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While we’re forever bemoaning American disinterest in sport wagons, is it also now time to bemoan American disinterest in the humble coupe? If Audi’s sales figures are any indicator, perhaps. According to the company, sales of the A5 Sportback – a four-door hatchback – handily outpace sales of the original A5 coupe. It seems people prefer the versatility and ability to stuff three actual adults in back when necessary. (We’ll ignore the fact that the Sportback is just one designer’s digital click-and-drag away from being a sport wagon. Just hike up that back end and – oh, never mind…) For that reason, Audi is paying extra-special attention to the newest sport-tuned variant in its lineup, the comely RS 5 Sportback.
Not only has it given the RS 5 lots of love, but it’s showering that love overwhelmingly in the direction of North America, which it fully expects to be the strongest market for the mid-sized rocket. For that reason, U.S. media enjoyed the first glimpse of the machine on the roads outside Munich, as well as at its sprawling Audi Sport experience center, where we tossed it through a variety of challenges.
The Good: First, stellar handling and responsiveness. The RS 5 made quick work of the mountain roads in Bavaria, and felt nicely planted during straight-line assaults on the autobahn. Throw in the six-cylinder twin-turbo’s quick response in Dynamic mode and its throaty growl – though that’s enhanced inside by a window-vibrating augmentation system (seriously, a small transducer vibrates the windshield to use it as a speaker) – and you have a world-class sports machine. It’s also a looker, with subtly wavy character lines, more pronounced wheel arches compared to its donor model, a unique fascia just for this model with a matte-aluminum blade beneath the grille and a carbon-fiber rear diffuser. Inside, you have 22 cubic feet of storage thanks to the hatchback configuration, or up to 35 cubic feet if you fold the rear seats down. That’s significant and great for people who live in the real world.
My personal favorite option, however, is the green paint, a.k.a., Sonoma Green Metallic. It’s a glittery color that immediately conjures up something familiar from my childhood that I can’t quite put my finger on – a toy perhaps, or television show or a groovy custom van I may have seen back in the late ’70s – and which immediately bonds me to it. Can’t say the effect will be the same for you, but even objectively, it’s a cool color.
Who It’s For: Pricey performance coupes can send a certain message about their owners – their station in life, their aspirations, their fears – that could betray reality. You may come across as someone who really wants a sports car, deep down, but either can’t afford it or is grudgingly lugging the kiddos around, or people might assume you’re an older empty-nester or, on the other side, someone still young and monied enough to dig such cars but is hoping for a family soon and doesn’t really have enough friends to worry about needing those two extra doors. No other body style, save the minivan, comes freighted with quite so much anxiety. Four-door sport coupes bypass all that, are fundamentally cool and can be used to carry kids and friends, so nobody will assume one or the other. That’s you.
