2008 Audi S5 Reviews

This car is a beast. The six speed manual coupled with the cars V8 gives the exhaust a fantastic roar and unbeliveable torque. Just about the most beautiful car ever built as well.

The Audi S5 adds a 354-hp V8 engine to the All-Wheel-Drive A5 Coupe and the result is a fast, beautiful ride that's perfectly designed.

Best performance value anyone can find GUARANTEED!!!

My father and I went to test drive this car as soon as we saw that the local Audi dealership
had one on the lot. I was really impressed with how smooth the engine was on this car,
but the clutch took a lot of getting used to as it engages about a micron off the floor but
this was soon forgiven once you got out of first gear, but there is no feathering the clutch
when trying to start this car moving! This leads to my first real complaint, when trying to
start moving again after being stopped at a red light right outside of the dealership, I
accidentally brought the clutch out a bit too far (1.5 microns instead of 1) and ended up
killing the engine in the middle of Main Street. Not to worry I thought and touched the
large "Engine Start" button. Nothing happened, I tried again, same result, I tried putting
the car in neutral and hitting the button, nothing, put on the parking brake, nothing. Now
I was a bit nervous, I started fiddling with the myriad of controls on the dash of the car, all
while keeping my feet firmly on the clutch and brakes when i somehow managed to bump
the key flob that was securely in its place in the dash, and lo and behold, the engine
purred to life. For some reason, Audi in their infinite genius decided that if the key was in
its spot that you had to press the key flob in to start the car, but if you left the key out of
that spot, you had to push the "Engine Start" button, why they did this, who knows, but
this wasn't the only thing confusing about the interior. When you sit down in this car, you
are confronted with more switches and buttons than are equipped on the USS Enterprise
and the dual screens (one in the instrument cluster and one in the normal sat-nav
position in the dash) each with their own roller selector on the steering wheel, make even
changing the radio a chore at first. Don't get me wrong, from a purely driving stand point,
I loved this car, the seats were comfortable but supportive and communicative, the
shifting was short and crisp and the ride quality was superb, however compared to the
interior of a comparable BMW with their iDrive system, the Audi's extra switchery felt
awkward and cluttered to the first time user. I am sure once one is used to this system, it
would probably feel very natural but the overall first impression left me wanting
something with a more minimalist control scheme.
About the only other thing that I was disappointed with was how tall first gear was. With
how the clutch on this car was, I expected first gear to be a little bit more forgiving, but
even with this car's great engine, the all wheel drive system made sure that if you weren't
within that small acceptable range on the clutch and the throttle, you either killed the
engine or jerked off the line. With these few things aside though, I really enjoyed my test
drive of Audi's new S5 and am looking forward to trying out next years model.

Weight: 3891 lbs
Drive: AWD with Quattro system.
Horsepower: 354 Bhp
Torque: 325.00 Ft-Lbs
Engine: 4.2L V8
Hp to Weight Ratio: 11.0 LB / HP
Transmission: 6-speed Manual, Auto Clutch. (Opt.)
0-60: 4.9 s
Top Speed: Governed to 155 Mph