The wait is finally over for the all-new A5 Sportback as Audi unleashed a full photo gallery of its high-anticipated five-door coupe which will be formally introduced this fall at the Frankfurt Auto Show. The German firm claims that new member of the A5 family "combines the best of various vehicle genres such as the emotion and elegance of a coupe, the comfort of a sedan and the practicality of a station wagon." Of course most will see a five-door, liftback version of the A5 Coupe with a sleek roofline, but still, we must admit that our first reaction on the Sportback's styling is positive.
Aside from the low-slung roofline and the rear hatch, the Sportback also boasts a unique C-Pillar design with a dramatic kink as well as frameless doors.
Without doubt, the A5 Sportback looks even better with the optional S-Line sport package that combines a tauter suspension setup and lowered body with larger alloy wheels, specific bumpers, distinctive features on the side air intakes, on the diffuser and on the tailpipes along with color keyed side sill trims.
Moving on to the interior, Audi's styling experiments pretty much come to an end with the new door trims and the four-seat layout as the dashboard is no different than the one found in the rest of the A4 and A5 family.
Even though the Sportback is 36mm (1.42 in) lower than the A4 Sedan, the German automaker supports that the four-seater model offers comparable headroom and legroom space with the more conventionally styled A4.
Furthermore, Audi says that the Sportback's compartment volume of 480 liters (16.95 cu ft) is nearly as much as the A4 Avant, and it can increase to 980 liters (34.61 cu ft) with the rear seats folded down.
There are no surprises under the hood as the Sportback will roll into European showrooms in September with a similar engine lineup to the A4 and A5 models. The initial range will consist of three gasoline units, a 2.0 TSI with 180HP and 211HP and a 265HP 3.0 FSI V6, and three diesels, a 2.0 TDI with 170HP, a 2.7-liter TDI delivering 190HP and a 3.0- V6 TDI that makes 240HP.
All models are equipped with a recuperation system that recovers energy during braking and deceleration and stores it temporarily in the battery while the three gasoline and the top diesel variants are offered with Audi's quattro permanent all-wheel drive system.
Audi said that the A5 Sportback's range will be enhanced with three more engines by mid-2010, one of which will surely be the new 3.0-liter supercharged V6 TFSI that develops 290HP in the A6 and 333HP in the S4 Sedan and Avant models.
In Germany, prices for the A5 Sportback range from €33,650 for the 180HP 2.0 TSI to €47,950 for the 3.0 TDI.
For the time being, Audi claims that the A5 Sportback won't be heading to the United States, but something tells us that the automaker may change its plans in the very near future.
Audi A5 Sportback Prices at Launch (Germany)
2.0 TDI with 6-speed manual transmission - €36,050
2.7 TDI with 6-speed manual transmission -€39,300
3.0 TDI quattro with 7-speed S tronic - €47,950
2.0 TFSI (132 kW / 180 hp) with 6-speed manual transmission - €33,650
2.0 TFSI (155 kW / 211 hp) quattro with 7-speed S tronic - €42,150
3.2 FSI quattro with S tronic - €47,000
oth special editions ride on gloss black 10 spoke diamond turned alloy wheels while the V12 Vantage also gets a carbon fiber side strake over a black mesh vent, a bright finished grille and front parking sensors which are normally an option.
