Audi S5: Finalist for Motor Trend's Car of the Year

Friday, November 23, 2007

Audi S5: Finalist for Motor Trend's Car of the Year

The Audi S5 is a finalist for Motor Trend's Car of the Year award. Read here why.

We're a disciplined lot when it comes to selecting the Car of the Year. If we weren't, this gorgeous red coupe would be rocketing off into the sunset with the golden calipers. Our S5 test car, equipped with a V-8 and six-speed manual tranny is the debut variant of Audi's new grand-touring coupe. S5 automatics and V-6-powered A5s arrive in the spring. Sporting the only V-8 in this year's field, the S5 was far and away the most enjoyable car to drive. With the biggest engine, the best weight-to-power ratio, and quattro all-wheel-drive routing all that juice to the ground via fat and sticky tires, the S5 easily trumped all contenders in every objective performance test. It also managed to press all the right subjective buttons on the various hilly and twisty roads, prompting comments like this gusher from Ed Loh: "So much grip out of corners, it's scary to think what it would take to get this thing loose."