dumb. They slot these models in specific price points with targeted specs. Each one A-->S-->RS are very close to each other but very different at the same time. They want that next level to be just within reach. Same goes with trim levels and "packages". If you really want the V6T then it's worth it. If you really want the fine Napa Leather...yea it's quite a bit more expensive than standard leather but if you want it it's worth it.

That's what makes the configurator tool so fun. You get to dream a bit and fully spec out an R8 then see the bottom line. You start messing around and find the right model, trim, that works within the need vs. want range.

Shoot, also applies to VW vs Audi. Pretty much the same cars under the hood but are the finer details of the Audi worth to the consumer?

This is how they can get people who are dead set on a price point of say $60K and at the end of the day they end up spending 63, 65, $70K to get what they really want.

Everyone needs to find their own level. They are all great cars.

mhoran89

The thing about that though is one would need to completely void the warranty on many different parts to get it to perform the same. I am all for fun, fast, project cars... but they are project cars for a reason. I am not saying throwing a bunch of parts on a car makes it a project car... but it changes things for sure. I think a lot of these cars live in the sweet spot either stock or with just some stage 1 software. When you get into modifying tons of components you can ruin the compliance of a car and while it might be fun to drive super aggressively, it wouldn't be any fun to take on a long trip. My stage 2 bunch of bolt-ons A5 2.0T was only a little more than a 1/4 second slower in the 1/4 mile than my stock 3.0T S5. Where the A5 was tons of fun and kind of obnoxious, it also suffered from some every day drive-ability. It rode harsh, was pretty low on clearance, droned in some gears under medium load (regardless of an expensive "no-drone" AWE tuning exhaust), would not pass inspection in MA due to a thinned out catalytic converter, and also required me refilling gas cans with dozens of gallons of E85 fuel every couple of weeks to get the most performance out of it.

While it was awesome, loud, fast, handled well.... it was kind of a pain. My S5 is set and forget and has a great CPO warranty... and if I choose to void it with anything it would be some stage 1 software and that's it. Things like the higher end suspension and more powerful braking system are a plus for me, because I don't want or need to touch them down the road... A 2.0T A5 is going to realistically need software and an intercooler to keep up with S5. If you really want to leave one in your mirrors you would need more software and altered emissions components most likely coupled with an exhaust. An intake would help too.

Have you taken your stage 1 2.0T A5 to run a 1/4 mile? I ran a 13.144 @ 104.74 in a 2018 S5 convertible bone stock. I find that pretty impressive and would be hard pressed to see a heavily modified A5 convertible run something similar. Remember the cabriolet models are carrying a bunch of extra weight...

Agreed.