If some engine puts the final nail into the coffin of the mainstream V-8, it’s the newborn 3.0-liter emotional V-6 in Audi’s 2010 S5 Cabriolet and S4 sedan. Rated 333 horsepower and 325 pound-feet, it’s 20 horses shy of the 4.2-liter V-8’s power sort and its match on twist. We got a hurried sampling of the newborn engine in the cloth-lid S5. Our testing reveals the S5 ragtop is meet half a second slower — or inferior hurried — from 0-60 mph than the V-8 Mercedes-Benz SLK55 AMG and V-8 S5 coupe. In the quarter mile, it’s 0.8 second slower than the Benz, 0.5 slower than the S5 hardtop. The Cabriolet’s newborn engine seems poised for the newborn CAFE order, with 17/26 mpg EPA numbers, versus 16/24 for the S5 V-8 coupe with the S tronic and 14/22 for the drill coupe. (The S4 litter with the emotional 3.0 gets 18/27 mpg with the manual; 18/28 with S tronic.) Engine downsizing, even among expensive Teutonic performance cars, is the Next Big Thing, and Audi has trumped BMW, which is going backwards to a six-cylinder engine for the incoming M3.
The 3.0 TFSI features gas direct injection and the intercooled supercharger — \”T\” typically means \”turbocharged\” in VW and Audi engines, but apparently SFSI doesn’t seem sporty enough. While its sound is distinctively blown-V-6, Audi has adjusted it to sound the conception of a V-8 killer, but with a higher pitch. The brappy soundtrack is accentuated by back-pressure burbles during upshifts of the seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch transmission, when you get battleful with the throttle.
Audi’s facelifted ‘10 A6 sedan is acquirable with the new supercharged 3.0, detuned to 299 horsepower. Even in the larger, heavier car, the engine is a match for any non-tuner V-8 competition, whether BMW 550i, Mercedes-Benz E550 or Audi’s possess 4.2-liter-powered A6. And we averaged 21.9 mpg. The S5 ragtop is more a Mercedes AMG competitor than a BMW M competitor. It’s substantially bigger and heavier than a BMW 3 Series/M3, and it feels a taste more relaxed, more like a big AMG Benz. As with every Audis, the brake feel like they could stop a move on a dime. Our 60-0-mph figure beats the Benz SLK55 by nine feet and a Lexus SC 430 by 14. The seven-speed S tronic remains perhaps the best dual aggregation in the industry, with near ratios that will have you upshifting and downshifting maybe a taste likewise much. While we were unable to figure-eight-test it, the Dunlop SP Sport Maxx GTs substance heaps of appendage and the support is sufficiently formal for flat cornering and slick handling. If you’re hunt a more easygoing convertible, look elsewhere. The S5’s support feels formal over road imperfections, and the automobile feels heavy. There is sufficiency support deference for the casual enthusiast, however. Steering is hurried and direct, with good feedback. Cowl shake is minimal, but it’s there — this is a unibody automobile fashioned first as a coupe, after all.
