I’m really after 4×4 Quattro system in a nice car, so Octavia is out.

My previous car was an E92, 2008 coupe and the rear was fine – and it had a removeable towbar!

Gotta say, the Merc is on a par with my last beamer for handling and sounds a lot better as a V6 diesel than the BMW straight six

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.
I would echo this from @Saccades although his A5 sounds not surprisingly more sporty than my A6 Avant. You have to watch the speedo on the motorway as its very easy to go much too fast. Also we had tiptronic and paddle shift is useful for overtaking and the 2.7 I had really pulled well if you dropped a gear to overtake.

Re vague steering etc. There are 2 reasons for that.

1. Modern cars have had to change the power steering systems to meet emmissions. The new electronic system basically do not give half as much feedback. Even the new Porsche Boxter apparently suffers from it.

2. In a race to make executive cars quiter, more comfortable etc, it makes them a little more dull to drive, unless of course they are Audis which are just dull.

I was a little disapointed when I first got my BMW as just appeared a little dull. But when you want it to, to coin a phrase, it really comes ‘alive’ unfortunately though you have to be going very quick for the given road for that to happen.

Its quite impressive how they can make a car so quiet and refined but then handle like a sports car when you push on a bit.

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.

Agreed, the R8 and other supercars excepted, definitely my favourite ‘normal’ car out there!

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

S5s have the 4.2 V8 (and are all Quattro), did you have an A5 S-Line Quattro with the 1.8, or the S5? Very different cars! Or am I reading that wrong 😕

I don’t like the look of the A5, to me it’s an Old Mans design, bit like a Jag..and I don’t think you a) look that old and b) should look that ill informed.

So, I’m ooot and recommend an E63 AMG Estate.

Jags. Yeah, old men’s cars.

Yup, they still are. 😀

I don’t like the look of the A5, to me it’s an Old Mans design, bit like a Jag.

Jag XF is one of my other favourites, so looks like I’m old 🙂

IMO you buy a Jag ’cause it’s “cheap” and looks a little bit like an Aston. I’d take a used Aston over new Jag all day long – roughly same money, possibly even take a risk on a Masserati.

Ok, I maybe a little “finger wagging” and “pointy” but Jag have had 2 very large Demonstrations and Open Days here in Shiney Town in the last Year.
Most of the Demo’s were conducted over a closed Canary Wharf curcuit (the same one as the ProTour use) and they had all those ^^ Jags here, soft and hard tops.
Lots of half nekkid Girls and Promo Staff running around shuving brochures in ones face and tat including scalves and… caps, baseball and flat. Nope, I kid you not, baseball and flat caps.

Ok, so the image has always been associated with “MAMGTPG”* and I’m sorry but it’s stuck, stuck hard and fast.

I get to see many very nice cars up here in the Center of the Universe and Jeeeze, if Jags are still driven by “MAMGTPG” types. I have never seen a young bloke driving one, by young I mean under 35.

Well made, vaugly interesting to the eye, but still a car designed for “MAMGTPG”

Secondhand Astons a far better bet.

*MiddleAgedManGoingToPlayGolf

I had an A5 3.0 tdi for a few years.

Firstly, make sure you get one wit the full sat nave and the B&O system. This will make it more saleable in turn.

Tyres can be found for about £200 – Vredesteins are as good if not better than the Sport Pilots they come with.

EGR valves can be problematic. My first went at 55,000 so was covered under warranty. The second went at 80,000 and was a £800 bill.

Still, they go like stink, handle very very well although the Sport version can be a bit spine shattering. I would say it is line line with a 330d. I have a XF now and it is a little quicker but has bigger turbos.

@nevis brave man admitting you’ve gone A5 to Jag (?) XF 😉

brave man admitting you’ve gone A5 to Jag (?) XF

These preconceived ideas don’t half stick! A while ago I went to a local Audi dealer to look at a new A5. At the time I was training for a triathlon so I was looking at the boot to see how easy it would be to get my road bike in there. The salesman came across and said “I know what you thinking, I can tell you there’s plenty of room for two sets of golf clubs in there.”

I wouldn’t want to be seen in a golfer’s car so I bought an XF instead.

