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| Road Test Audi A5 Cabriolet 2.0 TFSI S line |
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Quiet Quality
Eventually Audi returned to the idea of designing and building new convertibles, and there have been alfresco versions of both the most recent and the current A4. A close relative to the latter model is the A5 Cabriolet, which as Mike Grundon said in his launch report is quite an understated-looking device; if buying a car is as much of a personal statement as other people say it is, and more of one than I can be bothered thinking about, then presumably an A5 Cabriolet owner is not saying, "look at me!" but rather "here I am - make of that what you will." This is without question a quality product, though inevitably the lack of a roof (and corresponding reduction in structural strength) means there is a small but noticeable amount of scuttle shake. That was amplified in the case of the test car by the optional 35-section tyres - a popular choice, no doubt, but also a wrong one. They transfer far too much information about the road surface into the cabin and do their best to spoil the ride quality. But they can't quite do that, because the suspension set-up is magnificent. The ride is smooth, but this has been achieved without making the car so soft that the body wallows and heaves. I haven't tried an A5 Cabriolet with standard tyres yet, but if this is how good it is on those silly low-profile things I imagine that yet greater pleasures await if I get the chance.
The test car was fitted with the Volkswagen Group's excellent 208bhp TFSI two-litre turbo petrol engine, driving the front wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox. The gearchange was very notchy - certainly the worst I've experienced in an Audi for a long time - but the car had less than 1500 miles on the clock when I drove it so perhaps it will improve with age. Either that or this was a bad example. 208bhp is not a vast amount of power to put through the front wheels, and in fact it's the least available in the range, but it's about as much as the A5 Cabriolet can take. In most situations the car feels calm and precise, but you do have to exert your authority over it when you're driving hard as torque steer starts to raise its ugly head. Audi's quattro four-wheel drive is available with this engine, and I would be inclined to give it close consideration, and certainly choose it for any A5 Cabriolet with more power than this. Actually, you have to rev the engine hard to get anything like the full performance out of it, but it's very docile at lower speeds and has enough mid-range squirt to get an overtaking manoeuvre over and done with quickly and safely.
The 2.0 TFSI unit's noise is well suppressed, and in fact sound levels are generally low even with the roof down, especially if you use the very effective wind deflector. The only problem with this is that it means you can't have anyone sitting in the back, though that probably isn't a big issue. As the poet Clarkson once justly remarked, anyone in the rear seat of an open-top car runs the risk of looking like Hitler, and since there is room for only three of my fingers behind the driver's seat it's difficult to imagine who could fit in there even if you removed the wind deflector. As I may have mentioned once or twice in the past, I'm not a great fan of convertibles, but I did keep the A5's roof down for a run along the M40 and - though it chokes me to admit it - I thought it was pretty good fun. It helped that this was the point where I decided to test out the Bang & Olufsen sound system (a £515 option), and it proved to be superb, conveying both the Aaron Copland Clarinet Concerto and Lily Allen's latest opus in outstanding quality despite the motorway-speed rush of wind around the car. Putting the roof up again led to an immediate demonstration of what a high-quality piece of kit it is. You wouldn't quite mistake a closed A5 Cabriolet for a proper saloon car, but it comes close to giving that impression. The biggest problem with the roof is that it blocks rear three-quarter visibility to an enormous extent, though in fairness that's almost unavoidable in a convertible.
My only other complaint - and it applies to all current A4s and A5s - is that the footrest is too far away. I still have no idea why Audi thinks this is a good idea. Like other models in the Audi range, the A5 Cabriolet is available in standard, SE and (as tested here) S line trim levels. The standard version of the 2.0 TFSI is the cheapest model, currently with a list price of just under £30,000 but unlikely to remain that way for much longer. Price: £34,100
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