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29 · OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, September 9, 2009 Audi adds a luxury four-person Cabriolet to the family for 2010 By Jim Robinson Metroland Newspapers Carguide Magazine NAPA, Ca.: If you think the auto industry is in big trouble, talk to Audi. No company I know of plays the performance/luxury/pricing card better. Don't believe me? Look at Audi sales in Canada. Audi is adding new vehicles seemingly every month. The latest are the 2010 A5 Cabriolet and 2010 S5 Cabriolet that bring together all Audi's technology and sense of style in a fourseat convertible that, if desired, can run rings around just about anything on the road. The difference between the two convertibles is primarily the engine. The A5 comes with a 2.0-litre DOHC inline four-cylinder, which is turbocharged with direct fuel injection. It produces 211 hp and a meaty 258 lb/ft of torque starting as low as 1,500 rpm. The A5 features the latest version of Audi's renowned quattro all-wheel-drive with the torque split normally 40 per cent to the front and 60 per cent to the rear. Top speed is limited to 130 mph (209 km/h). With its six-speed Tiptronic automatic, fuel consumption on the A5 Cabriolet is rated at 10.1/7.5L/100 km city/highway. That latter figure is almost 38 mpg, which is pretty good for a turbo especially one pumping out that much torque. The S5 has a 3.0-litre DOHC V6, this time with an intercooled supercharger, to produce 333 hp and 325 lb/ft of torque. This compares to the BMW 335i inline six-cylinder with twin turbos that produces 300 hp. Fuel consumption on the S5 is listed at 12.9/8.1L/100 km city/highway with a top speed limited to 155 mph (250 km/h). The S5 also features quattro drive with latest version of quattro does but there's more to it than that. It is absolutely amazing to think the S5 is doing millions of calculations per second all based on giving the driver the best ride and response possible. Add in driver aids like ABS, brake distribution control and stability control and you really have to go out of your way to get the S5 off kilter. This car was driven at an Audi press launch in Napa, Ca., where the roads are some of the smoothest and picturesque of any in the world. This is Audi S5 Cabrio country. Ambling down Highway 101 South I was amazed to see I was up at 75 mph (U.S. spec car) in a 65 mph zone. It was so stable and smooth, I didn't have a sensation of the kind of speed I was doing. That's when you realize the claims of this car going 155 mph or 250 km/h are not advertising boasts. Down in Marin County, I turned off and headed for the Pacific. It doesn't really matter what direction you take, the roads are all beautifully winding and, if you want, challenging. I left the S5 on Auto and basically just drank it all in. Stopping at a Marin Country park, a ranger came over, and instead of kicking me out because I was close the water, he asked if I wanted to try an even better vista on a road above. The A5/S5 Cabriolet is much bigger than the A4/S4 Cab it replaces and most of that is in the back seat. The new car comes with a wind blocker that folds and stows in its own compartment in the trunk. With the width and length of the opening for the back seat, you kind of expect the wind blocker of being more show than anything else. Continued on page 31 Photo by Jim Robinson Audi has added two convertibles in the mid-size range with the 2010 A5 Cabriolet and the S5 Cabriolet (shown). The top deploys in 15 seconds and it can be activated at speeds of almost 50 km/h. the same torque split as the A5. However, the transmission is Audi's new Stronic, a sevenspeed twin clutch unit. Available as an option on the S5 is the new Sports Rear Differential. Besides constantly varying grip front to rear as required, the sport diff splits torque between the rear wheels so that the rear tire with the most traction gets more grunt and that adds not only to stability in a corner, but also the exit speed after clearing the apex. Also part of the new A5/S5 package is what Audi calls Drive Select. With computers and sensors monitoring your driving inputs vis-a-vis road conditions, the driver can adjust steering response, suspension damping rates and also alter the engine mapping for the best mix of performance and fuel consumption for the situation. There are three modes starting with Comfort that evens everything out for a relaxed highway driving style of ride. Auto is for daily driving. And then there is Dynamic that tightens up the suspension, speeds steering response while making the engine operate crisper in terms of power delivery. Audi calls this a benchmark. There are systems in other performance cars that do roughly the same thing, but none with the prowess of quattro. The only similar system was Si-Drive on the Subaru Legacy with their competing version of all-wheel-drive but it is no longer offered. But what makes Drive Select even more fun is the Sports Rear Differential as fitted to the S5 Cab I spent my time with. I've found twin-clutch transmissions to be the biggest advance I have personally experienced in the past five years. These things are truly seamless unless you've got the hammer down, and even then, actuation is immediate. There's no such thing as slipping the clutch and botching a shift. The twin-clutch engaged faster that the time it takes to blink an eye and nails it every time. There's a lot of buzz right now about "torque vectoring" which is kind of what the