Audi S5 2026 review | A high-performance delight

What is the Audi S5?

Thought the S5 badge meant a coupé body style? Until recently it did. Audi has rethought its approach to model designations, meaning you’ll find that letter and number combination on the back of a four-door saloon or five-door estate (or ‘Avant’ if you speak Audi) these days.

The S5 is the replacement for the S4, which across six generations earned itself a reputation for offering strong performance, handsome looks and secure handling alongside true versatility and an upmarket interior. But no S4 was ever known for its responsive handling or rewarding dynamics – along with the badge, that changes right here.

Its closest rival is the BMW M340i xDrive, which is on the brink of being superseded by a brand new model. For decades this was a one-sided contest – the Audi always had its attributes, but without exception the equivalent BMW was the sharper car to drive. It isn’t so clear-cut nowadays. While the M340i is a touch lighter and more powerful, the Audi counters with better ride comfort and a classier interior. The BMW’s straight-six soundtrack is sweeter and its steering is more precise, but that’s it. In every other important regard, the Audi is a match for it at the very least.

With the arrival of the range-topping RS5, the S5 is in danger of being overlooked. But this much more affordable, practical, comfortable and versatile model deserves much more than to become a footnote in the history of sporting Audis.

How practical is it?

A five-door estate should be among the most practical cars on the road, but there are some important considerations to be made here. Take the elegantly swooping roofline, which in fact limits how much stuff can be squeezed into the boot. A similarly sized Volvo with its boxier roofline would swallow an extra suitcase or two. Indeed, the Audi’s 448-litre boot is significantly smaller than that offered by a Volkswagen Golf estate (611 litres) which belongs to the class below.

Common to both body styles is limited rear legroom, which means taller passengers will not want to sit behind taller front seat occupants for long periods. Bulkier, rear-facing child seats will struggle for space too.

On plus side, the Audi’s standard 40:20:40 split-folding rear seat does make best use of its load bay. The driver’s seating position is widely adjustable, meaning drivers who prefer to sit low in the car can do so, while those who favour a loftier position with a better view of the road can achieve exactly that. The front seats are comfortable and supportive, and upholstered in high-grade Nappa leather that lends the interior much of its upmarket feel.

Whereas many cars of this size offer deep storage compartments between the front seats, the S5 only manages to offer a small cubby beneath the central armrest – beneath it sits the propshaft that diverts some portion of the engine’s torque to the rear axle. So while this Audi appears to be a sensible and practical family car on paper, the need to package a four-wheel drive system beneath the car and a bulky V6 petrol engine up front, in combination with the Avant’s cascading roofline, means this Audi is less practical in reality than many buyers might expect.

What’s it like to drive?

Like a BMW, which is meant entirely as a compliment. It doesn’t drive exactly like one of its rivals from across southern Germany, largely because the S5 doesn’t steer with the same precision as a comparable BMW, but in terms of poise, chassis balance and agility, this is an Audi that behaves far less like one of its forebears and rather more like something with a blue and white propeller badge on its prow.

Those frustrating Audi dynamic traits of old – wooden steering, nose-heavy handling, inert balance – have largely been eradicated across the current model range, but it’s particularly true in the case of the S5. Quattro four-wheel drive, optional adaptive dampers (a must have for the ride comfort benefits they confer) and a torque vectoring sport differential at the rear make this a particularly sophisticated car, and in turn a broadly capable one. It delivers on the comfort, stability and refinement stakes, as we’ve come to expect of high-performance Audis, but gone is the underwhelming handling balance that has plagued so many of this breed across the decades.

This is at once a civilised and cosseting car, and the sort of machine that the most enthusiastic drivers will get a kick out of. It eats up long distances effortlessly, but tackles a winding B-road with genuine adeptness too.

Its turbocharged 3-litre V6 petrol engine delivers strong performance, but against a kerb weight of very nearly two tonnes, not even 362bhp and 406lb ft of torque can make this car feel searingly fast – certainly not in this age of exceptionally powerful EVs. There are countless Kias, Hyundais, MGs and goodness knows what else that will show this Audi a clean pair of mud flaps away from the lights.

