2024 Audi A5 Coupe

There used to be a kind of car called the personal luxury coupe. These were mid-sized two doors with four usable seats and a decent-sized trunk, so they were both stylish and reasonably practical.

Every American car brand offered one and models such as the Olds Cutlass and Pontiac Grand Prix (RIP, both of them and the brands, too) the Ford Thunderbird and – of course the Chrysler Cordoba – were once among the best-selling vehicles on the market.

Now only a few European brands such as Audi still offer something like them, as in the form of the A5 coupe.

What It Is

The A5 coupe is the two-door, four seat version of the A5 five-door hatchback that Audi calls the Sportback.

It is also available as a convertible.

Prices start at $47,700 for the Premium S Line coupe, which comes standard with three zone climate control, a panorama sunroof, leather seats, digital display instrument cluster and a 10.1 inch secondary LCD touchscreen.

The same thing in a convertible stickers for $54,900.

A top-of-the-line Prestige comes with a larger (12.3 inch digital display main gauge cluster, a Bang & Olufsen premium audio system, Matrix LED lights, a Heads-Up Display (HUD) and a surround-view exterior camera system. The coupe version lists for $55,950. The convertible for $64,000.

All trims come standard with Audi’s Quattro all-wheel-drive system and a turbocharged, 2.0 liter four cylinder engine, a 48 volt electric system (used to cycle off the engine as often as possible) a seven speed automatic and all-wheel-drive.

What’s New for 2024

All A5s now come standard with a heated steering wheel as well as automated self-parking and adaptive cruise control.

What’s Good

A two door with four usable seats.

Costs thousands less than a comparably equipped BMW 4 Series coupe ($51,900 to start when equipped with AWD).

Almost 500 miles of highway-driving range.

What’s Not So Good

Small (10.9 cubic feet) trunk.

Nothing more than a 2.0 liter four.

You have to move up to the Premium Plus trim ($51,800) to get the upgraded Bang & Olufsen audio system as well as a wireless phone charger.

Under The Hood

Every A5 comes standard with what seems to be becoming standard in everything: A 2.0 liter, turbocharged four cylinder engine. The reason why this type if engine is becoming standard in seemingly everything is because it’s just the right size and type of engine to enable a car company to comply with the various regulations pertaining to how much gas an engine is allowed to burn before its manufacturer faces fines for burning more gas than government regulators say is allowable – and also how much gas (C02) the government says it can “emit.”

It is also large enough to produce sufficient power – when turbocharged – to keep customers interested in buying the vehicle. Eventually, as these regs become even more difficult to comply with than they already are, even 2.0 liters will be too large for mass production cars – and that will probably be the event horizon for every vehicle that isn’t at least a partially electric vehicle (i.e., a hybrid).

Then the engine can be made even smaller until – inevitably – it disappears altogether.

Technically, the A5 already is a hybrid – though a “mild” one. It has a 48 volt electrical system and a high-voltage battery that powers a high-torque/belt-drive starter. This is used to shut the engine off – and let the A5 “coast” – as often as possible, to save as much gas as possible and also to “emit” as little gas as possible.

For now, though, the A5 still has at least 2.0 liters. It’s not much in comparison with the at-least 3.0 liters or so sixes that used to be the expected engine in a luxury-brand car with a base price of nearly $50k – but it’s better than even less, I guess.

The engine does make impressive power – 261 horsepower – for its size. But only when it is under boost. That means – effectively – that it is always under boost, except when the car is hardly moving. To get it moving requires boost – and that means the engine is almost-always under pressure. The 3.0 liters or so sixes that used to power vehicles like this weren’t – because they didn’t need to be. Some didn’t make as much power as this 2.0 liter four. For example, the 2.8 liter V6 that was available in the similarly sized A4 sedan back in 2000 – the Before Time – only made 190 horsepower.

But engines that aren’t under pressure are likely to last longer for the same reason that a horse that isn’t worked hard is likely to live longer than one that isn’t.

Interestingly, there’s not much gas mileage difference between a V6 from the Before Time and a turbo’d four like this one from our time. The new A5’s 2.0 liter four rates 24 city, 32 highway. The 2000 A4’s available 2.8 liter V6 rated 16 city, 23 highway. When you factor in the horsepower difference (making more power requires burning more gas) the difference is negligible. Put another way, if the 2.8 V6 were hotted up to make 261 horsepower, it’d probably use about the same amount of gas. But it would not need the turbo to make the power.

A seven speed automatic is paired with the 2.0 engine, as is Audi’s Quattro AWD. The A5’s main rival, the BMW 4 Series coupe, is rear-wheel-drive as it comes. AWD is available optionally, pushing the MSRP of this model to just shy of $52k to start. It also comes standard with a turbocharged 2.0 liter four – one that makes 255 horsepower.

