I’m not losing my mind because I think that it’s a travesty that the gorgeous lines of the A5 and S5 have been slaughtered at the alter of drop-top boulevard cruising. On the contrary, I think that the coupe’s luscious curves have been remarkably well preserved in the new Cabriolet. Lexus, take notice: your little IS250C experiment is unacceptable, this is how a convertible is done.
Audi’s A5 and S5 Coupes are meant to fill the gap between the A4 and the A6 sedans with a big, sexy 2 door design. And thanks to the penmanship of Walter da’Silva, so far so good. But when you take the top off this beauty (see above), you have a vehicle that is remarkably similar to the exisiting A4/S4 Cabriolet. Both have 2 doors. Both have soft tops. Both have 2.0T and 3.2L V6 engine options. So why have them both in the Audi line-up?
Errrr…well that’s easy actually, the A5/S5 look infinitely better and is based on the new B8 platform that also underpins the 2009 A4, so they’re dynamically miles ahead. Also, the S5 Cabriolet employs the new 333hp supercharged V6 from the upcoming S4 instead of the 4.2L V8 from the S5 Coupe. Yes, there’s a lot of engines overlapping in the Audi line-up, but forced induction (super- and turbo-charging) engines are the future. Goodbye gloriously high-revving V8s, sniff sniff. Ok, so we’ve answered our question, now let’s get to the juicy details of this new drop-top stunner… after the jump.
The Cabriolet versions of the A5 and S5 will have more powertrain options than the coupes. These options will include the 2.0L TFSI (211hp), 3.2L V6 (265hp), and the new 3.0L TFSI V6 supercharged engine (333hp) from the new S4. The 2.0T will have either FrontTrak or Quattro available while all of the other engines will come exclusively with Quattro. My pick is the 2.0T because it actually makes more torque than the 3.2L V6 as well as being the least expensive to purchase. It’ll also be the cheapest to run thanks to significantly better fuel economy than the V6s.
The Cabriolet will employ a soft top instead of the de rigeur folding hard top as seen in the 3-series, G37, IS250C, and SLK. I think that this will be a great move because the soft top doesn’t take up as much trunk space, it’s lighter, it’s quicker to fold up and down, and when the top is up, it doesn’t look like someone took a hacksaw to the coupe.
The gallery has some selected pictures of the newest Audis. Enjoy!
