Audi S5: Fully tested

Besides the dumb headline ("American Flyer") in this test report by Inside Line, it's a nice review of the Audi S5. Although their criticism about the brakes is rather funny, because usually they complain of too light breaking always.

Audi has figured out that a coupe should be beautiful, not merely exclusive. Even as the typical German sedan has become a beast with swollen fenders and a massive grille, designed to bludgeon the meek out of the fast lane on the autobahn, the 2008 Audi S5 has a different look. Its curving contours are leaner, more expressive and more energetic.

There's a new, down-the-road sense in this car that you can feel as soon as you take the steering wheel. The S5 feels alert, completely different from an A4 sedan or even an RS4.

Yet it's the engine that dominates the S5, just as it should in a sporting coupe. Audi's 4.2-liter V8 appears once again here, calibrated this time to deliver 354 horsepower at 7,000 rpm and 325 pound-feet of torque at 3,500 rpm.

This long-stroke V8 doesn't have a very sexy reputation, yet it's brilliant in both character and performance. It pulls from very low rpm just like an American-built V8, and then it has another dimension of power that carries you to its 7,000-rpm redline.

Related news: GermanCarBlog, P4MR, Audi S5

Source: Inside Line

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