weber806

After 8 months of ownership of fully loaded 2018 Audi A5 Sportback Premium Plus, I wanted to post my thoughts about the vehicle. The car used a daily driver, about 800-1000 miles per month.
Vehicle was purchased new w/ following options: Premium Plus, S line sport package, 19" S line wheels, Navi, cold/warm weather packages, rings audi beams, all weather mats, mythos black exterior/brown leather interior.
After market installs: all-around premium ceramic window tint, and hardwired radar detector. MSRP at approximately 53K

In my opinion, BEST features of the car:
1. Sporty and sleek exterior look
2. Quatro system
3. Engine (surprisingly powerful for 4 cylinders)
4. S "semi-sport mode" (Its not true sport mode, Audi B9 sport mode only increases engine rpm by 1000, it does NOT stiffens steering or adjusts suspension)
5. Smooth transmission
6. Virtual cockpit w/ Navigation & MMI touch system

NOT so good features:
1. Interior dimensions - perfect size for 2 adults. Its a sedan but only usable comfortably by 2 adults. Driving w/ 2 adults upfront and kid(s) in the back seat is uncomfortable. Seating adult in the back seat is unpractical.
2. Interior sunroof shade panel - my vehicle came with sunroof, which is auto glass on the outside. On the inside of the vehicle, Audi has interior sunroof shade panel. Normally roof shade panel is made of plastic or some kind of hard material, its purpose to keep the sun from reaching the interior and help reduce the temperature inside it. Well, Audi decided to save money, and instead of plastic panel, they installed a soft sun panel made of perforated fabrick material. Considering roof of A5 sportback sits low, fabric material shield panel does not block heat, and really heats up your head even when shade is fully closed. On the sunny day w/ 80F you will develop headache because sun heating up your temple. To get around it, suggestion is to tint sunroof with limo grade tint at 5%.
3. Vehicle front sensors are too sensitive. Drive car during light snow storms few times, snow accumulates on the sensors and they start generating false alerts while vehicle is in motion. Requires to stop the car, and clean sensors clean.
4. Weak door unlock/lock sensors - by design if you have a key in your pocket, you should be able to unlock car by pulling on the door handle. Car senses key fob and unlocks the car. Its not a clear case with A5 Sportback. Car does not always detect key, thus wont unblock vehicle. Thus you have to physically take out key fob and press unlock button. Very annoying, and inconsistent behavior.

Features I ABSOLUTELY HATE:
1. Audi Autoplay. As Audi and Apple have progressed forward in their relationship to make your car as smart as possible, occasionally not-smart things happen. Like your vehicle blasting music (or the latest audiobook chapter) into your ears when you first get in the car. You normally connect your iphone to a car via bluetooth. As soon as you start A5, car detects a phone, and Autoplay features will start playing music or audiobooks or internet radio from iPhone through car's speakers. It will drain your cell phone data plan. Autoplay is NOT a function of the phone. The phone simply responds to command to begin playback coming from the head unit in Audi car. Autoplay is terrible feature in B9, it cant be easily disabled, and there is no fix for it available by Audi. Audi dealer stated disabling it at after market shop voids vehicles warranty. WTF!

2. Auto engine stop/start - my understanding this option was implemented to theoretically save gasoline and increase mpg. In practice, this feature will shutoff engine at all stops, short few seconds in traffic or if you are turning at the intersection, car will shutoff. Today I almost had an incident because of engine auto stop. I was stuck in the middle of the intersection, attempting to make left turn, car shutoff. There was a gap in traffic, so I hit accelerator to complete left turn maneuver. Due to the delay in engine start, I was not able to complete turn fast enough and almost got hit by oncoming traffic. This feature is dangerous, it can be manually turned off by pressing a disable button, but it needs to be done everytime you start vehicle.


Overall, in my opinion, Audi did a great job designing exterior of the vehicle, but neglected quite a few items which makes A5 sportback not a car which I would love to keep or drive much longer.

Whats your opinion on the features of the car? What do you like? Which features of the car you think are annoying?

ArvX147

1. Having taken some road trips with 4 adult males in the car (including myself at 6'2"), I cant really see how this is true unless you are a huuuuge person. I went on ~9 ski trips (20 days) with my sportback this season and every single time I had 3 adults in the car + gear. One tip I might give you is working on your seating position, many many people adjust their seats incorrectly resulting in the seat being too far back. Wrists drape easily over the steering wheel with shoulders on the seat, legs are bent when on the pedals. This is proper driving position and will keep your joints active during long drives.

2. I think the point of this is to make it so you can have the roof open and getting air, but still have your head shaded. You could put some more tint if you have too much heat, I personally haven't had this issue but in warmer climates I could see how its a problem.

Nikon1

Rambiss

I agree with your "BEST" features and add the fact I can open the actual sunroof, but leave the screen closed. I love that we can get fresh air through there, but keep the blinding sun out. Coming from a Jaguar XF, I truly miss the auto adjust steering tilt/telescope feature. The only other "issue" I have with the car is the lack of bass, even with the top of the line sound system option.

Rambiss

Forgot to add...............for what limited use I've had of the adaptive cruise control, I do like what I see there!

hevnsnt

2. Interior sunroof shade panel - my vehicle came with sunroof, which is auto glass on the outside. On the inside of the vehicle, Audi has interior sunroof shade panel. Normally roof shade panel is made of plastic or some kind of hard material, its purpose to keep the sun from reaching the interior and help reduce the temperature inside it. Well, Audi decided to save money, and instead of plastic panel, they installed a soft sun panel made of perforated fabrick material. Considering roof of A5 sportback sits low, fabric material shield panel does not block heat, and really heats up your head even when shade is fully closed. On the sunny day w/ 80F you will develop headache because sun heating up your temple. To get around it, suggestion is to tint sunroof with limo grade tint at 5%.

I live in KS and it is currently 10,000deg outside and while I do agree with you about the car heating up, I completely disagree with you about the shade. I love opening the sunroof on my way home from work with the shade closed. Never got a headache? from the sun. I am so glad Audi put in the fabric sunshade over a hard plastic version.

AgMaple

Start/Stop: I have one trick I use all of the time to restart the engine in anticipation of moving - slightly let up pressure on the brake pedal. It doesn't take much, not enough for the car to creep. My son, who works for an Audi dealer, told me of another trick I tried this evening - give the steering wheel a twitch and the car starts.

Weak door sensors - This sounds like a signal power issue (or you wear pants with metal lined pockets). Maybe a weak battery? Do you keep the key in a pocket with another remote key fob, or your phone?

weber806

Thanks for feedback, will try it tomorrow. I noticed power steering system also shuts off and steering wheel becomes numb as soon as engine shuts off.

AgMaple

Yeah, you have to yank on the wheel a a bit hard. I find the brake pedal trick easier.

weber806

Now as you explained it, I finally understand german engineering track of thought. The purpose of perforated sun panel fabric is to somewhat protect from direct sun while ride with sunroof open. I got it now... Shade panel in B9 was never meant to fully protect/block sun and keep interior vehicle temps low. I suppose these cars designed and tested in Bavaria Ingolstadt Germany with mild climate average temps at 77F and cloudy 50% of a time, so driving most of a time with sunroof open and slight shade would be pleasant experience. I can see its becoming a problem in hotter sub-tropica/tropical regions in US where sun protection is vital. Thanks for clarifying...