I’ve spent three months with the Audi S5 Avant – here’s my honest review

This is my Audi S5 Avant, a car I’ve spent three months with after getting the keys from head of video Jack Scotton. I use it for travelling to video shoots, commuting in London and ferrying people around, and it’s featured in a couple of Carwow drag races as well.

There’s a lot to like about this car, as well as some annoying features which take the shine off. Here’s everything I love about the Audi S5 Avant, as well as three features which drive me crazy.

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Living with an Audi S5 Avant: the positives

1. It’s brilliant to drive

I don’t have any complaints about the way the S5 Avant drives, because it’s been great in pretty much every situation. On the motorway it’s quiet and refined, and the seats are also fabulous for covering long distances.

Out on a twisty road, there’s loads of grip from the four-wheel drive system and the steering is super-direct. It feels really agile through the corners. The suspension also handles bumps really well, and the V6 engine not only sounds great, it’s also pretty economical. I’ve managed over 30mpg on average.

2. The interior is lovely

I’ve already mentioned the comfy seats, but the rest of the interior is also really nice. I love the red leather, and the build quality is also excellent. It looks and feels really posh inside, as it should for over £75,000.

3. Customisable steering wheel button

A lot of new cars have a labyrinth of menus to scroll through if you want to turn off the annoying driver aids, but my S5 has a clever solution. There’s a button on the steering wheel which can be set to different functions, and I’ve got it set up to turn off the speed limit warning beep. You can also turn off the lane-keeping assist with a button on the indicator stalk.

4. It looks the part

I’ve really grown to like the way the S5 Avant looks, especially in this dark blue paint. It’s a bit unassuming at first glance, but the deeper bumpers, lower suspension and quad tailpipes help it subtly stand out compared to the standard A5. It’s a proper sleeper car – discreet and fast.

5. It has a big boot

The S5 Avant’s 448-litre boot is smaller than the BMW M340i Touring’s, however it’s still really practical. The wide opening, low load lip and square shape make it easier to pack than an SUV’s boot, and the seats lay totally flat when you fold them down to make trips to Ikea a breeze.

Three annoying things about the Audi S5 Avant

As good as this car is, there are some really annoying features which grind my gears. Here are three examples.

1. Naff digital driver’s display

Audi basically invented the digital driver’s display in the TT back in 2015, and it was brilliant. Crisp graphics, satellite maps and loads of different views were on offer, so I was really disappointed with the system in the S5.

I cannot find a way to get maps on the digital dials, and there are only two different views to choose from. Neither look great, and the narrow display looks a bit lost in the massive bezel.

2. Some more tech problems

I also don’t like the weird haptic buttons in the steering wheel – they’re fiddly to operate and get covered in fingerprints – and having the climate control routed through the screen is also a faff.

The wireless charging pad in this car doesn’t seem to be working either. It just says “Foreign object in charging bay” when I try to use it.

3. It’s not as practical as I’d hoped

The boot may be a decent size, but elsewhere the new S5 Avant isn’t as practical as an Audi estate car should be. I’ve found cabin storage to be lacking, with just an average glovebox, door bins and a shallow centre console cubby.

Space in the rear seats isn’t brilliant either. I’m quite tall, so my driving position is quite far back, but even shorter adults struggle to sit behind me. In a car of this size, I was hoping for more rear legroom.

These are small gripes, but ones worth considering before you commit to buying an Audi S5 Avant. On the whole though, I can forgive the S5 Avant for its niggles. I love the way it drives, and it’s a brilliant performance car for families.

Report #2: Jack Scotton’s first impressions – April 2026

My Audi S5 Avant has certainly been getting a workout over the last month. It was almost immediately put in a drag race lineup against a bunch of old Audi RS models, and a few weeks later it took on our Volvo V60 and BMW M5 Touring long termers.

But away from the Carwow drag strip, what’s this car been like to live with? Well, here are my first impressions.

Living with an Audi S5 Avant: first impressions after one month

I do a lot of miles in my job, slogging up and down the country for video shoots. The S5 has been a very comfy cruiser for soaking up these miles, because the adaptive suspension is super-supple in its softest setting.

I’ve also been averaging over 30mpg over the past few thousand miles, something Mat Watson took the mickey out of me for. He says I’m not driving it hard enough, I say it’s just quite economical. I’m not a light-footed driver, and this car has completed several drag race runs. I’m impressed with its fuel economy.

What’s not so good is the driver assistance systems, because I’m finding them to be more intrusive than a lot of cars. It beeps constantly, and if it’s raining then it starts beeping because the systems aren’t working.

I was driving down a single-track road a few weeks ago, when a motor home appeared in the other direction. I tried to steer towards the edge of the road to get around it, and the lane keeping assist yanked me back into the path of the camper.

So it’s safe to say I’m not a fan of modern driver aids, which is why I’m sometimes glad to jump in my old Mazda MX-5 at the weekends and enjoy a beep-free B-Road blast.

But if you ignore the S5’s nannying electronics, it’s quite good fun when the road gets twisty. Being an all-wheel drive Audi, you get tons of grip on pretty much all conditions. This means it’s not quite as playful as something like a BMW M3 Touring, but the S5 inspires loads of confidence to get a wriggle on.

I like the engine note as well. The soft limiter means you can’t enjoy it at a standstill, but when you rev out the 3.0-litre V6 on a slip road it makes a nice noise.

So my feelings are a bit mixed after the first month with the Audi S5 Avant. It’s a comfy cruiser with a lovely engine, and it handles really well. The estate boot is also plenty big enough for all my camera kit, and the red interior looks great.

But the constant beeping, bonging and tugging at the wheel starts to grate pretty quickly. Keep an eye on our long term test car home page to see if I can work around these systems, or if they end up being a deal-breaker.

Report #1: An introduction to my Audi S5 Avant

Let’s start with the important stuff: what’s powering my Audi S5 Avant?

Under the bonnet is a 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged V6 petrol engine with 367hp and 550Nm of torque. This is sent to all four wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, and 0-60mph takes 4.5 seconds. That’s exactly the same pace as a BMW M340i Touring, despite being over 20hp down on that car.

My car is the Edition 1, a special trim level which was only available for a brief time when the car was first launched. It has a Bang and Olufsen sound system, surround-view cameras, adaptive cruise control and 20-inch alloy wheels.

I’ve also gone for this dark blue paint job, a £750 option, as well as the red leather interior. The carbon mirror caps cost an additional £560, and my car also has a deployable tow bar for an extra £1,160.

That tow bar is important to me, not because I tow anything but because I use it to mount our camera gear for tracking shots. This S5 will be working hard on video shoots hauling kit between locations, but I also want to see if it can be just as fun as my beloved BMWs on a weekend B-road blast.

All in, this car will set you back £75,120. I specced my ideal BMW M340i with some nice wheels, special paint and a couple of option packs, and it came to just over £70,000. The Audi is going to need to be really good to win me over.

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