On The Road

Driving the A5 is not like driving a ’70s or ’80s era personal luxury coupe. Most of those had V8 but didn’t have much power. They also weren’t exactly set up to “handle.” They were basically two-door/four seater versions of the big sedans that were then still common; like them, they typically had plushly upholstered bench seats – in fine Corinthian leather, even – and were meant for easygoing driving, especially on the highway.

This was nice, actually – and it’s sad that it’s gone.

The A5 ‘s personality is more luxury-sport coupe/convertible – plus the extra seats. It can get you to 60 MPH in 5 seconds, a timeslip that would have been considered spectacularly quick – for a muscle car – back in the ’60s and ’70s.

The turbo 2.0 engine has other virtues, too. Not only does it make substantially more power than the three-liters-or-so sixes that powered its forebears, it makes much more torque (273 ft.-lbs. of torque) and much lower down in the powerband, which – when called upon – makes the four-cylinder-powered A5 feel as though it is powered by a three-liters-or-so six.

The seven-speed automatic is a dual-clutch type that shifts quickly and authoritatively when asked. It is very much preferable to the continuously variable CVT automatics that are becoming as common as 2.0 liter engines (and for the same reasons). Both for functional (feel/sound) reasons as well as long-term durability reasons.

One of the features this Audi has that is an Audi signature feature is that you can display the GPS map (which has 3D graphics very much like Google Earth) directly in the driver’s line-of-sight in the main instrument cluster, as opposed to the usual off-to-the-right in the secondary LCD cluster. The map itself is among the best available in terms of detail as well as appearance but the positioning is particularly stand out. Also appealing – from the driver’s point-of-view – is the driver-canted gear selector and other controls. It echoes the interior design of the first personal luxury coupes, most especially the Pontiac Grand Prix of the late ’60s and early ’70s. Which was designed by the man – John DeLorean – himself.

You do sit a lot lower in this car than the personal luxury coupes of the past – and that can make you feel like a mouse among the elephants, all those high-riding SUVs and crossover. But the upside is you have an adroitness advantage over those lunkers; it’s easy to dart around and in between them, before they even realize you were there.

And now, you’re gone!

At The Curb

Relative to the personal luxury coupes of the past, the A5 is a small car – just 184.9 inches long. To put that in some context, a 1995 Ford Thunderbird was 200.3 inches long, or slightly longer than a current-year mid-sized sedan, such as a Toyota Camry (which is  192.1 inches long).

It’s also smaller than its most similar rival, the BMW 4 Series coupe – which is 187.9 inches long.

The upside to this compact packaging is a package that doesn’t take up as much space in your garage and that also slides more easily into parking spots. The downside is that unlike the mid-sized personal luxury coupes of the past, cars like the A5 and BMW 4 coupe have not much in the way of trunk space or backseat legroom. The slightly smaller Audi actually has slightly more trunk and rearseat legroom – 10.9 cubic feet and 32.7 inches, respectively – than the 4-Series (which has a 10.6 cubic foot trunk and just 32.5 inches of rearseat legroom).

On the plus side, practicality-wise, the Audi’s rear seats have almost as much headroom as the front seats – 36.1 inches vs. 37.8 – because the roofline doesn’t plummet toward the rear, as is common in cars of this type. In this respect, the A5’s accommodations are close to those of the personal coupes of the past, which also had more formal rooflines.

The most important point, of course, is that there are back seats – and that makes this personal coupe (and convertible) at least plausibly practical. It can carry four people in a pinch. Maybe not exactly comfortably – for those in back. But it can carry four – rather than just two. And having those rearseats makes up a lot for the trunk being as small as it is.

The car isn’t flashy. It’s classy. That has long been a big part of the appeal of Audis. It looks a cut-above but doesn’t make a big deal about it.

One of the few nits to pick is that the upgrade 3D/surround-sound Ban & Olufsen audio rig with 19 speakers isn’t available as a stand-alone option with the base Premium S Line trim. If you want it, you have to move up a trim to the $51,800 Premium Plus. The good news there is you also get Audi’s “virtual cockpit” instrument cluster, a wireless phone charger and power folding side mirrors.

The bad news is you’ll still need to pay another $1,500 to get the MMI Navigation plus navigation system, which also isn’t available as a stand-alone option with the base Premium S-Line trim.

On the other hand, all trims – including the base Premium S Line – do come standard with a panorama sunroof, a heated steering wheel and ambient interior lighting.

The Rest

The A5, like other new Audis, has options that are subscription based – meaning you pay to use them as opposed to paying to buy them. For example, if you subscribe to Audi Connect Plus, which “unlocks” features such as in-car gaming (displayed through the secondary touchscreen) as well as Wi-Fi and real-time traffic/news updates.

Also: A V6 is still available – in the high-performance S5 iteration of the A5. This one makes 349 horsepower but the cost to play with it is $56,800 to start. If it seems like V6s are becoming what V12s used to be about 20 years ago – i.e., exotic and for the well-heeled-only – you’d be right on the money.

The Bottom Line

It’s not exactly a personal luxury coupe – but it’s the closest left to what you used to be able to get.

. . .

If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos.