The Audi A5 Sportback has “flawed suspension”, “unpolished underpinnings” and is “a firm stride in the wrong direction” according to three different reviews from three different publications. This is quite a surprise, bordering on the shocking, for what was expected to be a high quality, classy and stylish offering from Audi.

The problem for the A5 Sportback seems to lie mostly in the suspension, and a little in the steering. Below we give you extracts from the reviews that highlight the problems encountered, but to give a little summary: apparently the steering is inaccurate, torque steer can occur with quick acceleration and the weight of the car suddenly kicks in halfway around a corner.

The biggest issue for the reviewers, though, is the suspension. Apparently extremely stiff, the suspension gives you the opportunity to feel every pot-hole, every unsealed surface and every bump in every road. Car says:

What really upsets the apple cart is suspension which steadfastly refuses to settle. Thoroughly unresolved damping allows occupants to enjoy every road surface undulation and blemish in a manner which is entirely out of keeping with a car of this class. The Sportback will certainly thump along a motorway at 100mph with predictable insouciance, but proves unaccountably uncomfortable in most other environments.

According to the reviews, the S-Line suspension is even worse than the standard model, with very hard suspension and what comes across as virtually no damping, whatsoever. Autocar says:

While the interior and exterior S-Line trimmings look great and add to the car, the S-Line suspension tuning has never been much loved, on UK roads at least. In previous incarnations, it has proved much too stiff and unyielding.

On the winding roads of Tuscany, the S-Line Sportback spent too much of the time simply drawing out the topography of the road surface. It followed nearly very undulation in the road’s surface, constantly, if gently, bobbing and dipping. In certain circumstances the body would also demonstrate slight corkscrewing tendencies.

I managed to find a few really badly broken roads which proved that S-Line suspension would likely be a nightmare in much of the UK.

A short drive in a two-wheel drive, normally suspended, 2.0 TFSI was even more alarmingly. Under hard acceleration, the steering would actually stiffen up to the point of freezing, and pushing into bends left the driver uneasy as the cornering force failed to build up in a linear manner. A noticeable degree of road-camber steer was evident, too.

And just to really bring it home, Channel 4 Car says:

The standard 2.0 TDI trim is the best option (and, luckily for Audi, the likely best-seller) mostly because its ride is less abrupt and bouncy than the 3.2 FSI’s.

If your priority is handling then go for the firmer-riding S-Line, which has been improved by the addition of a standard electronic differential. That said, its roadholding abilities are still not as in the same league as the BMW 3-Series or Mercedes C-Class.

The 2.0 TFSI chassis occasionally struggled to cope with the 168bhp coming through the front wheels of the manual car that we drove (which will come to the UK at a later date). Any quick getaway will be accompanied by torque-steer and deteriorating ride quality.

This is a car that does much for your feeling of well-being thanks to its attractive design and well-crafted cabin but its suspension lets it down particularly in the case of the bigger-wheeled, more stiffly sprung 3.2 FSI. Even a 2.0 TDI, rolling on standard wheels and suspension setting lacks the suppleness that you’d expect from a car of this calibre, with the ride never feeling quite settled, even on relatively smooth roads.

Autocar has the solution with Audi’s A5 Sportback Drive Assist. The only problem here is that the Drive Assist is an option, not a standard feature, that comes in at 2,000 pounds more.

If Audi were serious about the future of its A5 Sportback in the UK, this would be the only one you could buy anyway. It isn’t.

This is the system that transforms the car, but you really are left wondering why the standard model couldn’t just use one of its suspension settings as a baseline in the first place. Because, let’s face it, when you build a car that demands – yes, demands – that you spend another two grand to buy something that fixes a problem that shouldn’t exist in the first place, well, that indicates that something went wrong. Or someone’s being very cynical about improving the spend per car.

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