The salesman came across and said “I know what you thinking

He’d have lost me there…

“I know what you thinking, I can tell you there’s plenty of room for two sets of golf clubs rival drug dealers’ bodies in there.”

Damn this IOS predictive typing! 🙂

A6 = ok

A5 = grey haired man who fancies 25yr old women.

@hora, I think the general tone here was

A6 OK
A5 OK
Jag = grey haired man …

@Rio, I thought the Jag actually came with Golf Clubs so no need to ask the question ? 😉

FWIW Golf is a great game.

Maybe just buy a Skoda? 🙂

My fave lady friend has an A5 it seems to work ok does that help?

S5s have the 4.2 V8 (and are all Quattro), did you have an A5 S-Line Quattro with the 1.8, or the S5? Very different cars! Or am I reading that wrong

New ones are a V6 TFSi, same as in the S4.

Personally I’m not a fan of the A5. I think it looks heavy and blobby, especially compared to BMW coupes (although I’m not a fan of the new 4 series). It’ll have a lovely interior though. The ride will be appalling, even worse in S Line trim. The ride in my step uncles RS6 (C6) was dire in dynamic mode….it spent it’s entire life in comfort.

The S Trinic ( DSG) ‘box is a brilliant bit of kit. The earlier 6 speed ones are more reliable than the later 7 speed jobbies, so check they’ve been serviced and work as they should as replacements are scary money. I believe that due to the software, it needs to be repaired by Audi. The box died in Chris Harris’s S4 and even with a contribution from Audi it was the wrong side if £3k. The normal auto boxes will be sealed for life according to Audi so fluid changes won’t be on the service schedule (in reality it seems that many do change the fluid around 80k).

As for Jags, the new F Type looks and sounds amazing but I’d never buy a new one. The depreciation will be savage…for that kind of monynid be hunting down a V12 Vantage. Will be interesting to see what the XF’s replacement will be like. The current one has been around for ages now and is showing its age.

Funny also how perception change as i remember Audi running an ad campaign saying they were the car for the more reasoned person as opposed to the option (BMW) being a car for the cad merc didn’t even come into it as they were the berlin taxi.

marketers have been doing their stuff since then!

I own an A5 variant, post face lift. Apparently the RnH on the early A5s wasn’t as refined as the later ones and the DRLs look way better on the face lift models. I find the high output 2.0ltr diesel is usefully rapid. As for understeer, nearly all modern cars are set to go into understeer, when the driver is approaching the limits of the road, the vehicle and usually their talent. On a day to day basis, there are a few variables which will effect a car’s tendancy to understeer, which aren’t necessarily OEM specific.

As for design, generally, Audi have until most recently, traded very well on the basis that they produce pretty cars. In the case of the A5, it has some very good exterior design surfaces / features.
Where I think Audi went slightly off the target, with the A5 coupe, was to maintain a complete ‘B’ pillar. The glass house, the waistline and roof all form the classic, pillarless coupe profile, but the ‘B’ pillar breaks the lines and detracts from what it might have looked like. My car doesn’t have the ‘B’ and I like having the complete open sided, windows down epxerience.
Mercedes remain a curiousity which I may decide to investigate in the future. BMWs have also been on the radar, but frankly, the current interior designs are dreadful and I couldn’t drive a car, having to look at a dashboard which looks like a soggy, partially collapsed sandwich.

As for Jaguars, I don’t ever see me owning one. Nothing really wrong with the product, I just don’t see me in one.

Funny also how perception change as i remember Audi running an ad campaign saying they were the car for the more reasoned person as opposed to the option (BMW) being a car for the cad merc didn’t even come into it as they were the berlin taxi.

marketers have been doing their stuff since then!
True but I would say its more than marketing. Audi has always had the technology angle in its sports models and made a big push in to motorsport especially Le Mans and diesel technology. With Audi running Lambourghini it helped both companies very much, the R8 sounds like no other German car and the Lambo’s are now a good engineering package.
Mercedes likewise is doing lots to energise the brand, starting with McLaren cars and now their big full on push into F1, that doesn’t come cheap and they’ve done it for commercial reasons

All this bluster about understeer, BMWs being better through corners and all that. What a load of little man rubbish all that it.

