By Sala masindane (@salaontop)

Christmas comes once in a year and this year it came early for me. I had the privilege of reviewing the second generation Audi A5 Coupé on my birthday week. At first blush, the Audi A5 would typically be branded as a blesser car (South African lingo for people who have made it in life and are not afraid to use their financial muscle to show it). The thought would not be entirely unjustified. Being a good premium product, the Audi A5 instantly makes you feel as if your station in life has improved. Typically I am not the fancy wear type but with the machine that was in front of me, I felt the need to suit up.

On review, I had the moonlight blue A5 140kW 2.0 TFSI Sport S tronic Coupé. From the exterior, the A5 still has the resemblance of the first generation that was released in 2008. The major exterior difference is more curves on the body styling of the car. This is more evolutionary rather than revolutionary in terms of design. With that said, the interior is revolutionary considering that is where you’ll spend most of your time. Audi also maintains that the new A5 is also 60 km lighter than its predecessor, for all those days that you feel the need to exercise by pushing the car just a little bit.

The new A5 is offered in three models, the 2 door coupe, the 2 door cabriolet (soft top) and the 5 door Sportsback. My test A5 had a 2.0 litre turbo petrol engine which produces 140 kW of power and 320Nm of torque with a claimed fuel consumption of 6.5 l/100km. This is purely based on your driving; I managed an average of 7.5 l/100km due the fact that I was driving on the highway regularly and the car was pushed a bit. Next up in the petrol range you will find a much quicker 2.0 litre turbo FSI 185 kW and 370Nm S tronic Sport. In between there are the two 2 litre petrol engines, there is TDI engine which produces 140 kW of power and a thunderous 400 Nm of torque. For those who enjoy the vrrrphaa life, there’s the S5. The S5 leaps from 0 to 10 km/h in 4.7 seconds thanks to its 3.0-litre TFSI engine with 360kW and 500 Nm.

The interior of the A5 is on steroids, the best in its class. It comes with the Audi Virtual Cockpit (with MMI navigation plus with MMI touch-optional), which can be viewed in different modes, either on the 7-inch screen or the 12.3-inch TFT display in the instrument cluster (easy to use without disturbing the driving experience). Apple Car play and Android Auto are also optional extras. The door bins are huge; you can fit your wallet, water bottle and still have space to store your 3 phones (if you are a blesser).

If practicality is in question, the Sportsback is the ideal choice as there is more rear legroom compared to the Coupé and the Cabriolet. That said, the rear legroom in the Coupé is not bad and adults can sit comfortably in there, especially for short drives. The 2 door does add a sporty and more drivers’ car feel to it. The new A5 comes with different “drive select modes” which includes efficiency-petrol saving, comfort-normal daily driving, auto, dynamic-sports mode and individual (which is a combination of all the modes as selected by the driver). This is no gimmick. There is a remarkable difference in each of the driving modes thanks to a new suspension.

Safety features include exit warning, park assist, collision avoidance assist, turn assist and traffic sign recognition, with driver assist features including active lane assist. The new A5 is a gentleman with some serious street cred.

The Audi A5 is priced is as follows:

– Coupé 2.0 T FSI 140kW S Tronic:                                       R589,000
– Coupé 2.0T FSI S Tronic Sport:                                           R623,000
– Coupé 2.0 TDI 140 kw S Tronic:                                          R619,000
– Coupé 2.0 TDI 140 kW S Tronic Sport:                               R653,000
– Coupé 2.0 TDI 140 kW quattro S Tronic:                             R652,000
– Coupé Cabriolet 2.0 TDI 140 kW qauttro S Tronic Sport:   R686,000
– Cabriolet 2.0T FSI 140 kW S tronic Sport:                           R723,000
– Coupé 2.0T FSI 185 kW quattro S Tronic:                           R723,500
– Coupé 2.0T FSI 185 kW quattro S Tronic:                           R757,500
– Cabriolet 2.0T FSI quattro S tronic:                                      R 823,500
– Cabriolet Cabriolet 2.0T FSI quattro S tronic Sport:             R 857,500
– Coupé 3.0 T FSI 260 kW quattro S tronic :                          R928,000
– Cabriolet 3.0T FSI 260 kW quattro tiptronic:                      R1,028,000

The Coupé and the Sportsback share the same prices.
The prices include a standard with the 5 year/100 000km Audi Freeway Plan.