2025 Audi A5 Sedan First Drive Review: Simplified Evolution
The Audi A4 is no more, and in its place is a new sedan-esque five-door named simply A5. You can think of it as the spiritual successor to the A5 Sportback, because that's precisely what it is, just without the Sportback appellation, as there's no A4 sedan from which to differentiate it. We always preferred the looks and added liftback practicality of the A5 Sportback anyway, so no big loss. This combined effort makes sense given the rapid expansion in nameplates as Audi fills out the electric half of its portfolio.
Audi's compact car hasn't gone e-tron yet, however. This latest A5 and its S5 performance partner are built on what may be the brand's final internal-combustion architecture, dubbed Premium Platform Combustion. In addition to being bigger than the outgoing A5 Sportback in every dimension, this new A5 has new looks wrapped around updated tech and a familiar yet slightly improved powertrain.
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Audi
An A5 That Looks Kind of Like an A4
In profile, the A5 looks like the average between a sedan and a Sportback—call it an A4.5—as it's not obvious that its raked rear glass is attached to a hatch instead of terminating ahead of a traditional sedan trunk. Its surfaces appear a little more chiseled than those of the old A4 and A5, and flush door-release pockets add to the muscular sleekness. Audi's busy lighting department came up with available DRLs and OLED taillights that feature eight lighting signatures that an owner can choose from for an extra bit of personalization.
There's one more light innovation inside, where an available Variable Light Control glass roof offers six dimmable liquid-crystal panels. While the opaque-to-clear treatment is not new, the A5 offers an interesting stripe mode that alternates the pattern between blocks of opaque glass and ones that are clear. We couldn't discern a great use case for this other than to get a noncontinuous tan, and we expect the function that mimics a traditional sunshade will get more action.
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Audi
Your eye is likely to be drawn to the A5's wall of screens, which Audi calls Digital Stage. It consists of an 11.9-inch gauge display (Audi still calls this Virtual Cockpit) that sits next to a 14.5-inch center touchscreen. An available 10.9-inch passenger display lets your co-pilot mess with audio and navigation and features an active filter that blocks the driver from seeing video content when the vehicle is in motion. We appreciate the subtle curve to the center display, which makes its farthest edge easier to reach. If that's not enough to look at, a color head-up display is optional.
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Audi
Available Bang & Olufsen headrest speakers can send audio more directly to your earholes; when the nav system cuts in with directions or you're on a phone call, the other speakers keep playing your selected audio while the driver gets a personalized and localized aural overlay. We found it preferable to the abrupt loss of all sound that usually accompanies such break-ins.
And of course there's more space inside. A 2.6-inch wheelbase stretch favors the rear passengers, giving them much-needed extra legroom—enough that full-grown adults won't balk at sitting back there for a longer journey. Cargo capacity also increases, from a max of 35 cubic feet to 37 on this new model. When the rear seats are in use, there are 23 cubes available in the hatch.
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Audi
A Little More Dynamic, Still Comfortable
In the transition to a single compact model, Audi has also streamlined the powertrain offerings, which are down from two previously to just one in the A5. Whereas the A4 sedan and A5 Sportback were sold with two versions of the VW Group's turbocharged four-cylinder engine, the new A5 comes with one that eclipses their output figures. With 268 horsepower—seven more than the former "45" powertrain and well above the 201-hp "40"—the revised engine is also up 22 pound-feet of torque on its predecessor, with a total of 295. It's backed by a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic and standard all-wheel drive.
We didn't want for power in the new A5 and found its shifting smooth and unobtrusive, even at low speeds—not always a given with this flavor of transmission. Audi claims 60-mph arrives in 5.6 seconds; we clocked the lighter 252-hp A5 Sportback to 60 in 5.0 seconds, so the manufacturer's claim for the new, higher-output version is likely conservative. The only thing that made the A5 feel remotely slow was getting out of it and into the new S5, which we've reviewed previously.
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Audi
The A5 is again equipped with a progressive steering system that tightens up the ratio as you wind on lock. Audi now mounts the rack directly to the unibody for more direct feedback, which we liked, but the system is still lacking in overall feel, something we found with the new S5, as well as these cars' Q5 and SQ5 crossover platform-mates.
Aside from the numb steering, attacking corners in the A5 doesn't uncover any major faults. The passive dampers in the A5 keeps the body level enough and mostly free of big perturbations that we didn't miss the adaptive setup that's offered on the S5. The tune is definitely more on the comfort side, but you still feel the occasional road imperfection and have enough sense of what the car is doing to push it. In fact, this car feels just a little less nose-heavy than previous A4s and A5s, imparting more of a sporty flair than before.
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Audi
With all of these improvements, Audi is making it slightly confusing to shop for a new 2025 A5. These non-Sportback models are being sold alongside A5s and S5s from the previous generation that are also labeled as 2025s. The truly new model is once again offered in Premium, Premium Plus, and Prestige trims. The entry price is $50,995 for the Premium, which is just slightly higher than the outgoing 2025 A5 Sportback's. The upshot is that you won't have to explain what Sportback means to your friends when they happily plop down in the back seat.
Specifications
Specifications
2025 Audi A5
Vehicle Type: front-engine, all-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door hatchback
PRICE
Base: Premium, $50,995; Premium Plus, $54,595; Prestige, $57,445
ENGINE
turbocharged and intercooled, DOHC 16-valve inline-4, iron block and aluminum head, direct fuel injection
Displacement: 121 in3, 1984 cm3
Power: 268 hp @ 6500 rpm
Torque: 295 lb-ft @ 1600 rpm
TRANSMISSION
7-speed dual-clutch automatic
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 113.8 in
Length: 190.1 in
Width: 73.2 in
Height: 57.0 in
Passenger Volume, F/R: 55/43 ft3
Cargo Volume, Behind F/R: 37/23 ft3
Curb Weight (C/D est): 4150 lb
PERFORMANCE (C/D EST)
60 mph: 5.2 sec
100 mph: 13.3 sec
1/4-Mile: 13.9 sec
Top Speed: 130 mph
EPA FUEL ECONOMY
Combined/City/Highway: 26/22/31 mpg
Reviewed by
David Gluckman
Contributing Editor
Ever since David was a wee Car and Driver intern, he has kept a spreadsheet listing all the vehicles he's driven and tested. David really likes spreadsheets. He can parallel-park a school bus and once drove a Lincoln Town Car 63 mph in reverse. After taking a break from journalism to work on autonomous vehicles, he's back writing for this and other automotive publications. When David's not searching for the perfect used car, you can find him sampling the latest in gimmicky, limited-edition foodstuffs.
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