Since its introduction, the Audi A5 Coupé has been touted by some as one of the most beautiful cars ever designed. The German Design Council awarded the car with a 2010 Design Award, prompting the designer, Walter de Silva, to comment “The Audi A5 Coupé is the most beautiful car I’ve ever designed,”.

Of course it was only a matter of time before a convertible version would be made and following on from there, a high-performance ‘S’ version.

The Audi S5 Cabriolet has the rest of the range beaten in the styling department. While the lines of the A5 Cabriolet are far better than its Coupé sibling in our eyes, the S5 takes things a step further with a number of highlights synonymous with Audi’s ‘S’ cars. Styling cues include the chrome mirror caps, radiator grille surround, window surrounds and of course the quad-exhausts exiting the rear bumper. Our press car was fitted with optional 19-inch alloy wheels, which fill the arches that are lower to the ground courtesy of S sports suspension.

Inside, Audi’s cabin wraps you in alcantara and leather combination seat trim. The signs are subtle, but between the decorative carbon inlays, sports seats, ‘S’ badges on the aluminium door sill inlays and multi-function steering wheel, you know you’re in one of their range toppers. The sport seats are standard, are electronically adjustable and heated, to make sure you’re always in a comfortable and cosy position. Other interior highlights include a thick-rimmed 3-spoke leather steering wheel, black headlining and automatic seat belt extenders that ‘hand’ the seatbelt to you once seated. Neck-level heating is an available option for the front seats – ducts on the top of the seatback emit warm air that keeps the back of the head and neck warm – while both the front and rear seats have been treated to reduce heat absorption from our African sun. Audi say there’s enough room in the rear for two, but in contrast to potentially infinite headroom, there’s just enough legroom to keep kids happy and that’s about it.

Like all open-top Audi models, the new S5 Cabriolet has a classic fabric top. The lightweight soft top opens in 15 seconds – and closes in 17 seconds at the touch of a button. With the roof folded away, the Audi S5 Cabriolet still offers best-in-class cargo capacity of 320-litres, or luggage for two plus a few extras. As with the A5 3.2 FSI Cabriolet we drove earlier in the year, the fabric roof provides good insulation from wind and road noise. However, when using the built-in hands-free cellphone kit, we still found it difficult to hear the caller at speeds of 100 km/h or above – a speed the S5 achieves effortlessly.

Contrary to what you may have thought, the S5 Cabriolet is not endowed with the same 4.2-litre V8 found in the S5 Coupé. Instead it uses the same TFSI engine as the Audi S4. The redesigned, supercharged 3.0-litre V6 engine, with an output of 245 kW and 440 Nm, delivers brisk performance. It requires just 5.6 seconds for zero to 100 km/h and has a electronically governed top speed of 250 km/h. The S5 Cabriolet is fitted with Audi’s seven-speed S tronic gearbox as standard.

Harnessing the engine’s power is Audi’s S sports suspension and high-performance brake system – recognisable by the brake calipers painted black and with the S5 logo. All four wheels deliver power to the road via Audi’s Quattro all-wheel drive system. However, further options are available for more dynamic driving. These include Audi’s Drive Select system, which allows the driver to adjust the engine, transmission, steering and shock absorbers according to three predefined settings, as well as individually. Audi also offers a new sport differential for the S5 Cabriolet, which variably distributes power between the rear wheels, up to a ratio of 40 percent to the front and 60 percent to the rear.

Best enjoyed with the roof down, the S5 begins to speak to you as the supercharged V6 spins past 4 000 r/min – even more enjoyable if you can find a cliff-face to amplify and bounce the exhaust note off. The S tronic paddle shifters are always at your finger tips and offer up seamless changes through the 7-speed transmission. The combination of S sports suspension and all-wheel drive mean the car is glued to the road and is able to carry grin-inducing amounts of corner speed. Equipped with the optional sports differential sending up to 60 percent of power to the rear wheels, the S5 Cabriolet feels more engaging than the traditional 50:50 Quattro setup, as you’re able to get the rear end squirming under acceleration. Our spirited driving only lasted for a few kilometers of mountain pass though, as we had to give in to the spongy demands of the performance brakes to ‘cool it’ for fear that they may go on a full-blown strike.

A slower pace does reveal a softer side to the S5 Cabriolet, one in which occupants are made to feel like the proverbial ‘million bucks’. Wafting down country lanes, the Cape Winelands district in our case, the topless S5 allows you to take in the sights, sounds and smells of a summery Sunday afternoon and even comes with a wind deflector as standard to keep your hairdo looking good while doing so. The smooth 7-speed gearbox and torquey 3.0-litre V6 are unobtrusive on the move and ensure effortless progress. This perfect picture can be given a jolt every now and then though by the firm suspension, an S5 trait we suspect could be remedied with the adjustable dampers available with the Audi Drive Select package.

