Greetings,
I am finally the proud owner of a new S5 Brilliant Black, Black leather, Carbon, Tech, Nav, B&O. I ordered this car last summer when the first dealer orders were allowed (Sunnyside Audio, Cleveland). It is my first Audi, although I have been an admirer for some time. My previous car was a 2004 Volvo S60R (300 HP, 6MT, AWD) – a good car in many ways and a royal pain in others. Before that a couple of Saabs and previously 3 RX7s, a 350 ZX Twin-Turbo and various other things. These days I have to be able to drive in all weather situations and sometimes have kids in the back seat.
I have included some photos and will be happy to take any particular shots people would like to see.
The car is beautiful and the finish is quite good. Advanced key works very well. I have not had any issues with locking and unlocking while keeping the key in my pocket. Interior is, of course, superb. I’m a bit worried about leather wear on the driver seat edge from getting in and out. Drivers seat is very good. I find that I have to keep it further forward than I expect due to the fairly deep clutch. I’m 6-foot and often drive other cars with the seat virtually all the way back – not so here. This does have the side effect of giving a little legroom to whatever small person might sit behind me. I have the steering wheel all the way in (forward) and this feels good. The steering wheel itself has a great surface and is very comfortable to hold.
The shifter is good but not great. I suppose it may improve and, of course, I’ll get more used to it. The shifters of the 2 demo cars I drove didn’t feel identical to one another. I found one of them to be quite good, one was a little difficult with 2nd, and mine sometimes feels less than perfect going into 2nd or 3rd. Not a big deal, especially if it improves.
The Headlights are very good. They were lousy on my S60R so I might be more sensitive than necessary. I can’t tell much about the adaptive lights. HVAC is very nice – especially that you can tweak it and so many other things in the MMI. I like the MMI although entering lots off addresses and such in the Directory is slow going. Unfortunately it won’t import addresses from the iPhone. Nav, based on playing with it fairly briefly, seems quite powerful.
Steering in general is good. The difference between the parking-lot, one finger, driving and the wheel on the road is rather extreme. Maybe too soft at slow speed. I haven’t done any extreme driving yet but so far I like the steering better than I thought I might based on the various reviews. The suspension also feel excellent so far. I find it to be an excellent tradeoff between comfort and performance. It would have been nice for this to be adjustable but I wasn’t interested in waiting around for that.
Mileage so far is around 14 MPG and I’ve been driving fairly modestly (175 miles). Engine sound is beautiful. I often turn off the stereo just to listen to the heart-beat of the V8. Given a choice I wish it were just slightly louder but I love what I hear.
The B&O is really outstanding – especially for the rather modest additional cost. I’m a sometimes recording engineer (Classical music) and am very critical of the usual rock-and-roll car stereo. The B&O has wonderful clarity and soundstage. I have installed an iPod which works wonderfully although scrolling around 70 gigs worth of music on the MMI doesn’t yet feel “native.” That said, it is a very useful interface and the sound is excellent. I am also using my iPhone which works like a charm. The integration and quality of sound (at least in the car) is great.
I could go on but you have all heard this stuff before….do let me know if you have any specific questions regarding my car/experience.
Cheers,
Michael
I am finally the proud owner of a new S5 Brilliant Black, Black leather, Carbon, Tech, Nav, B&O. I ordered this car last summer when the first dealer orders were allowed (Sunnyside Audio, Cleveland). It is my first Audi, although I have been an admirer for some time. My previous car was a 2004 Volvo S60R (300 HP, 6MT, AWD) – a good car in many ways and a royal pain in others. Before that a couple of Saabs and previously 3 RX7s, a 350 ZX Twin-Turbo and various other things. These days I have to be able to drive in all weather situations and sometimes have kids in the back seat.
I have included some photos and will be happy to take any particular shots people would like to see.
The car is beautiful and the finish is quite good. Advanced key works very well. I have not had any issues with locking and unlocking while keeping the key in my pocket. Interior is, of course, superb. I’m a bit worried about leather wear on the driver seat edge from getting in and out. Drivers seat is very good. I find that I have to keep it further forward than I expect due to the fairly deep clutch. I’m 6-foot and often drive other cars with the seat virtually all the way back – not so here. This does have the side effect of giving a little legroom to whatever small person might sit behind me. I have the steering wheel all the way in (forward) and this feels good. The steering wheel itself has a great surface and is very comfortable to hold.
The shifter is good but not great. I suppose it may improve and, of course, I’ll get more used to it. The shifters of the 2 demo cars I drove didn’t feel identical to one another. I found one of them to be quite good, one was a little difficult with 2nd, and mine sometimes feels less than perfect going into 2nd or 3rd. Not a big deal, especially if it improves.
The Headlights are very good. They were lousy on my S60R so I might be more sensitive than necessary. I can’t tell much about the adaptive lights. HVAC is very nice – especially that you can tweak it and so many other things in the MMI. I like the MMI although entering lots off addresses and such in the Directory is slow going. Unfortunately it won’t import addresses from the iPhone. Nav, based on playing with it fairly briefly, seems quite powerful.
Steering in general is good. The difference between the parking-lot, one finger, driving and the wheel on the road is rather extreme. Maybe too soft at slow speed. I haven’t done any extreme driving yet but so far I like the steering better than I thought I might based on the various reviews. The suspension also feel excellent so far. I find it to be an excellent tradeoff between comfort and performance. It would have been nice for this to be adjustable but I wasn’t interested in waiting around for that.
Mileage so far is around 14 MPG and I’ve been driving fairly modestly (175 miles). Engine sound is beautiful. I often turn off the stereo just to listen to the heart-beat of the V8. Given a choice I wish it were just slightly louder but I love what I hear.
The B&O is really outstanding – especially for the rather modest additional cost. I’m a sometimes recording engineer (Classical music) and am very critical of the usual rock-and-roll car stereo. The B&O has wonderful clarity and soundstage. I have installed an iPod which works wonderfully although scrolling around 70 gigs worth of music on the MMI doesn’t yet feel “native.” That said, it is a very useful interface and the sound is excellent. I am also using my iPhone which works like a charm. The integration and quality of sound (at least in the car) is great.
I could go on but you have all heard this stuff before….do let me know if you have any specific questions regarding my car/experience.
Cheers,
Michael
