Audi A5 3.0 TDI Quattro review

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Audi A5 3.0 TDI Quattro Road Test

Test date 25 July 2007 Price as tested £35,045

For Cabin ambience, refinement, punchy engine, different looks

Against Limited rear headroom, tyre noise, snatchy clutch pedal

Ignoring the TT (technically a coupe, in practice a two-seater), Audi has been without a proper 2+2 coupe since sales of the B4 Coupe, based on the third generation Audi 80, ceased in 1996. Preceding the B4, and similarly styled B3, came the most famous Audi Coupe of all, the B2 Type 81/85, which formed the basis of marquee-defining Ur Quattro, also available in less extreme Coupe Quattro and GT form.

Now, Audi's model landslide has continued with the A5, the third new Audi coupe we’ve road tested in just twelve months, and if the mk II TT and sensational R8 are anything to go by, Audi’s renaissance is as much about quality as it is quantity.

Should you be seeking explanation for Audi’s decision to produce a four-seat coupe, the answer is evident on our motorways, thick already with BMW’s recently launched E92 3-series coupe. On average, the coupe boosts 3-series sales by half as much again, and when the 3-series saloon outsells the Ford Mondeo, that’s a significant market, and one in which Audi is keen to delve.

Yet there is more to the A5 story than a simple restyle of an existing saloon. Its coupe shell sits on a new platform bringing reworked front geometry and the promise that Audi has listened to our persistent ride and handling criticisms. If the RS4 was the turning point - the first genuinely decent driver’s Audi for an age - the sensational R8 showed exactly what Audi’s engineers are capable of.

But the A5 is critical, partly as it’s the first ‘ordinary’ model of which Audi talks seriously about a ‘driver-oriented chassis’, but also because this platform will underpin the forthcoming new A4. If there’s truth in Audi’s claims, it could be just the news BMW didn’t want to hear.