98_993_cab

Just curious if anyone here has bought an A5 or S5 yet? If so, any advice? We looked at Sunset's lone S5 & liked what we saw (except for the colour combo).

Guess our VW Passat's days are numbered... fairly low mileage with every option (except power robbing Tiptronic ).

JDHertz11

I have seen quite a few on the street here in Miami. They are very nice looking, but I have been turned off of Audi since I had a TT 225. It was garbage. The quality of the car was horrendous, the dealer network was even worse. I have a full shop and can fix most things myself but you shouldn't have to fix your own brand new car. It got even worse once I flashed the ECU and changed the exhaust. My worst turbo car experience. But I must say the S5 V8 is a very sharp looking car. What type of $$ are they really going for ? Sticker + $ ?????

RallyJon

Does the new chassis fix the classic Audi dull steering and heavy front end feel? Some car mag reviews suggested it would.

IMO, that's the number one minus for Audi vs BMW. The pluses outweigh of course, but if they could just make the steering and turn-in feel like a Bimmer, it'll be a world beater.

cabrio993

Dull steering? I have had 3 Audi's. None of them suffered from that and turn in is spectacular with a lot of road feel. All of my Audi's had the sport package so I don't know if that has played a role. I owned a 3 series for a while and went back to Audi.

The B6 platform (2002-2006) S4 was a dog. Too heavy of a V8 upfront. My sport B6 A4 1.8T handled much better than the S4 with very mild undereteer at the limit. My B7 (2006) A4 2.0T Sport Quattro handles like is on rails. It's so neutral that I can make it more prone to oversteer/understeer with just playing with tire pressures. Car & Driver Magazine did a comparo with the bimmer and 6 other sports sedans and the A4 S-line came out 1st with the BMW in 2nd place.

One of the big improvements on the B8 chassis is that the front axis is moved in front of the engine. The Ausi S5/A5 is the first implementation of this new platform. The new 4 door A4 is due to arrive here at the end of the year as a 2009 model. It has already been released in Europe.

frp911

Same here no problem with the steering response on the Audi's. Had an S4 TT and now the S8 and they both have spectacular road feel. Used to have a 740i sport and the S8 handles better IMHO. As for the S5 test drove it for an afternoon a few weeks back and it's a fun car to drive, power is there, road feel definitely there and the new interior is much nicer than what BMW has at this time.

RallyJon

Well, there you go. Our B5 S4 feels like it has a ton of iron out in front of the front wheels. Suspension and alignment help a bit--had H&R coilovers until they died, now a milder Bilstein sport setup--but physics always wins in the end. Our prior experience was with a B5 S4 sedan and older 5 cyl cars.

Anyway, heard that the new chassis is a real improvement. Have to test drive one.

David in LA

Pulling the servo assist relay helps a lot with giving you better steering feel...did this w/my S6 wagon (along w/thicker Hotchkiss sways and 18" wheels) and it made a dramatic improvement in handling. The power steering in Audis have way too much boost and it is not linear. You can also do a wiring mod whereby you can just turn off the the relay at will since pulling it makes the wheel on the heavy side for slow speed manuevers (I have one waiting to install whereby the relay is turned off only when I put the shift lever into the manual shift mode...when it is full auto it is in the factory setting and the full power assist is available - which makes is easier to park and also for the wife to drive).

lucycan

Pretty sure the A5 is not in the US yet, just the S5.

cabrio993

I love tho B5 S4 and its sweet bi turbo V6.. I still have great memories of my B5 A4, but the engine in front of the axle made it nose heavy, but it is the price to pay for quattro and its longitudinal mounted engine.

The B6/B7 chassis is actually very decent and in fact used on the RS4 without any modifications, but weight distribution is not quite there yet. The B8 platform addresses all of these issues and I think that you'll see great handling cars coming from Audi IMHO.

"Audi has good reason to have high expectations. The new car is built atop an entirely new all-steel chassis, which Audi calls a Modular Longitudinal Platform (MLP). The new design allows for the placement of engine and transmission a full 5.9 inches rearward by mounting the differential forward of the gearbox, which in turn allows the front wheels to be located closer to the nose. This translates to better driving dynamics.

Full article here - Audi A4 "the sportiest car in its class".http://www.autospies.com/news/Audi-A...s-class-25049/

chris walrod

I remember reading one can 'vag-com' the electric steering effort to enhance the steering feel of modern Audi's up through 2006. Not sure about the 2007 and up models. I sure do like the looks of the S5!

RallyJon

Yeah, my wife is the computer geek. She's tweaked all kinds of stuff and the new cars have even more options. I wish there was VAG-COM for Porsches!

sigf

I enjoyed a 45 minute S5 test drive a month ago. The sales rep let me put the car through all kinds of "paces" including hard braking (90 mph to 30 mph), redline ****s 1-4 gear, lots of 2-3 gear redline shifts on remote twisty roads, etc. The S5 out of the box is a sweet machine. Suspension, brakes, power all fit nicely for daily driver use and the car looks great. Push button starting, back-up camera display are fun items, etc.. The only thing that I would personally modify would be the exhaust note. The sound could be more "aggressive". To someone who is not accustomed to "good noise", maybe not an issue. Personally, the exhaust note is part of the overall driving experience. During acceleration, torque is impressive, shifter is short and tight, not a bad package overall. This is a ride I would consider heartily.