Audi was 100 years young last week, and it marked the momentous occasion with the world debut of the new A5 Sportback, a striking new five-door interpretation of the A5 formula that is a fitting testament to a century of boundary-breaking innovation in the fields of car design and engineering. The new model range will reach Ireland before the year end.
The new A5 Sportback subtly blends its additional doors into the sweeping curves that are instantly recognisable hallmarks of the A5 Coupe, and fully justifies their presence through an extended chassis that Audi claims, enables it to run the spacious A4 Saloon close on rear head and leg room.
Audi says that the benefits of the increase in wheelbase length over the Coupe are also evident in the load bay, which with a 480 litre capacity when the rear seats are in place comes close to matching the A4 Avant. When luggage takes priority and the rear seat backs are folded down, a total of 980 litres can be freed up.
At launch here, we could see four advanced direct injection engines to power the A5 Sportback – the 2.0-litre TFSI with 211 bhp and the 3.2-litre V6 FSI with 265 bhp from the petrol family, and from the diesel range the 2.0-litre TDI with 170 bhp and 3.0-litre V6 TDI with 240 bhp.
Initially, expect to see the 2.0 TFSI, 3.2 FSI and 3.0 TDI engines channel their power via the latest generation, rapid-shifting S tronic twin-clutch transmission to the quattro all-wheel-drive system. A six-speed manual gearbox will be reserved for the front-wheel-driven 2.0 TDI to enable the most economy-focused model in the first launch phase to benefit from the latest start-stop and energy recuperation technology.
Further engine variants and additional quattro models will be phased in afterwards, and the automatic transmission options will also become more widely available.
Happy birthday Audi!
