WENR

After owning a 2002, a 2005, and a 2013 S4, I decided on leasing a S5 Sportback this time around. With about 1800 mostly gentle break in miles, those are what I like and dislike so far about the car:

Likes:
1. The design of S5 SB is very attractive. Within weeks of ownership I have encountered 3 strangers approached me and made comments about how great it looks. This has not happened to me once in my S4s;
2. The interior is beautiful and quite practical. The rear seats are roomy enough for two not too tall persons, good trunk space, and when rear seats are folded down there are loads of cargo space;
3. Front seats are so much more comfortable than previous S4’s, not withstanding the massage function. I complained about the seats of previous S4 hurting my back on this forum, for sure the S5 SB seats are in a different league. I feel very comfortable after an one hour drive;
4. The sport adaptive damping suspension provides outstanding ride comfort and precise handling. It is tuned more toward GT than sport, and that is fine with me as the S5 is my DD;
5. I have the dynamic steering option, and I usually set the steering at dynamic mode. The steering feel and stability at highway speed have improved from my 2013 S4’s, and I really like the quick ratio;
6. When turbo kicked in the S5 feels quite a bit faster than the old super-charged S4.
7. The turbo engine idles smoother than the last generation super-charged engine. The car in general does feel like a class above the old S4 in refinement.
8. Lot’s of wonderful updated tech features;
9. B&O sounds better than the old B&O in the S4.

Dislikes:
1. the car feels sluggish from standing start in comfort mode, the engine/exhaust makes noise without going very fast, kind of feel like there is a small 4 cylinder engine in it. I read that it is mostly because Audi designed it so that the car starts in second gear when in comfort mode. However, with more break in miles, the car drives more lively now, and it seems the engine/exhaust sound is getting nicer too. Anyway, kind of miss the lively linear response of the super-charge engine.
2. I also missed the dual clutch transmission. The new 8 speed automatic is supposed to be smoother and about just as fast, but I found it to be less smooth in changing gear, less decisive, and feels slower in gear change.
3. Ventilation system seems not able to deliver cool air without air condition on in mild weather;
4. Audi Advance Keyless entry system could not decide lock or unlock a lot of times and kept changing when I touch the door handle, not as straight forward unlock as the old system when I approached car with key in my pocket;
5. My car too has the camera view would not stay issue.
6. The gas mileage seems to be slightly worse than the S4 for in town driving, on freeway it is better. The overall mileage seems to be slightly worse for my driving. At lease the fuel economy did not seems to improve as suggested by the EPA numbers.
7. Bad rattling noise inside the cabinet since the first day. I traced it down to seatbelt bucket/catch rubbing against seats with the help from a dealer tech. And with some padding and positioning of the belt mechanism I was able to eliminate the rattle. But for some owners do not spend time to investigate it would be very annoying.

Before purchase, I considered getting a S7 too as my local dealer had great incentive on the remaining stock with not much more payment per month than the S5. The S7 drives nice, the V8 sounds much better and drives better too than the V6, the S7 in general is even more refined than the S5, but I do feel the extra size when driving it, it is not as agile to maneuver, and it only seats 4 with not much more rear seat room. All the stock S7s are not as well equipped as I would like, they do not have B&O, and the Bose in the car sounded worse than the B&O in the S5. Also, none of the S7s have the sport package option that includes sport differential, red brake calipers, sport exhaust etc.. A S7 with all the options I would like to get would cost over $95000 sticker and would be more than $25000 more than a well equipped S5 SB, and that would sure be too expensive for me. The S7 is also looking a bit too big for a sport coupe and a bit dated for me, and it will be replaced by a brand new version soon, so although it was tempting, I choose the S5 SB. it has a perfect blend of size, style, performance, comfort, and practicality to me.

Now I am hoping Audi will roll out a RS5 Sportback.

Wiz33

Comfort mode starts the car in 2nd gear. Thanks for the review, Picking mine up on Friday.

Neon01

Agree with pretty much everything you said except the B&O statement. I also switched from a 2013 S4, and found the B&O system in that car to be in a whole different league for sound quality and full range frequency response, unfortunately.

Like you, I was very surprised at how sluggish the ZF 8 speed in the S5 is. I've owned cars with ZF autos before (2009 335i) that were much smoother and shifted much faster than this one. I can't believe it, but even in full manual mode the shifts in this car make it very obvious you're dealing with a torque converter in there. The gearbox in the S4 was about as perfect as I've ever encountered, bar none. BMWs DCT is trash compared to the 7 speed DSG - not that it's a bad tranny at all, but the Audi DSG is just truly without peer. Able to rip through gears in split seconds, and yet was completely indistiguishable from a normal automatic while I'm rolling toward the gate on base every morning (the true test of a "semi-manual").

Javaknight

Totally agree! drives me crazy at times

Wiz33

My BMW does that too but only from time to time. It's seems the more keys I have in the same pocket, the more often it happens so maybe all the metal is affecting the transmission ( I sometimes carry up to 3 sets of car keys plus house and office keys).

ChewingIce

Not sure if you have tried this, but I found this fix seem to solve the issue - when locking the car, only press your hand (thumb) outside the handle where the little square dent is, Do Not wrap your finger around the handle; Similar when unlocking the car, only put your hand (finger) behind the handle and ensure nothing in front of the square dent. It seems to me that outside handle (square dent) is for locking and inside handle for unlocking, by wrapping your hand on both inside and outside of the handle probably can confuse the trigger of entry system. hope it helps.

Glisse

You are correct, that is exactly how the system works.

N8!

That is what I do, no issues.

WENR

Good to hear that you had mostly similar experience. Coming from driving a 2103 S4, it is hard to accept a downgrade from the DSG, isn't it? I think VW/Porsche/Audi makes the best dual clutch transmissions, too bad Audi decided not use it on the S4, S5, or even the new RS5 model. I know Audi claimed the reason was the DSG could not handle the torque of the new turbo engine, but I guess it is more a cost saving measure, as Porsche uses PDK on most of its models, Audi could certainly have developed a new DSG for the job if cost was not a concern.

How many miles do you have on your S5? I certainly noticed my S5 SB improved a lot with break in, the sluggishness from standing start does not bother me as much now. On the other hand, maybe it is because I am getting used to the response of turbo engine, or that I am no longer comparing it to my old S4 from short term memory. Also, I think the B&O sound also improved quite a bit with time.

Neon01

Thanks, that certainly gives me some hope. I've got 320 miles on mine right now.