The S5 Cabriolet is a good car, with many good elements – including the styling, engine, rear-biased sports differential and overall ‘feel good’ factor – but the lustre of the S5′s allure is lost to the soft nature of the brakes when driven like an S car and the rather uncompromising suspension for a car that appeals more to the touring side of motoring, rather than harder sports driving. For the sake of 0.8 seconds to 100 km/h, a 3 km/h slower top speed and almost 30% better fuel consumption, you can enjoy just about everything the S5 has to offer in the 3.0 TDI Cabriolet and from a price that starts from more than R115k less.

What we like…

• The acceleration.
• The glorious exhaust note.
• The styling elements that come with the ‘S’ badge status.

What we would like…

• Better endurance from the brakes.
• Slightly more plush suspension to take the edge off larger bumps.
• More volume on the car-kit please.

Audi has started 2010 with a bang and launched two top of the range performance variants for their A5 Cabriolet and TT model ranges.

The Audi S5 Cabriolet quattro S tronic brings a sporting element to the A5 cabriolet range, which until now has made do with the 195 kW 3.2 FSI as the most powerful engine available. The new S5 Cabrio differs from it’s Coupe sibling in that it uses the same engine found in the S4, namely a supercharged 3,0-litre V6, and not the 4,2-litre V8 as one might expect. The supercharged V6 produces 245 kW and 440 N.m of torque and, coupled with a 7-speed S tronic gearbox, is enough to launch the S5 Cabriolet from zero to 100 km/h in an athletic 5.6 seconds, with a limited top speed of 250 km/h. Harnessing the power is Audi’s S sports suspension, high-performance brake system – with the S5 logo on the calipers – as well as a set of 18-inch tyres as standard.

The long awaited Audi TT RS has finally arrived on our shores and is set to tear up the tarmac with quattro permanent four-wheel drive and a powerful 2,5-litre 5-cylinder engine. With 250 kW and 450 N.m of torque, the range topping TT has a zero to 100 km/h sprint time of just 4.6 seconds with a limited top speed of 250 km/h. Thanks in part to the Audi Space Frame (ASF) technology, the TT RS weighs just 1 450 kg’s and has an impressive power-to-weight ratio. To match its striking body kit, the TT RS features 18-inch wheels fitted with 245/40 size rubber, ventilated brake discs – 370 mm in the front and 310 mm at the rear – as well as sports suspension to lower the car by 10 mm. The TT RS comes equipped with a number of standard features, including a driver information system relaying boost pressure, oil temp and a lap timer; park distance control in the rear; a Bose sound system; satellite navigation with TT RS welcome screen; and TT RS flat bottomed multi function sports steering wheel.

The new models are similarly priced with the S5 Cabriolet costing R693 500 and the new TT RS slightly cheaper at R693 000.

The new Audi S5 Cabriolet, powered by a highly efficient new six-cylinder supercharged FSI engine, becomes available to order in the UK this month.

The latest flagship in the Audi A5 range is powered by Audi’s all-new supercharged six-cylinder engine that delivers sports car pace with a high efficiency. Working exclusively in conjunction with the equally economy-focused 7-speed S tronic twin-clutch sports transmission, the new unit pares CO2 output back to 224 g/km and boosts economy to up to 8.08 l/100 km, yet also powers the S5 Cabriolet to 100 km/h in 5.6 seconds and on to a governed 250 km/h top speed.

In common with every other S quattro Series model, the outstanding performance is achieved with the help of quattro four-wheel-drive, in this instance in the form of the latest generation asymmetric system with 40/60 rear-biased torque split. The benefits of this configuration are more apparent if the optional sport differential is specified as part of the Audi adaptive dynamics system. When the steering wheel is turned or the car accelerated in a corner, the differential redirects power in a controlled manner to the outer rear wheel, literally pushing the car through the corner. The driver benefits from reduced steering effort and a feeling of even greater adjustability and control.

Specially tailored ‘S’ sports suspension gives the quattro system, and sport differential, optimum conditions in which to shine, and lowers the S5 Cabriolet body to within millimetres of its 19-inch 5 parallel spoke alloy wheels. Aluminium-look door mirrors, xenon plus headlights with LED daytime running lights, rear LED lamps, special ‘S’ front and rear styling treatments and black painted brake callipers bearing the S5 logo, will also be distinguishing features.

The Audi A5 cabriolet will of course also feature the most sophisticated version of the lightweight soft-top, which, with additional insulating layers, reduces external noise intrusion into the cabin to virtually the same level as the hardtop coupe. On occasions when it isn’t required, the soft-top retracts in just 15 seconds into a compartment within the boot that automatically lowers to accommodate it. It also raises again in only 17 seconds, and can complete both operations at speeds of up to 50 km/h.

Roof up or down, the Audi S5 cabriolet makes light work of transporting up to four adults in comfort, and when the soft top is in place, a best-in-class luggage capacity of 380-litres also enables easy accommodation of luggage for four. In topless mode the roof stowage compartment only marginally reduces this impressive total to 320-litres. Thanks to the standard split/folding rear seat, a maximum capacity of 750-litres can be accessed if required.

Adapted from InAutoNews