Just Bought a '18 Sportback and, Well...
 

I recently purchased a '18 S5 Sportback Prestige, fully loaded. What I like are the new technology features inside, it's quite comfortable, I appreciate the safety features, it's spacious, looks, and the handling is quite nice. What I don't like is the performance, or the lack of it. I come from a long line of not only performance cars, but ultra high performance. I admit I'm starting to feel some buyer's remorse. I really want much better acceleration. The low end acceleration is boggy. I would like to do something to enhance the vehicle's performance but don't want to play that cat and mouse game by hiding a tune from Audi. Did that with a Stage 2 S4 I owned, and while I really, really liked the increased performance the tune gave me, it was a hassle taking the car to the tuner to flash to stock, go in for service at Audi, then back to the tuner to flash back to my tune. Plus I had to pay the tuner. Another alternative is to trade the S5 back in and get a TT RS. However I would probably take a financial hit in the thousands, and the TT RS would end up costing me more than the S5. And not only would I give up space in the vehicle, but the TT RS may not have all the option packages the S5 has. Any suggestions or am I just going to have to live with my purchase for another three years, before it is worth it to sell and move on to something else?

I take it you've driven it in Sport mode and still aren't satisfied...?

Sport/Dynamic mode and still not impressed. Acceleration on the low end is most noticeable. I'm sure a good tune, and possibly a piggyback, would address that, but then you have to play that cat and mouse game with Audi.

I feel your pain, I test drove an S5 last weekend and was not impressed with how it felt. I actually had more fun test driving the new Q5.

What cat and mouse game? I've owned multiple Audi's, before I worked for them. All of them tuned going back to my original S4. I've never been hassled for any warranty work

Maybe consider the RS5 when it becomes available, I'm getting antsy waiting for mine!

did you not test drive the vehicle?

I think you really need to adjust your expectations. The s5 is not a sports car but rather a GT tourer. Look at the positives, such as the hatch and all it can carry, and I'm sure you'll learn to like the s5 as a great daily driver.

I feel you on the throttle lag. Does anyone know if the DTUK Pedal Box helps with reducing some of the laggy response?

This car has a very powerful engine and an excellent transmission, so what did Audi mess up on this? Is it all in the programming? Why would they program it this way? Maybe fuel economy would have been even worse with more aggressive programming.