Driving dynamics and ride quality
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The new Audi A5 family offers the latest evolution of the brand’s signature driving characteristics. The unmistakable feeling where dynamics and comfort are balanced for effortless and precise driving – this is the essence of the brand’s DNA. This applies to every driving situation, whether relaxed cruising, sporty driving on winding roads, dead straight highways, accelerating on the outskirts of town, overtaking, or challenging roads with changing road conditions. The Audi DNA was, therefore, also at the top of the specifications when developing the Audi A5.
As a result, the Audi A5 offers precise, effortless, and largely neutral handling, which can be discernibly adjusted in the range between comfort and sportiness when choosing the optional suspension with adaptive dampers up to a dynamic, i.e., slightly oversteering configuration. Overall, the new Audi A5 achieves a noticeable increase in comfort thanks to its optimized suspension and steering setup. The larger tires, which roll more smoothly than their predecessors, contribute to this.
Sporty suspension setup
The new Audi A5 rolls off the production line with a dynamically tuned steel suspension as standard. Alternatively, an S sports suspension (standard on the Audi S5) and an S sports suspension with electronic damper control are available. Both optional variants lower the ride height by 20 millimeters. In the case of the optional suspension with adaptive damper control, the even more pronounced spread between comfort and sport mode compared to previously is emphasized.
The Audi A5 achieves the goal of neutral to slightly oversteering handling with several detail improvements – the perfect combination of agility and safety. This includes optimized damper tuning, which ensures rapid build-up of lateral force on the rear axle and the modified roll distribution. Camber has been increased on the front axle, and the subframe bushings have been adjusted on the rear axle to increase yaw damping and minimize the delay in the build-up of lateral force between the front and rear axles. Stiffer control arms on the rear axle of the two sports suspensions further reduce phase distortion and thus increase precision.
The base setup of the optional, adaptive S sports suspension can be adapted to individual requirements via Audi drive select. There is a choice of comfort, dynamic, efficiency, and balanced modes. In the comfort setting, the dampers enable relaxed driving even on poor roads. The dynamic mode is recommended for dynamic cornering. Compared to the predecessor model, Audi drive select changes the characteristics between driving modes much more strongly; hence, the differences between comfort and dynamics are considerably more noticeable.
This can be further emphasized if the driving dynamics control functions are adjusted by selecting "ESC Sport" or "ESC off". This gives the Audi A5 slightly oversteering handling. In the balanced mode of Audi drive select, the desired driving characteristics can be set individually – as a personal optimized setting between sportiness and comfort.
In addition to tires with optimized rolling resistance, the 19 and 20-inch tire range includes performance-oriented tires. The 19-inch performance tires are available to customers as an option. In the S model, the performance tires optimized for lateral dynamics are fitted as standard.
Dynamic driving experience in the S models
The quattro all-wheel drive system has always been the hallmark of dynamic and sporty Audi vehicles. The new Audi S5 models also rely on this technology – combined with the quattro sports differential with torque vectoring on the rear axle, which is now fitted as standard. A new feature of the Audi S5 is the 7-speed S tronic dual-clutch transmission, which allows a particularly sporty shift program and includes a launch control function. Gear changes are barely perceptible in comfort mode, while in sport mode, they offer motorsport-like qualities, i.e., very short shift times. If desired, drivers can activate the manual mode and change gears themselves using the shift paddles on the steering wheel – even at the rev limiter, the transmission does not shift up automatically. Alternatively, the S tronic offers an automatic sport mode, which holds the respective gear for as long as possible in sport mode.
At the heart of the drivetrain in Audi S5 models is the standard quattro all-wheel drive with sports differential on the rear axle. If one wheel loses traction, the differential sends most of the drive torque to the axle with the better grip. During sporty driving, the wheel-selective torque control, a software function of the Electronic Stability Control (ESC), perfects the handling: it brakes the wheels not under load on the inside of the corner minimally before they can lose traction. The difference in motive forces allows the car to turn easily into the bend – the handling becomes even more precise, agile, and stable.
The sport differential, which comes as standard on new Audi S5 models, further optimizes handling. When cornering dynamically, the system eliminates any hint of understeer. When turning in or accelerating in a corner, the torque is mainly distributed to the rear wheel on the outside of the bend. In sporty cornering, the sports differential ensures stable and precise implementation of steering commands and, thus, outstanding agility.
