I’ve got a Mercedes C320CDI AMG Sport Estate which is fantastic, superbly built, extremely comfortable, goes like stink and has good economy.
It’s also a piece of cake to work on for the normal service things and tyres aren’t too ridiculous either.

I’ve done 20k miles and fancy a change. Car before was a 335d (remapped) which I also loved so I’m tempted by one of these again.

However irrational it may seem I tend to change cars every 20k miles.

Never had an Audi and like the idea of Quattro because I live in the countryside and my daily round commute is 60 miles of windy, twisty roads then 40 miles of motorway. And what with winter coming

I understand that Audi drivers have a certain rep so I’m not after a debate on that.

I’d want a 6 cylinder diesel automatic with Quattro.

What would I have to look out for?

Is there a point at which the autobox must have an oil change?;
Are there service intervals on the quattro drivetrain?;

Given that I’ll only keep it for 20k so long as it’s had full Audi service history and is under 80k on the clock I guess it’s all down to luck really!

One final point, I gotta say the Merc is incredibly comfortable considering it’s on 18″ wheels and the dynamic handling pack is simply brilliant.

How comfy is an A5, not bothered about an S-line spec, prefer smaller wheels. Anyone do 100 mile commutes in one?

Thanks for any feedback

😯

I understand that Audi drivers have a certain rep so I’m not after a debate on that.

I fear these words may return to haunt you…

Is that post the equivalent of asking for advice on pork pies in a Koranic debating forum?

I would suggest driving one. Also check out the size of the boot if coming from an estate. Tempter myself but I do need an estate.

I have the A6 Avant version of that – in S-Line ‘Black’ trim. No idea what the A5 is like in comparison, but the new model A6 is vastly superior in comfort terms compared to the last model (I had the A6 S-Line Avant). As they use that modular chassis set-up I would assume the handling will be similar across the range – although the A5 shares more of the chassis with the A4 and Q5 apparently.

Even with the huge wheels the Black has (bigger than the standard S-Line) the comfort is amazing.

Engine, fine, just sails along without fuss and I love the quick step down into the sport mode by pulling the lever towards you, then pulling again to put back into standard.

No idea about intervals – it just pops up on screen when a service is due (not had one yet at 8k).

335d (remapped)

😆

You’re a Pistonheads member, aren’t you?

Talk to me about Audi A5 ownership

It’s worth going for the optional extra activation of the amber lights fixed to each corner. For some reason, Audi seem to reluctant to ship their cars with these as a standard feature.

It’s worth going for the optional extra activation of the amber lights fixed to each corner. For some reason, Audi seem to reluctant to ship their cars with these as a standard feature.

Ohhh, haha. Not heard that before, have you thought about a career in comedy?

Come on, as a minimum you must have expected some gentle ribbing when starting this thread? 🙂

You change your car every 20 weeks? 😯

Or 40 weeks if it’s just 100 miles total a day. Still 😯

Not a pistonheads member…yet!

Yup, every 20k miles so less than a year. I know I know, you don’t want to know how many bikes I change a year!

Johndoh – so nothing about ensuring the autobox oil is changed at xk miles like the Merc?

Mine is on the auto service indicator lark so I don’t even worry about it until the dash tells me to book in a service. I *assume* this includes the autobox oil – I had better check 🙂

I think your user name should be Mintedjim!

I have nothing to add about the car as I buy a year old car and run it till it dies.

DSG Auto box oil needs changing every 4 years or 40K miles

Make sure you find one with working indicators, quite a rare find…

My old boss had an A5. The 3 litre diesel with the flappy paddle gearbox. Apparently, he didn’t go for the 2.7 as it only came with an inferior type of auto box, but I don’t know the intricacies of why it was inferior.
It was white with massive alloys so looked quite ‘drug dealer-esque’.

I drove it once and was very impressed with it. Not sure you need that much grunt in a ‘normal’ car and it’s so refined that you don’t feel like you are anywhere near the speed limit (when you may have passed it several mph ago).
Not sure you’d get such a sense of pace, comfort and refinement coming from your current car.
I think my boss averaged 37mpg out of it and that was doing a 130 mile daily round trip. And he wasn’t known for holding back.

Have you tried one? Would the boot space suit your needs? How about the rarer A7?

Not an A5, but I had a 2012 A4 Avant. It was alright, but didn’t set the world alight. The steering felt numb and the ride, on 17″ wheels, was very fidgety on anything other than the motorway. I changed jobs and much prefer the Golf I have now.

I *assume* this includes the autobox oil – I had better check

Well on my DSG Passat it does not – the service indicator only tells you about engine oil, but the garage should warn you about it.

Of course a modern Audi might be more sophisticated.

hahaha, not minted, by changing every 20k miles (with one service) I normally sell the car for what I paid for it.

Thanks Jon, that’s the stuff I’m looking for! Yes, yes, I know about the problematic indicators!

stumpy, that’s not bad. I get about 40mpg and I’d say I’m about average when it comes to speed. Occasionally thrash but normally an amble for my commute

Stretched A4 and as a result not a car for people who enjoy driving anything other than motorways. Probably ok in the US with the roads they have there.

That said I have an SMax at the moment…

BTW, the wheels on mine are 20” (255/35R20) but really the ride is lovely (although I do like a very firm ride) but as I said before, it is superior to the old model (and that only had 18” IIRC). Coming from the car history you have, I don’t think it would be too firm or harsh at all.

Stretched A4 and as a result not a car for people who enjoy driving anything other than motorways.

Really don’t agree with that – it isn’t as big as my A6 Avant and that feels perfectly at home around town (and we live in a semi-rural location so lots of twisty roads).

