Audi S5 Review (354HP) Performance Driving and Acceleration | Is it Faster Than the BMW 440i?

It's tough being the middle child. The older one always seems to be the overachiever and the younger one always seems to have the least amount of responsibilities. This is the story of the Audi S5. Like most German automotive pantheons, the S5 sits between the base model A5, the overachieving RS5. And as a result it's often the most misunderstood. But behind the fancy S moniker in those sporty quad exhaust tips, what this car really is is Audi's answers of the BMW 440i. Now you might be thinking to yourself The BMW has 320 horsepower and this Audi has 354. So how's that even fair? Well, go watch that video where I test the 340i xDrive and you'll find that this B58 engine is severely underrated. They make close to the 360 brake horsepower from the factory. And with both cars having all wheel drive, I think the power to weight ratio is pretty similar. Anyway, let's go find out how fast this Audi S5 is. So yeah, 354 brake horsepower and 369 pound feet of torque with a turbocharged 3 liter V6. Now power is routed through an 8 speed automatic and there's no option for a manual, but that's pretty standard nowadays. Nothing really extraordinary here. But remember middle child, the cool thing about newer Audis is this whole virtual cockpit situation. And I really like how this interior is laid out. It's not as driver centric as the ttrs I drove, but it is more daily driver friendly. And this added infotainment screen definitely helps when you have a passenger. There's also a heads up display as well, which is cool. Now if I had to have one complaint, it's these paddles again. I don't know why Audi puts these cheap little things in these cars that cost almost $60,000. You can probably swap them out if you wanted to though. And with this kind of power level, it's also pretty easy to exploit the limits of the car. And with Audi's Quattro system you never feel like it wants to. But even with 4060 rear bias, I still prefer rear wheel drive for something with under 500 horsepower. But maybe that's just me. There is a moderate amount of body roll and I feel like even in dynamic mode it just doesn't feel as tight as the BMW or even the gsf. But it's certainly not bad. Anyway, let's get on with it. Alright, so this first run will be in full man in dynamic Mode. We'll let the car cool down for a moment before we do this next run where we have the computer do the shifting. But before we take a look at those times, let's admire the car for a little. Because even though it's kind of a middle of the road sports car, it's classy in its own understated way. Black is not my preferred color, but it does seem to go well with Audis. I do wish they made the front end a little bit more aggressive. I often get confused with this car in a base model A5 on the road, but these wheels, I dig them. Not bad for a factory design. The LED daylight lamps have evolved and are not as predator looking as before. The interior has to be my favorite part of the car and that holds true for most Audis. Elegant, well appointed and modern all at the same time. All the controls are solid and don't clutter the cabin like some cars do. There's beautiful carbon fiber trim all around the dashboard and the flat bottom steering wheel is a welcome touch, but I just can't get over these paddles. The seats are amazing though, comfortable and sporty, but they aren't as snug as the TTRS and certainly not as race car like as the R8. But they will keep you happy on long drives. I am a fan of this masculine shifter design that Audi has going on. The shifts are quick and firm, but definitely not dual clutch fast. The car pulled strong throughout the entire rev range and the exhaust note does sound noticeably more throaty than the 340i that I drove. If you need four doors, you can always get the sport back, but that'll tack on about £100. It's not bad as a daily driver. For those that need a little extra excitement, on to the fastest. If you watched the BMW episode, you know that the time to beat is nine seconds flat because that's what a 340i put down in our 40100 tests. And that car is basically the same thing as a 440i, except it's got two extra doors. Anyway, the 2018 Audi S5 coupe, the 4100 in 9.08 seconds still couldn't beat the BMW, but hey, this is close enough to be a driver's race. Shifting the car manually actually gave me a slightly faster time by a few hundredths of a second, but that's all pretty negligible at this point. Another thing to note is that if you put the car into full manual, it'll upshift for you automatically at redline, which is kind of silly. But what about mods? I think this Turbo 6 responds pretty well to them. A tune intake and exhaust would probably put you just shy of Rs5 territory, but at the end of the day, I'll still take the RS5. I've always been the oldest child anyway. Perhaps I was a little harsh on the car, but with the RS5 being so potent and the A5 being so sensible, it seems easy to skim over this understated performance coupe. But that's the point. For a daily driver, it's the perfect compromise between price and performance. Then again, for less than 60 grand you can also buy a Tesla P3D. But that's a story for another time. Special thanks to Shane Yen for coming out with his Audi S5. I hope we get a chance to do a head to head with a C43AMG sometime soon. Anyways, help a brother out by hitting that like button, leaving a comment below and sharing this video. If you're new to the channel, don't forget to watch some of my other stuff and mash that subscribe button for cool car content every Thursday.