And if that is all that matters to you, electric is the way to go. Yet there will always be something about a potent and responsive petrol engine, one that delivers its power with a crescendo and a stirring soundtrack, plus a snappy dual-clutch transmission that an anodyne electric powertrain could never hope to match.

A complex powertrain can become a calibration nightmare for the engineers responsible for developing it, and here it shows – at low speeds at least, driving this car smoothly requires some very deft footwork on behalf of the driver. Drive mindlessly and it’s all too easy to upset one or other of the turbocharged V6, mild-hybrid system, four-wheel drive or dual-clutch transmission as you manoeuvre or pull away like a learner driver.

Technology, equipment & infotainment

Even in entry-level Black Edition (£66,655 Saloon, £68,555 Avant) guise the S5 comes equipped with matrix LED headlights, the torque vectoring differential, Nappa leather seats, a punchy Bang & Olufsen stereo and a 360-degree parking camera. Upgrade to Vorsprung trim (£73,405 Saloon, £75,305 Avant) to add lowered suspension with adaptive dampers, a panoramic glass sunroof with switchable transparency and a 10.9in front passenger touchscreen – which, it must be said, is largely for show since it doesn’t fully connect to Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.

Either way you’ll get the full suite of driver assist systems, including lane-keep assist, traffic sign recognition and a speed limit waring chime. For those who prefer to do without, these systems can be disabled quickly and easily (once you’ve saved the shortcuts to the correct steering wheel button and steering column stalk) but they’re heavy-handed and obtrusive when left on. They can be unreliable too, the full suite of assist functions occasionally failing altogether, and reminding you of said failure with an increasingly irritating bong every two minutes.

That said, the infotainment system with its large, oval-shaped central display is easy to use, never more so than when hooked up to CarPlay. The driver display (Audi calls it Virtual Cockpit) is fully digital too, only the curiously small rev counter letting the side down. A head-up display is available as part of a pair of upgrade packages, namely the S Technology pack or Vorspung specification.

Keyless entry is part of the standard equipment. For added convenience, you can pair a virtual key to your phone or smart watch, meaning you need never leave home with a physical car key again.

Audi S5 running costs

Official fuel economy figures often need to be taken with a pinch of salt, but in the Audi’s case it’s pretty close to the mark – a combined WLTP figure of 35mpg is just about achievable in careful real-world use, at least on longer motorway runs, but not if you exercise the V6 engine with any regularity. Put the car’s performance to work on a daily basis and that fuel economy average will drop to 30mpg, which can sting a little when petrol costs as much as it does right now.

The S5 is also subject to the Expensive Car Supplement (the government considers any petrol or diesel car costing more than £40,000 to be ‘expensive’), meaning you’ll face a £640 annual Vehicle Excise Duty bill. Insurance can be costly – depending on specification, the S5 can sit in insurance groups 42-46 (50 being the highest) – and a full set of good quality 20in ultra high-performance tyres can easily set you back £1000 or more.

Throw in main dealer service bills of around £400 for a minor check-up and £800 for a major service and you’ll need to be comfortable with the overall cost of keeping an S5 on the road before you decide to take the plunge. This is a premium car with bundles of performance – and you’ll pay for it even after you’ve bought the car.

Audi S5 reliability

Though it’s too early to be definitive about it, in a mechanical sense these appear to be solid and robust cars. There is a tremendous level of complexity to the powertrain and chassis components beneath the bodywork, however, and problems might yet arise as a result of that.

What is clear already, though, is that software bugs are more commonplace than they should be. Many owners have reported erroneous engine warning lights, frozen infotainment screens, Bluetooth connections dropping out, faulty wireless charging pads and so on. As already mentioned, the driver assist systems are known to be temperamental too.

Audi offers a three-year/60,000-mile manufacturer warranty, which for a long time was par for the course but now appears a touch mean compared to the more generous warranties offered by some – Kias, for instance, are covered for seven years or 100,000 miles. Given the complexity of the S5’s drivetrain and cabin electronics, buyers would be well advised to pay extra for Audi’s extended five-year warranty package.

In contrast with Audi’s polished, premium-market positioning, the marque rarely excels in ownership reliability surveys. In one recent study of new cars Audi was placed 13th out of 30 manufacturers; in a separate used car survey, it finished 14th out of 26.