20″! I can’t imagine what the tyres cost. You’re probably right though, I prefer a firm ride (oo-er), just need to test drive one, which is harder than you think when you live in the sticks – hence my questions

Can the mods change the OP’s username to MintedJim 😀

Note to self: Learn to read.

They are about £210 each online 😯

Hang on! I paid £11k for the Merc with 55k on the clock; not sure that qualifies me as MintedJim…although it is amusing, granted.

Ouch, I used mytyres.com and my 255/35 R18 were £150 I think, so not insanely different I guess

Another A6 Avant Quattro 2.7TDI 2007 model owner, had it 7 years 120k miles. ex-Wife kept in divorce otherwise I’d still have it.

Fabulous motorway car, had 4 adults in it to Marseilles at high speed for 10 hours. Car never missed a beat. Very comfortable. New models are better all round too. Superb grip in wet and in snow (was driven to Alps for skiing 1 or 2 times a year inc through a blizzard which had other cars falling off the road and this was on normal tyres never used the chains and for biking trips to Alps in the summer). Very little in the way of work required on it, petrol guage went a bit variable (sometimes it worked sometimes it refused to budge from empty). Tyres where a bit pricey but lasted reasonably well.

Negatives. Had very bad experience of dealer network recommending unecessary work (which we ignored). Once we got a good independent we where much happier. Not a brilliant load carrier. OK for two bikes with front wheels off laid on top of each other. Bit of a barge in a multi-story car park, car was very long, recommend front/rear parking sensors.

Pretty good ecomomy given how I drove it. Not a sports car round corners but decent enough.

IMO the A5 is a bit of nothing, not a real sports coupe and not an estate either. Mate had one and liked it very much, like the A6 its great on motorway.

If I had the space I would get an A4 avant quattro but am currently looking at A3’s I am really sold on the Quattro mechanics

OP if I where you I’d look at A4 or perhaps A6 Avants

I haven’t looked extensively though as I haven’t needed any yet.

It will eat tyres. I have same engine in an A6 and get about 15k out four tyres (they wear as a full set and Audi recommend you change them as a full set too as it’s allegedly better for the drivetrain). Mate got 8k out of four on his A4 but he drove like a dick when he first got it. Otherwise auto box is great, loads of torque, effortless speed once you’re moving (I got 200k out of mine on autobahn no probs, have to be very careful if you floor it on mway here). Test one and see if you like it.

15k out of tyres isn’t really ‘eating’ it territory though is it – not in a 250bhp engine in a heavy diesel car

My second car (Mazda 3 Sport – 150bhp) gets through front tyres at about 10/12k (and that is being driven very sedately around town and *very* rarely gets ragged in the slightest. That is ‘eating’ territory.

Yup, every 20k miles so less than a year. I know I know, you don’t want to know how many bikes I change a year!

Sense < Money

(they wear as a full set and Audi recommend you change them as a full set too as it’s allegedly better for the drivetrain)

@Stu, yes they do and this sort of nonsense was one of the reasons we stopped taking our car to the main dealer. Their worst offense was when they recommended changing all 4 tyres as one had a slight nick (all 4 tyres where 3k miles old), when the ex asked for the car to be to put on the lift and she be shown the “nick” they could find nothing to show her. We also found warning lights would come on a day or two after the car had been in for a service, worst was £1800 of recommended work to replace manifold system, I took it to independent and he found a small clip had “fallen off” – he charged me £60. Great cars very dodgy dealer.

OP. Rotate tyres as usual, change as required. Our A6 used to wear the fronts much faster, not surprising as its a heavy car and I drove it fast.

Our A6 used to wear the fronts much faster, not surprising as its a heavy car and I drove it fast.

Quattro or FWD though?

IMO the A5 is a bit of nothing

I like them. I’ve never been in one and I honestly don’t care if it has raw connected feeling or inspiring chassis control or anything like that. I’m sure it’s as capable a drive as any modern car. The reason I like them is that they look bloody gorgeous. Possibly my favourite car on the road today.

@john quattro (I would have thought fwd would have been worse)

I am sure FWD will be worse. I haven’t noticed that my fronts are wearing significantly mnore than the rears in my Quattro yet (but still only 8k)

Had a S5 Quattro with optional remap 1.8T for a weekend about 3 years ago.

It sticks to the roads like sudocrem to a cat, on twisty country roads I dropped my all-time commute to work record down from 17 mins to 14 – could possibly drop it more but my neck was in bits after 3 runs. Steering is a little vague and with some understeer, not annoying, just not getting all the feedback from the road (there are sections with a lot less grip that felt the same as the few smooth bits of road).

Can do 120mph and feel like the equivalent of 80mph in my Mondeo, scary how smooth and damped everything is.

Mpg got down to single figures and the engine was rough for 2 minutes when started on the Monday.

I’d pick carefully off the options list if it was my money, the silver thread upgrades to seats and optional matching metal (coated plastic) sub covers is not worth nearly 2K. Back is pretty tiny too, child seat will just about squeeze in.

Its STW, so may I be the first to recommend that you instead get (gulp!) an Octavia Estate….. 😕

Don’t we all already own one on instructions from other STW users?

I have several now.

I thought A5’s were supposed to have a very harsh ride regardless of what wheel size / spec. They are certainly not great around corners.

A5 drivers appear to not like being followed by 3 series, so put their foot down, but then struggle around corners that the 3 series isnt even troubled by.

When was the last time you got in a 3 series? Rear leg room is vastly improved over old ones. Suspension has also been altered slightly to give a softer/less harsh ride, but they still handle fantastically.