Audi S5: Firecracker

The Audi S5, one of the most memorable cars I've ever driven

Having worked as an automotive journalist for around two decades, I’ve lost count of the number of cars I’ve had the opportunity to drive over the last 20-25 years. But of those, a few cars stand head and shoulders above the rest. Those few cars were truly spectacular, truly memorable. With most cars that I drove / reviewed as a journalist, it was business as usual. You get in, do your driving, testing etc., the car goes back to its manufacturer, you write your story and move on. But with some rare, few cars that were truly memorable, things were different. When I got out of such cars, the only emotion was, ‘Oh my god!! I wish I could somehow afford to buy this thing!’ Deep in my heart, I knew that would probably never happen and I’d never get to drive that particular car again, but that hasn’t stopped me from continuing to dream about it. One such car was the Audi S5, which I drove in 2021 for a review that I did for Man’s World magazine. This is the article I wrote:

A nuclear reactor is, for most people, a bit intimidating. Inscrutable for the most part, with its inner workings not understood by the vast majority, a nuclear reactor houses controlled nuclear fission – a process that unleashes vast amounts of energy via the splitting of atoms. Controlled and harnessed in an orderly fashion, nuclear energy can power entire cities. Nuclear propulsion has also been used to power submarines for many decades and scientists propose that interplanetary spacecraft might, someday, use nuclear power. In the late-1950s, some car manufacturers were also dreaming up nuclear-powered concept cars; witness the rather outlandish Ford Nucleon, the Studebaker Packard Astral and the Simca Fulgur, all of which were supposed to eschew the poor old internal combustion engine in favour of putting a miniaturised nuclear reactor under the hood.

In the real world, nuclear-powered cars never really left the realms of the overactive imagination of a few particularly ambitious engineers, all of whom must now be long retired. And yet, driving the new Audi S5 almost makes you believe that when no one was looking, the Germans did develop nuclear propulsion for cars after all. Floor the throttle in an S5 and the ‘nuclear reactor’ under its hood absolutely screams in anger, and the world seems to go into reverse as the car reels in the horizon at an astonishing pace. Alright, so the S5 isn’t really nuclear-powered; it only gets a turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 TFSI petrol engine that produces 354 horsepower and 500Nm of torque. But it’s a snarling, howling animal of an engine, straining to be let off the leash and allowed to run wild. The Audi V6 doesn’t understand the meaning of the word ‘restraint’ and it couldn’t care less about conforming to societal norms for civil behaviour; it’s sheer exuberance makes the S5 an intoxicating, addictive experience that leaves you aching for more.       

The S5 is equipped with quattro permanent all-wheel-drive, with rear-biased 40:60 front/rear torque distribution in normal driving conditions. The engine sends its power to all four wheels via an 8-speed Tiptronic transmission, which is fast, smooth and perfectly matched to the powerful V6. Zero to 100kph comes up in just 4.8 seconds, and the top speed is 250kph. Of course, the top speed is only of academic interest in most driving circumstances and rarely achievable on our roads, but the S5’s acceleration is endlessly entertaining; you find yourself looking for opportunities to slow down only so that you can again – and again, and again – floor the throttle and listen to the orgasmic screaming of that Audi six-cylinder engine, as it propels the car to triple-digit speeds.

While the S5 does an excellent job of ripping down arrow-straight expressways, its talents extend way beyond just that. Along with quattro AWD, the S5 is fitted with sophisticated multi-link suspension at both ends, which is taut and primed for hard cornering action. While the quattro AWD system sends 60% of the power to the rear wheels in regular driving conditions, the car is fitted with a self-locking centre differential and can send up to 70% of the power to the front or up to 85% to the rear when it detects slip at either end, which makes the car very sure-footed even in tricky conditions. Plus, there’s electronic stabilisation control and sticky, low-profile Bridgestone Potenza-shod 19-inch alloy wheels, all of which ensure that the S5 offers leech-like grip around fast bends. Around a series of fast, 90-degree left- and right-hand corners (at MW’s remote secret test location in NCR, which is normally deserted at most times of the day…), I pushed the S5 as hard as I dared but barely managed to elicit a chirp or two from the tyres, which simply refused to let go. The brakes feel sharp and responsive, letting you brake late for corners, which the S5 carves up like a surgeon’s scalpel, followed by relentless acceleration provided by the turbo V6 while you enjoy its operatic soprano. It’s a great pity that one needs to spend close to Rs 80 lakh to enjoy such automotive bravura and the vast majority of drivers will, of course, never get to experience the S5. Life isn’t fair.     

Getting away from the power and performance aspect for a minute, let’s take a look at the S5’s styling and interiors. As you can see in the pictures here, the S5 is undeniably good looking, with sharp, confident lines, muscular bodywork and an aggressive, low-slung stance that quite suits the car. The paintwork is a particularly fetching shade of blue, perfectly offset by the graphite-grey of the alloy wheels and the subtle, restrained use of matt-finish metal trim on the window frames, front grille and the front and rear bumpers. Following in the footsteps of its even sportier RS cousins, the S5 Sportback keeps it tight and taut, like a professional athlete in peak physical condition. You look at it and you know it means business. Personally, I love it to bits.

The S5’s cabin is, again, extremely well put together, with high levels of fit and finish and high-grade materials all around. The leather/Alcantara seats look and feel terrific and are very comfortable, though the cabin is best suited for only four adults; the transmission tunnel eats into the space at the back and squeezing a fifth occupant into the rear bench is a challenge. Then again, this is a driver-focused car and the driver’s seat is the best one in the house, with a fully power-adjustable seat, chunky steering wheel, Audi’s very useful and configurable ‘virtual cockpit’ digital instrumentation, easy smartphone connectivity and an intuitive infotainment system that’s easy to use. There are multiple driving modes that alter the car’s behaviour to suit your mood, though I have to admit I put it in ‘dynamic’ and just left it there. And while I’m sure it sounds terrific, I also did not bother with the S5’s high-end 19-speaker Bang & Olufsen sound system; for me, the S5’s turbocharged six-cylinder soundtrack is better than any rock band you care to name.

The Audi S5 Sportback comes with an ex-showroom price tag of Rs 79 lakh, but with the stratospheric levels of performance it offers, it’s worth every single penny. Every single time you drive it, and every time you mash its throttle to the floor, the S5 transports you into an alternative reality – one where the roads are always wide, smooth and empty, where there are no speed limits, and where a German V6 outdoes Bach and Beethoven. The S5 is truly spectacular, and that’s all there is to it.

For the record, I also later got to drive the Audi RS5, which is even faster and more powerful than the S5. But it’s the S5 that I truly love. It’s a magnificent car – I can’t begin to explain just how much I love that car. If I had the money, the Audi S5 is probably the first car I’d buy!