Search: More on the Audi A5 Sportback
Once we’ve decided what to call the imminent calendar flip (after the noughties, the teenies, perhaps?) the car pundits will be taking a long look at the new shapes that will set automotive trends for the next decade.
Sportback not quite the first on the block
Audi wasn’t quite first on the block with this clever and inevitable trendsetting new variation, the A5 Sportback. Mercedes-Benz proved back in 2004 with the wonderful CLS that there’s a market for trompe l’oeil transport which appears to be an overt coupé yet, on closer inspection, is something that promises all the practicality of a boxier, four-door saloon (ie you can get out of the back via your own personal door, with no need to garrotte front-seat passengers or perform some hideous hip-swivelling manoeuvre).
You and your entire family can have it all!
The message from this car genus, apparently, is that you (and your entire family) can have it all – just as Porsche says with the Panamera, Ferrari with the 612 Scaglietti and Maserati with the obviously monikered Quattroporte. And fair enough – why should it be only the boys and girls who have been meticulous with their contraception who have all the fun of driving a sexy, sleek machine? This Audi takes the issue further though: though your eyes won’t agree, it’s basically a large hatchback.
A5 Sportback a bit of Deeta Von Teese
But we are talking degrees of sexy sleekness here. If the Audi TT is a cheeky little Kylie Minogue, you’ve got to acknowledge the A5 Sportback as a bit of Deeta Von Teese. If you’re looking for a breathless size eight supermodel, keep walking; this A5 is a good portion more on the voluptuous side. Witness those broad flanks, the long, luxurious and generous curves that start at the headlights and maintain an even caress all the way to the rump. It’s a sexy shape, without doubt, but it likes three square meals a day and would prefer habitual valet parking at your local spa to a diet of school runs and weekend forays to Asda.
Surely for all this style bills are going to be painful?
All of which brings us, inevitably, to economics. With looks this opulent and well-fed, surely the bills are going to be painful? And that, of course, is where this 2.0 TDI SE, the entry-level model, swans into the argument.
Take the hit there are many positives
Once you’ve taken the hit in the showroom – £27,140 for the SE – there are many positives to help ensure you keep your nerve, not least an average consumption of 54.3mpg and 137g/km of nasty fumes, which spells band E taxation and a light clobbering of just £120 per year for the disc.
