ClassicMac

Hi. I hope yours serves you well, Frank! There are many good things about the car, of course, but the appreciation of those things is too often clouded by problems. Yes, the tech is not always very intuitive! One of the most useful bits is the programmable button on the steering wheel - which I have programmed to switch off the mandatory 'speed nanny', that is now part of the start-up routine! I am waiting for the 4th software update. The current annoyance is that when I select the cruise control it tells me that it is not available because there is a door open! Of course there isn't and there is no other warning that a door is open ... I'm told it is another 'known problem' which should be sorted at the next software update. I also had a warning that my key fob battery needed replacing - so I replaced it, but the warning didn't go away and came up every time I started. The dealer replaced the battery again and that seems to have gone away (they may have cleared fault codes at the same time of course). I had checked my new battery and it showed 3.3V on a voltmeter (nominal 3V), so should have been OK, the original one was down to 2.7V. Windscreen number 3 has been fitted (only took 6 weeks to come this time - during which the rear-view mirror was attached with double sided tape!). So far no problems with that. The towbar saga continues ... having said in December that they were now able to supply, the dealer insisted on a deposit to place the order - which I negotiated down from £2,500 (!) to £500, on the assumption it would not arrive quickly. Since then I have been regularly chasing with no news other than "it is on back order". When it was recently in for the windscreen the manager approached me to say that Audi have withdrawn the towbar because there is a problem with it (I assume software again), so they repaid my deposit and I have no idea when or whether it will appear! One factor in choosing this car was the over 2 tonne towing capacity, for the occasional towing of one of my old cars. The S4 was a brilliant tow car - I even towed my Jaguar XJ with no problem, which was right on the weight limit. So a couple of weeks ago I had to rent a truck to transport one of the cars to Lancashire. Finally - my tyres are almost fully warn - after just 10,500 miles! I was used to getting 20,000 or even 30,000 miles from a set of tyres so this is a bit of a shock - not to mention potentially an annual £1,000 bill. When I commented to the dealer the replay was "this is normal nowadays, with such a heavy car and low profile tyres" ... I am wondering whether to change the wheels for 19" to (slightly) improve the ride and reduce the vulnerability to pothole damage. I am not a fan of the skinny 'rubber band' tyres that are the fashion nowadays. They did originally specify the S5 as either 20" or 19", but seem only to supply with 20".

Hi Maybe my mistake was to buy the new S5 Avant model (one of the first in the UK) before they finished developing it.... I had previously an S4 Avant, which I bought new (because I wanted the Adaptive cruise after experiencing that on my previous Jaguar Super V8) and kept for 10 years and 10,000 miles. in the first years (before I retired) I did 20,000 per year, but less than 10,000 latterly. It was reliable and did everything I needed, including towing classic/vintage cars on trailer. Best towcar I have had and a good towing capacity (2100kg). I would have bought a new S4 but was avoiding the diesel version, so when the petrol S5 replacement was announced that seemed the ideal replacement. I would never have an SUV ... So my S5 is the Launch Edition, intended for dealer showroom/demonstrator 4 months ahead of general availability in November 2024. Stratstone offered me one as they had one more ordered than Audi required them to have. It has all the extras, except the pan roof for some reason and Stratstone did me a good deal on the price. It didn't have a towbar, but I thought I could add that, as I did to the S4. However I found that you cannot add an aftermarket towbar as with the new coding protocol it is impossible to code anything other than an original Audi one - which costs over £2,000, or would if you could get one (though they are fitting them on the production line to order). After a year of asking Audi said it is available, but "on back order", I ordered one 2 months ago and still no date. Everything is on back order ... it took 2 months to get rubber floor mats, 3 months to get a windscreen after mine cracked - and now my interior mirror has detached from the screen (hanging by wires till I stuck it back with double sided tape) - the dealer said the windscreen needs replacing again as the bonding has separated - no news on when that will appear! I have had 3 software updates so far (one of which followed a stranding with a dead/unresponsive car), but still have some gremlins. Today, for example, the cruise control would not work because it said a door was open - though I have checked all the doors and re-opened and closed them. So already this has been the most unreliable car I have owned in over 50 years (revealing my age there!) - a contrast to the last Audi, and the dealer service has been poor (they have one technician that is very good and customer friendly, but the 'front of house' people who you usually have to contact are hopeless, they don't have any technical understanding and don't return calls etc.). After the first 3 years I used a good local Audi specialist for the S4, at less than half the cost. Rant over ... it is good to drive, performs well, is (only slightly) more economical than my S4. The adaptive cruise is better (old one didn't work below 5 mph). Some of the tech is good, when it works, though some is too nanny-ish. You guys are coming down from larger cars, for me this is significantly larger and heavier than the S4, with less room inside, especially storage. So not so easy to park in congested Cambridge! (I had downsized from an excellent but LWB Jaguar). Nowhere to put the tyre pump (I had a spare wheel in the S4!) or first aid kit (was in the rear arm rest of the S4). I don't think I will buy another Audi it would seem they have gone downhill. Product development, incomplete; parts supply, inefficient and poor customer service (not just the dealer, Audi UK are no better). I hope your experience is better than mine!

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.