Audi S5

– Palm Springs, California

When the Audi S5 launched in 2007, I thought it was the car to have. It was beautiful, yet refined. Luxurious, and accommodating. Its 4.2-liter, naturally aspirated V8 sang a sonorous song, and was paired to a lovely six-speed manual transmission. It even had freaking LED running lights! (Those were hot shit back then, remember?)

Today, the S5 is very different, yet in many ways, very similar. It’s still handsome, luxurious, and now, packed with a ton of technology. And yes, it’s still good to drive. The V8 is gone in favor of a forced-induction V6, and you can’t get the manual transmission anymore, but the S5 moves down the road with confidence and poise, and plenty of available power. If anything, the modern S5 represents a car that’s matured – less of a sports car, and more a grand tourer.

Pros

Turbo for the win. Lament the death of the S5’s supercharged V6 all you want, the truth is, this turbo engine is way better. It makes 354 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque, meaning it’ll sprint to 60 miles per hour in 4.4 seconds – just like its four-door S4 brother. There’s a huge wave of power that starts below 1,500 rpm and stays strong well up to higher revs, and when you aren’t driving spiritedly, the engine can actually pull off some efficient fuel economy readings – as high as 30 miles per gallon on the highway..

Tech superstar. I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but seriously, Virtual Cockpit is the coolest bit of infota...