Driving the 2025 Audi A5 Status

October 16, 2025

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Driving the 2025 Audi A5 Status

The 2025 Audi A5 has many obligations, however I believe it handles the burden nicely.

For one factor, it’s changing two vehicles. Audi has let its lineup develop too difficult lately, and it’s utilizing 2025 to attempt to simplify all of it. The A4 is gone, with the brand new A5 changing each the outdated A5 and the A4.

For an additional, it strains up in opposition to some spectacular competitors. Patrons on the lookout for a small luxurious sedan have a tendency to decide on the BMW 3 Collection in the event that they’re out there for sport, and the Lexus ES in the event that they’re primarily on the lookout for consolation. In recent times, Audi’s sedans haven’t threatened their gross sales dominance.

The all-new A5, nonetheless, might need the mojo to do it. I spent every week driving the 2025 A5 quattro on the top-of-the-line Status trim stage and walked away impressed. It flows round corners exactly, coddles its driver in consolation, and provides some sensible applied sciences each automaker ought to copy.

If you happen to’re out there for a compact luxurious sedan, the A5 deserves a take a look at drive earlier than you set cash down on one thing else.

Which Trim Stage

Audi builds the A5 in Premium, Premium Plus, and Status trims. My tester was the Status — the fanciest of the group, with luxuries like a Bang & Olufsen sound system with headrest audio system and a separate 10.9-inch touchscreen for the entrance seat passenger, shielded from the motive force’s view.

All get the identical powertrain, that includes a 268-horsepower turbocharged 4-cylinder engine mated to a light hybrid system.

New 2025 Audi A5 Costs

		Retail Worth	Honest Buy Worth (92620)
	Status	$57,445	TBD

Favourite Function

The 2025 Audi A5 has one expertise so sensible that I hope each automaker steals it on the first alternative.

Almost each 2025 automobile has parking sensors and emits a beep as you get near automobiles, partitions, and different objects whereas trying to park. Nonetheless, that beep doesn’t provide you with any actually helpful info.

The A5 beeps, too, but it surely additionally exhibits you on the show display screen how far-off the automobile is from every object round it, in inches. So that you don’t simply know you’re near one thing — you recognize you’re 22 inches from it.

I examined it a number of occasions, measuring distances to see if a tape measure agreed with the automobile’s judgment. It was inside half an inch each time. That’s a lot extra helpful than a obscure warning sound that it would nicely qualify as the perfect new automotive expertise of 2025.

The A5 is stuffed with considerate touches like this. Many 2025 vehicles allow you to open the trunk by sweeping your foot below the rear bumper someplace. The A5, nonetheless, initiatives a lightweight on the bottom to indicate you the precise spot to make use of.

What It’s Prefer to Drive

The A5, after all, is a sports activities sedan. Is it sporty?

The turbocharged 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine makes 268 hp — sufficient to get the automobile from zero to 60 in simply 5.6 seconds. That’s half a beat slower than the bottom mannequin of the BMW 3 Collection, which is shut sufficient to make it really feel simply as fast.

Audi constructed its legend on its quattro all-wheel-drive (AWD) system, and it’s as grippy as ever right here. Not one of the main compact luxurious sedans struggles with foul climate. However none of them beat the A5 at it.

Its dealing with places it within the high half of the category for individuals who like to drive, however right here’s the place it doesn’t fairly catch as much as the BMW. The Audi Drive Choose driving mode system has a Dynamic setting that companies up the suspension. However its Particular person setting doesn’t supply a lot likelihood to tune it to your tastes the way in which some rivals do. You should use it to change how the cockpit controls show, flip driving assists on and off, and modify the steering. However you may’t alter throttle response or suspension dampening with it.

These are minor nits to select — that is an gratifying automobile in a visitors jam and on an open street.

Inside Consolation and Know-how

The A5 debuts a brand new inside design fashion for Audi, and it’s a profitable one.

Nearly each luxurious automaker has moved to roughly the identical primary dashboard structure — a pair of screens, one for the motive force and one within the heart, mounted collectively to appear to be one broad, curved display screen. Some supply an non-compulsory passenger display screen, shielded from the motive force’s view.

Audi does the identical, however makes it look attention-grabbing with uncommon shapes. It’s in the end trivial that your automobile’s display screen is a little bit of a trapezoid, however it could make one automobile just a little extra attention-grabbing than one other.

The cabin feels open and ethereal, partly as a result of the middle console shifter is sort of flat. My tester’s cabin was upholstered in cream leather-based with mild matte wooden tones all through, contributing to the spacious really feel.

Two of three trim ranges, together with my Status tester, include what Audi calls a “panoramic glass roof with variable mild management.” It’s an electrochromic setup that goes from opaque to clear on the contact of a button. However Audi designers have gotten playful with it — animations that play throughout it let the opacity scroll off like a gap sunshade or seem in stripes.

It’s the type of factor programmers do once they have a funds and free time, however I’m unsure anybody will use it frequently. Nonetheless, if it delights you, don’t you need a automobile that delights you?

Limitations

The A5 is offered in three trim ranges, however the dearer trims don’t supply mechanical enhancements. Select to spend extra provided that creature comforts like headrest audio system and heated rear seats are definitely worth the premium.

Key Concerns

Each compact luxurious automobile is nice, however there are poles to the market — you purchase a BMW 3 Collection if efficiency issues most to you, and a Lexus ES if you happen to’re in it for the splendid expertise. This new A5 could do the perfect job of balancing these traits of something in its class.