I can drive quickly if I want (have done tutored track days and normally come out around the top, have karted lots and almost always place). I also have a 3.0 V6 250bhp 4WD. But I don’t race other cars or get myself in situations where I am testing the limits of my car (or my abilities). The last time I felt understeer in a car was in a 2007 Astra Coupe (a car renowned for utterly dreadful understeer) and that was on a flat (unbanked) 90deg left turn in damp conditions. Even then it was only slight and quickly brought under control.

At the end of the day *any* modern car (as touched on by Solo) is far more proficient than the majority of drivers and for 99.9% of any of us, taking the tendency for understeer into account when buying a car* really is meaningless.

*But do avoid the 2007 Astra, especially the very quick one. YAK!

Love it! In classic STW style I think one or two people actually answered my question on A5 ownership and servicing etc. Thanks to those!

I got accused of being rich and there’s a picture of a Jag, awesome!

Now also looking at A4/A6’s although the A6 Avant is humongous, but it would appear that the engine, gearbox and quattro system is fairly gremlin free!

Loadsamoney.

But the Avant really doesn’t feel big to drive (and I come from a history of driving small cars like Fiestas, Pumas, Clios and more recently TTs). The only time I notice it is parking nose-in in car parks and the boot sticks out a bit.

But as has been said already, *do* get one with front and rear parking sensors.

I understand what you’re saying but it’s more to do with parking at home and head to head on narrow lanes with speeding tractors, silage lorries and tourists!

Again, I never find it feels to big – like you I live in a quite rural location (Harrogate, North Yorkshire) and almost all our driving is on A and B roads.

It seems the Jag is the drug dealers car of choice, although perhaps they thought its so boring the customs will never stop us 🙂

£37m in drugs found in Jag

@Minty, if you are thinking of an A6 Avant you do need to check out the parking, I would agree with @john it doesn’t feel a big car to drive, it certainly does in a tight town centre multi-story

Love it! In classic STW style I think one or two people actually answered my question on A5 ownership and servicing etc. Thanks to those!

Well, my A5 is too new to requrie servicing. I thought I’d outlined that the car handles very well and is usefully rapid. Everything still works and its reasonably refined wrt noise, vibration and harshness.

The dealers are another matter altogether. Experience ranging from having a high-up at the local dealer almost driving his A7 into my car, as he refused to slow to allow me time to complete my manoeuvre, through being quite useful, even, almost organized. To the smug get smile/piss take grin when they quote you a price for something.
No change there then.

I’ve had Audis throughout the last 20 years. The most noticeable change, imo, is ride and handling. Older VAG stuff use to handle like a brick dirfting across a loose surface.
My previous A4 (B7 ?) had much improved steering, albeit as the result of quite crude set up methods, which resulted in low speed scrubbing on low rubber.
Current A5 has a much improved / refined steering performance. The kind of performance Ford has had for at least 15 years. So thats an example of where different OEMs spend their development dollars.

The A6 is a big car but it doesn’t really feel it. I’ve spent a fair bit of time driving the last shaped RS6 and was always surprised at how it felt quite small to drive despite it being a fairly chunky thing. They do a better job of masking their size than say the new 5 series which feels pretty large.

@mindmap – we where speaking about parking, we agree about on the road. RS6 are quite a beast performance wise.

I have a mate who recently got a new A6 saloon, the 2.0tdi sport type one. Its lovely, but he prefers my 520d tourer, both comfort sitting in and driving experience. The Audi has better toys though !

TBF, the difference between choosing a 5 Series or an A6 comes down to preference on styling and where you can get the better deal really isn’t it? Neither are crap cars so to bicker about which is ‘better’ is purile.

At the end of the day I chose an A6 over a 5 Series for three reasons: 1 – I like Audi styling, 2- The Quattro system appealed (especially after the last few winters we’ve had), 3 – I could get one for about £100 a month less than a BMW on a business lease.

The whole BMW’s are for keen drivers is a load of bull these days. Every new iteration gets less and less overtly RWD; look at the one series most owners couldn’t tell.

Our E90 is a lot less prone to a hip wiggle compared to my old E46 despite having more power. Audi have also moved their engines back on newer models that will help with handling etc.