Leaderboard

Having had an S4 Avant 10 years from new (B8), I was waiting for Audi to get over its diesel S4 period, so welcomed the launch of the new S5 Avant. I found a dealer willing to sell me one of the first available cars (they had one more arriving than they were required to hold by Audi for showroom/demo) - and took delivery in November '24. If I had just placed an order for one I was told it would be delivered in April/May '25. It is the fully loaded ‘Launch Edition’. I have now done 4,500 miles, so possibly the most experience of this model in the UK. My overall impression is of a car that is highly loaded with clever features, but the software development is far from complete! There are many software issues and, so far, I have seen little interest from dealers or Audi in sorting them. Many are annoying and reduce the use of features (I have turned them off), but one stopped the car totally. Here are a few examples:- - The ‘speed nanny’ (beeps when you exceed the speed limit) very often gets the speed limit wrong. It miss-reads signs or misses them altogether and seems to work both from map information and camera recognition of signs. For example, on a 70 limit dual carriageway (non-motorway) it most often thinks the limit is 60, then passing under a bridge it will change its idea of the speed limit to 30 mph. I turn it off every time I start the car (useful to be able to programme a steering wheel button to do this). - The ‘cross traffic’ detection when reversing will suddenly apply the brakes to stop the car if it thinks there is cross traffic (so sudden it feels like you hit something). It took me a while to work out what was causing the braking. There was no cross traffic. It thinks my hedge, my wife’s parked car, my daughters gate, etc. are cross traffic!! When I took delivery, the salesman commented that it suddenly braked when he backed it into the showroom … I have switched this feature off. - Driving past an exit slip road on the inside lane of a dual carriageway it gets confused by the white line marking (hatches etc.) and applies the brakes – not what you want at 70mph. - The infotainment system’s behaviour seems inconsistent (there may be a logic, but I haven’t found it!). - The worst case was when I parked one day then came back to the car – it unlocked, but then was totally dead, nothing on the displays, it would not start, the brakes could not be released, nor the steering lock and I couldn’t open the rear door or lock the car again. It took Audi recovery 3 days to recover the car to the local Audi dealer and 2 days for the dealer to fix. It was apparently a ‘known’ software problem and fixed with an update – I was not notified of any recall. Needless to say the update did not fix the other issues. Other non-software thoughts? - The car is significantly bigger than the B8 A4/S4 with less room inside, feels more like an A6/S6 to drive. Disappointing. - Storage space is more limited – there is no room for a spare wheel and the emergency tyre re-inflation kit does not fit the dedicated space under the floor. The first aid kit has no home, so these things rattle about the luggage space. - Performance is of course good, but the supercharger (combined with gearbox set-up) of my old car gave better rev/torque characteristics than the new one. - The hybrid operation/performance is good and well refined. - The 20 inch wheels on my car give relatively poor ride – take the 19 inch if you can. - In my personal view the styling is poor, messy and more bling than I prefer. What would I recommend? It is a good, but not exceptionally good car – but I would suggest giving Audi another year to finish the development … so don’t buy yet.

You must have done art at school 😀

The car has been checked with a VCDS today. There were no codes. It appears the low oil sensor works in isolation. However, this does confirm that nothing more sinister is going on other than a faulty oil level sensor.

I argued, and at £40 it ended up cheaper than Kwik Fit would have been! Check your T&Cs - my contract has a list of exclusions (gear box oil, spark plugs, etc) - but not brake fluid.

Just to update the thread the Mobile Mechanic arrived at lunchtime did the job in around 1.5 hours without touching the alternator and I paid £90 labour so quite happy with that Fingers crossed its all sorted now thanks for everyones input :)

they are very reasonable quotes mine was a pig to do but that was on a audi a4 2011 tdi

Hi Frank, I certainly agree with you regarding the Tech although you have a few years head start on me. I am fairly Tech savvy but needed time to find all the features and tailor my shortcuts to my preferences. I would also sit in the car, on the drive, reading the manual and slowly getting more familiar with the tech offerings. The App does work well and reassures regarding security notifying if windows are down and doors unlocked when parked up. The simple tracking feature is a nice to have although I have not forgotten where my car has been parked by me to date. A sensible running in period is always worth doing - some may argue but the engineer in me understands what a bedding in period is for. As for comfort - the car is a very nice place to be, I drove to Glasgow from the SW of England non stop except for 1 coffee and comfort break (about 440 miles) with little discomfort and duress. The massage seats are a blessing in mine. The highest MPG I have seen indicated is 40, the lowest is 20MPG but that is towing my caravan. Once I got through the SW glitches of the the early days, the car has been a pleasure to own and drive. I now have roof bars so will be mounting up the mountain bikes for further adventures. Must remember to keep the speed sensible with the bikes up top. Hope that your experience of ownership continues to be a great one.

