2010 Audi A5 2.0 TFSI Cabriolet Review

2010 Audi A5 2.0 TFSI Cabriolet Review Take what is arguably Audi's prettiest car, lop off the top, and splash it all liberally with technology from a company that mostly gets it. But is the engine room calling the right shots? Let's drive the Audi A5 2.0 turbo Cabriolet and check the tap. Now, our good friends at Audi sent us an A5 Cab with just about everything in it. So, let's get started. First of all this head unit is familiar and yet not. You'll notice the Audi four corners logic where you've got four things around the corners of the screen and those correlate to the four buttons around the main controller. That is a key essence of Audi's interface visually as well as mechanically. If you haven't been in an Audi lately, the knob has changed a little. It's a turning clicking apparatus. There's not four-speed back here. It turns and clicks the same way all the time. But, it does now have a click button in the middle that also is a rocker, a little jog stick deal. First to the navigation screen where we can, once again, report that Audi has gone 3D gaga. No one is as nuts about 3D virtual representations as these guys, sort of Google earth. Really good detail, I mean really good detail on the buildings, given today's state of the art. You don't see a lot of windows and finishes there. But, you really see a lot of structures, certainly at least in urban areas. And, even as you drill down, the detail holds up. An A5 is going to come with an AM/FM, CD Sirius satellite radio, ten speaker Audi sound system. Well, we're not doing that. We've got the prestige trim on this car, which makes it a pretty pricey ride. But, that means Bang and Olufsen sound to begin with on the output side. You can't miss those burnished aluminum rings around the speakers and a lot of interesting things going on with sources. Now, starting off with radio, of course, we have the usual garden variety AM/FM. And, of course, there is serious satellite radio just like you have on the stock unit. Now, the media button's a fun one. Let's get started. At the top, it's our juke box, because this car has a hard drive base system for the NAV, you also get 9.3 gigabytes available for you to put media on. And, of course, this optical drive, because it's on the high end head unit, will also play DVDs. Every one seems to do that with their fancy system these days even though it's kind of silly. You’ve got to park somewhere and watch a movie. And, of course, in a car this size, there's no option for a rear seat entertainment system. Finally we've got Audi's media device interface AMI. We've got an iPhone hooked up to it right now. Our LCD screen is, of course, also used for our rearview camera. We also have back sensors, as you can hear me a little bit back hear chirping away. And they have two modes here to give you some parking information. As you can see, I get some trajectory and I also get some zones there. If I hit the button on the right, it changes from parallel parking mode to side by side parking mode. Now, normally I don't go on about climate control systems or heated and cooled seats a whole lot. That's kind of low tech these days. But, there's no climate system that can really overcome the fact that you're missing a roof unless you've got these vents right here on the seat. These are AIRSCARF technology. And you've got a button right down here at the front corner of the seat. You can kick that on, and an internal electric heater and blower starts up and blows hot air over the back of your neck. It's quite nice. Now, up front, our Audi A5 2.0 T is a turbo. But, it doesn't have to be because some Audi supercharged motors also get the T thing put on the end of them. So, beware of that. This guy is a Turbo Inline 4, however, very advanced in its valve trained technology and the way the turbo's man is and all the usual engine tweaks you'd expect from Audi. Bottom line is, you get about 211 horsepower, 258 foot pounds of torque, 0 to 60 by six and a half, pretty good for a 3,700ish pound car. Mileage is okay, 20, 26, and with a CVT instead of a Tiptronic Automatic, and the mileage improves a lot to 23, 30. You’ve got to think about that. On the road, the two meter turbo motor is not a monster. But, turbos always have a certain energetic nature about them. And this isn't supposed to be a total barn burner kick in the butt power plan. Turbo lag is less than most. And what you really notice is the smoothness of the engine, the transmission and the running gear all at once. This car is really spookily smooth. That goes a long way to making it feel faster than the 6.5 second car that it is which isn't slow in itself. The side assisted stuff lights up in the mirror when someone's in your blind spot and then blinks manically if you still signal while there's someone in your blind spot. But, it does nothing to correct your drift into a problem. It's an indicator system not a correction system. Let's price our Audi A5 2.0 Turbo Cabrio, 43 or so base. That's front wheel drive. Add 2,100 if you want Quattro. Then, to get this thing done up CNET style, you've got to add a ton of rather pricey packages because the tech is scattered amongst them, very clever. The big one's the prestige trim. That's $8,300.00 that brings you the navigation system, the AMI for your iPod, Bang and Olufsen sound, Bluetooth, heated front seats. The comfort package is $2,400.00 that gets you heated, ventilated front seats with fancy leather and that trick AIRSCARF. Nine hundred bucks for driver assist if you want all that blind spot technology and rear camera and bumper sensors. The sports package for 1450 is how you get shift paddles and those sport seats.