I have not driven a single Audi to date where I could find anything wrong with its handling. The S5’s dynamic abilities only better that impression. The chassis is taut and the suspension stiff enough to rule out body-roll. The aero-efficient shape helps, of course. As does the feedback-rich, maintenance-free, speed-sensitive, and power-assisted rack-and-pinion steering. Hairpins, switchbacks, sweeping bends…the S5 makes short work of them all. This car is so capable a handler that it gives the driver oodles and oodles of confidence to push harder.
On the ride quality front, things are a little bit firmer than the average Audi but then again one mustn’t forget that this is an S-line car and, therefore, is a little bit more hardcore than the average saloon from Ingolstadt. As a result, you do feel the road irregularities as you thud and thump through potholes and over ruts. That said, the ride quality is still not jarring and, for a car this sporty, I’d say Audi have done a brilliant job of working out that perfect compromise between sporty handling and good ride quality. Perhaps, the only negative (and that’s more a reflection on our roads than on the car) of the S5 is its rather low ground clearance. It does have a tendency to scrape our sky-scraping speed-breakers, so should you have an eye on an Audi S5, you will need to slow down and zigzag across high bumps.