Greater agility thanks to a more direct steering response
The new Audi A5 family comes with enhanced progressive steering as standard. The aim of the steering set-up was to make the car precise and balanced. Audi defines controlled handling as precise and predictable steering behavior in bends. The progressive steering is not too direct but highly precise from the center position. Toward the limit stop, the steering ratio decreases significantly for greater maneuverability.
The steering is no longer connected via rubber elements and is instead rigid and, therefore, stiffer. The torsion bar installed at the steering gear input is significantly stiffer than its predecessor, which reduces the elasticity up to the wheel. This has a highly positive effect on the vehicle’s response near the center position, conveys lightness, and ensures precise handling. Stiffer chassis mounts on the front axle enhance this effect. The steering movements are transmitted more directly to the wheels, the steering response is considerably more perceptible behind the wheel, and the feedback from the road is better. Reduced friction ensures a greater steering feel.
For the first time in the mid-size model series, the Audi A5 offers the option of electrically adjusting the steering column to find the most comfortable steering wheel position.
Brake Torque Vectoring for better steering behavior
The Brake Torque Vectoring function developed by Audi and used for the first time in the Audi Q8 e-tron, brings a noticeable improvement in driving. The system becomes active when a defined grip utilization coefficient is achieved in the longitudinal and lateral directions while cornering. As a result of the targeted braking intervention, the vehicle can turn in even more quickly and nimbly and counteract understeer situations.
Brake Torque Vectoring continuously monitors and reacts. As a result of the targeted braking intervention, the effective range and intensity are greater than the previous system, and the Audi A5 reacts more directly to the steering. Initial steering movements are more precise thanks to the improved turn-in behavior, and the vehicle steers particularly cleanly through corners.
Interplay between front-wheel and all-wheel drive
The new Audi A5 is available in the entry-level engine version as a front-wheel drive model only, while quattro all-wheel drive is available in all other performance levels. The configuration of the quattro ultra all-wheel drive and, thus, the distribution of drive torque is handled very flexibly by the electronic control units. On the one hand, this allows the vehicle to be driven as efficiently as possible, while on the other, the A5 models can utilize all the advantages of all-wheel drive for maximum safety and driving dynamics.
In principle, all-wheel drive is always active upon starting the vehicle. However, based on the driving parameters, the system switches 100 percent of the traction to the front axle when all-wheel drive offers no advantages – for example, when gliding along at a constant speed, driving slowly through the city, or when cornering with little dynamism. When accelerating hard, cornering dynamically, or when the friction coefficient of the road surface varies greatly, the electronically controlled multi-plate clutch of the quattro system closes the connection between the front and rear axles and distributes power flexibly to where it is needed. During heavy acceleration, driving tests on dry roads showed an average traction distribution of 30:70 between the front and rear axles.
The new Audi A5 is the first combustion-engine vehicle to feature traction control based on engine speed. Audi previously only used this control technology in battery-powered electric models. The advantage is faster, more effective, and less noticeable intervention, which results in more propulsion at the point of slip. This applies to both front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive vehicles.
Integrated braking system (iBRS)
The new Audi A5 features the integrated, blending-capable brake control system (iBRS), which was introduced worldwide for the first time with the Audi Q8 e-tron. With this technology, the brake pedal and brake hydraulics are completely decoupled. When the driver presses the brake pedal, the system calculates whether the recuperation power of the electric motor – in the case of the Audi A5, primarily the powertrain generator – is sufficient for the desired braking or if the disc brakes on the front and rear axles also need to be applied. In fractions of a second, the control unit then regulates how much braking force needs to be generated via the friction brake. A piston in the brake hydraulics builds up the required pressure. Therefore, the braking sensation when the driver presses the pedal remains the same; the transition between recuperation and mechanical braking is imperceptibly smooth and homogeneous, and the braking force remains constant. Thanks to the electro-hydraulic actuation, the system builds up pressure for the wheel brakes extremely precisely and around twice as quickly as a conventional brake system. During automated emergency braking, the maximum brake pressure is applied after just 150 milliseconds.
The equipment, data and prices specified in this document refer to the model range offered in Germany. Subject to change without notice; errors and omissions excepted.