The Audi recommendation for cambelt renewal has changed over the years from around 80000 to 140000 and all shades in between, as you will see if you search these forums. The average recommendation from forum members in the trade is around 80000 miles or five years, whichever comes first. It's an expensive job, but nowhere near as expensive as the consequences of cambelt failure i.e. a new engine.

Thankyou again buddy

Good evening Andrew and Tom Just trolling through the website ths evening as I havent had a look for a while and just spotted both your two interesting and informative posts. I'm particuarly interested in your opinions and views of the new S5 Avant as I put an order in for one at the end of January. If I could explain my situation and the reasons behind my decision. I have been a very contented owner of two 55TFSI Q8's for the last 6 years. Firts one purchased in 2020 and the one I have now in 2023. Both have been fine, well built, well engineered cars and I have enjoyed the drivong experience. After being extremely fortunate in owning many decent cars in my almost 60 years of driving ( I'm 78 years of age ) , the Q8's were my first foray into the world of SUV's ! I had resisted for many years but as my Missus and I are oldies , we were convinced by the ease of entry and exit as our old bones and joints are now getting creaky ! My PCP for my current car ends in June so since Christmas I have been pondering on what will be our replacement. We still have good health and fitness and we both came to the conclusion we wanted to downsize a bit as we do live in the New Forest in Hampshire and the Q8 is a mighty big car ! We do about 11/12000 miles per yearmade up of local journieys t local towns like Salisbury and Winchester and twice a year two big road trips to Deutschland that take 3 sometimes 4 weeks and cover 2000 miles plus. It's these 2 trips where the Q8 has excelled, especially on the Autobahns ! So, I firts thought....maybe a hybrid . Do they make sense ? It would work on our weekly driving but woud not on our 2 big tours to Germany. I looked at a Mercedes E300 E. A very fine car and Mercedes offer very competetive PCP rates. However, I came to the conclusion that it had a 190 bhp engine and once the 50 mile electric range had depleted whilst in Germany and we do 400 miles per day, we would be lugging around a whole mass of batteries that are contributing nothing. And 190 bhp aint enough on the unrestricted Autobahns ( about 30 % of their road network now ) ....especially when they spot the UK reg ! And we have also found that the charging network in Germany isnt alot different the one we have here in the UK . We tend to stay in the same hotels in Berchtesgaden, Berlin, Dresden and Lower Saxony and all have 2 maybe 3 charging points and almost always they are occupied. So, Ive been a VAG Group man most of my life and had alook at what Audi has to offer and I spotted the new S5 Avant. Had a good look at one in a local showroom and had a test drive and I was mightily imptessed. Looks good, is fast enough and has alot of tech. One final test was to see if we could both get in and out with ease after getting used to the climb up and down in the Q8.....and we could. So, after a bit of thought, we ordered a new one from the Factory. It's in black with black interior ( just couldnt get my head around the alternative called Arras Rec !) Not too keen in the panoramic roof but decided to order the tech pack with the better sound system, heads up and the passenger screen.....as my Missus is my Navigator ! Also thought the adaptive dampers would be a good idea as we will be coming out of a car with air suspension. As Tom said in his post I'm pretty certain the car only comes with 20 " wheels. The Dealer hsip has informed me that the car will be built at the end of this month and will be here in the U.K.somewhen end of March. I have a private buyer for my Q8 and he wants it when we return from our latest road trip to Deutschland on March 22nd. abit sad as this will be our final trip in the Q8. Both cars have travelled the length and breadth of Germany in the last 6 years from the Bavarian Alps to the Island of Sylt on the border with Denmark. They have been fine cars and jave kept the two of us safe. I hope the S5 will be as good. I After the first couple of weeks of ownership I will post my first thought on the new car and comparison to the Q8. I hope this is of interest to anyone who sees it. If not, please just ignore. Frank