2025 Audi S5 Keeps the Style, Loses the Trunk
The distinction between the Audi S4 sedan and the coupe-sedan S5 Sportback has always been subtle, both cars offering four doors and turbo V6 power. Now Audi is simplifying matters further by merging the two model lines, with the new S5 reviewed here replacing both cars in the U.S. Further down the tree the same unification is being applied to the A4 sedan and A5 Sportback lines, but it is the range-topping S5 that brings us here.
The new S5 is handsome, but also obvious—like the output of an AI commanded to combine the styling of both its predecessors. Despite what still looks like a three-box form, the new S5 possess an elongated tailgate, like the outgoing S5 Sportback, one that means it is technically a hatchback rather than a sedan. In Europe, Audi will continue to offer a handsome Avant station wagon, but sadly this won't be coming to the States.
Beneath the S5's familiar surface sits a new architecture, the S5 and A5 the first to use Audi's fresh, self-explanatory Premium Platform Combustion. The result is a car that has grown 2.6 inches longer and 0.5 inch wider than the outgoing S4 and is therefore effectively half a segment bigger than its predecessor. The new S5 gets a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and all-wheel drive as standard, this replacing the old S4/S5's eight-speed torque-converter auto, as well as a modestly reworked version of the old car's turbocharged 3.0-liter V6.
In reality, there are two slightly different V6s. In Europe, and some other parts of the world, the S5 gets a 48-volt hybrid system which can add assistance through a starter-generator integrated with the gearbox—up to 24 hp—with a 1.7-kWh battery allowing for short-distance electric propulsion. But U.S. cars won't have this, the official line being that American buyers don't like the aggressive start/stop characteristics that come with this level of hybridization (or, presumably, the increased gas mileage.) But as the motor-generator only works at lower engine speeds, we aren't being short-changed in terms of overall horsepower, both versions of the V6 making identical peaks of 362 hp. Foregoing the electrical assistance also saves 115 pounds of weight by Audi's numbers.
The new S5's interior is where it feels more obviously different. The stretched dimensions give appreciably more room than there was in the tight-fitting S4, although not enough to turn the S5 into a versatile family hauler. A six-footer sitting behind a six-footer is still going to feel short of knee room in the back. The 15.7-cubic-foot luggage compartment is easily accessed thanks to the long tailgate—much easier to get to than through the old S4's narrow trunk aperture.
But although there are lots of plush premium materials in the cabin, there are some surprisingly obvious cheap-feeling ones too—hard, scratchy plastics in areas where it is easy for wandering fingers to find them. These include the lower base of the center console and the unlined door pockets. It could well be that Audi doesn't think anybody will look down from the vast screens, with a 11.9-inch digital gauge cluster and a huge 14.5-inch central touchscreen standard, with the option of a 10.9-inch passenger-side display giving pretty much wall-to-wall screen across the width of the cabin.
As with the similar third displays on the Porsche Taycan and Panamera, the passenger screen has a privacy filter to prevent the driver from seeing it, meaning front-right-seat occupants can legally watch streaming video as the car moves; the driver will still be distracted by having to listen to the soundtrack. There is also the option of an extra-large head-up display to complete the digital overload.
Audi's new MMI interface, controlled through the center screen, looks good and works well. But the loss of almost all conventional switchgear feels like a backward step on usability. Temperature is now regulated by a touch-sensitive strip at the base of the screen, which is much more fiddly than the rotary heating controls of the outgoing S4 and S5. There is even an obvious place to put the missing physical switches, with a sizable blank panel beneath the display that accommodates nothing but two USB-C ports and a 12-volt socket. The lessons that Volkswagen is painfully learning about buyers' dislike of awkward touchscreen controls doesn't seem to have filtered sideways across the group.
The S5's driving dynamics are reassuringly familiar. Audi's S-branded models have always been good at delivering effortless speed, and the S5 follows in that tradition. The Euro-spec 48-volt assisted V6 I drove in Spain had plentiful low-down torque and a marked absence of turbo lag, even when boosted at low engine speeds. We will have to wait to assess the responses of the nonhybrid version once it gets stateside. But the top-end punch and muted-but-muscular soundtrack seem certain to make the transition. The S5 is happy to run to its 6500-rpm redline, and the new seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox shifts with slick precision in the Comfort dynamic mode and with a torque bump on upshifts in Sport.
Traction is another highlight. Changing weather meant I got to drive the S5 in both dry and wet conditions, and there was little difference in apparent adhesion levels between them. The Audi's all-wheel-drive system now uses a central clutchpack to send drive forward rather than a Torsen differential—the Quattro branding remains—along with a torque-biasing active diff at the rear. But the combined magic of these systems is effectively invisible, the S5 driver just noticing huge grip but also a willingness to change direction, which many of its predecessors lacked. The torque biasing is subtle, without the artificial-feeling aggressive turn-in of the smaller S3 sedan and its twin-clutch rear differential.
The S5's brake pedal—now electrically boosted—feels better weighted and more natural than the overeager one in the last S4 did. Ride quality was good, my test car riding on what in Europe are optional adaptive dampers.
What the S5 still lacks is much of a sense of dynamic engagement. Grip is so high that there is little ability to play with the chassis at road speeds; carrying too much speed into a corner resulted in gentle understeer, with little throttle adjustability beyond that. The steering is direct and gave a good sense of connection to the front end; actual feedback about slip angles or surface conditions was distantly muted. These, too, are familiar traits from earlier Audi S models.
The new S5 is not a radical departure for Audi, but that is a good thing. The new car keeps the qualities that made its predecessors feel special—handsome styling, secure handling, and plentiful performance. It feels like a car that would be very easy to live with and that could deliver pretty much everything any driver could require, short of pulse-spiking excitement.
We will need to wait for U.S. pricing and finalized spec, although Audi says to expect generous standard equipment and that the new S5's price will be closer to the outgoing S4 than the S5 Sportback, which would mean the high-50K range rather than low 60s. With sales of sport sedans sliding across the board, here's hoping the new S5's sleek, stylish form can raise some more interest.
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