Audi S5 Sportback 2020 long-term review

Опубликованно 19.08.2020 21:05

Why we’re running it: To see if diesel power really can excite as much as petrol in a sporting four-door

Month 1   -   Specs

Life with an Audi S5 Sportback: Month 1

Welcoming the S5 Sportback to the fleet - 22 July 2020

Petrol power and sound versus diesel torque and fuel economy: the debate has raged for years. And despite the decline in popularity of cars fuelled via the black pump, it seems, given Audi’s recent internal flip-flopping, that the argument is alive and well.

Ingolstadt’s S-car saga began in 2012, when it introduced the diesel-only SQ5. It was the first oil-burning Audi S model, and the logic of pairing a two-tonne, four-wheel drive SUV with a well-endowed diesel V6 was undeniable. Then Dieselgate became the portmanteau of the decade, and with Audi’s 3.0-litre unit under the microscope, its future looked untenable.

The brand responded with the second-generation SQ5 in 2017, adopting the 3.0-litre petrol V6 found in the S4 and S5 of the time. That lasted all of, well, a year, as the introduction of the WLTP testing regime and looming CO2-based European fleet average legislation led to the SQ5 disappearing until a new version arrived last summer with (yep, you guessed it) a diesel V6.

Audi’s indecision continues to this day – the SQ7 and SQ8 have just switched from diesel to petrol – meaning there’s now roughly a 50/50 split between petrol and diesel in the S model range. Experience has told us that performance diesels such as these aren’t cars that wow you from the outset, instead taking a while to get under your skin. The perfect excuse to run this Tango Red S5 Sportback for a few months, then.

Категория: Краш-тесты