2010 Audi A5 Cabriolet Review
The Audi A5 Cabriolet’s roof is missing which has resulted in the less appealing looks of the car. The cloth top which has replaced the roof has an ordinary style. The Audi Cabriolet utilizes a turbo charged cylinder. The turbo charging is initiated to obtain performance from the small engine. It also has a power plant which is high tech. The engine does not have the thrust required to overcome the highway’s big rig and failed to utilize the technology of enhanced handling in the corners.
The Cabriolet’s design stands equal to the other convertibles which have an open top. It is economical but, the engine’s speed is very slow because of its small engine. The car can penetrate into corners with its suspension technology and Quattro all wheel drive. You have the navigation system with the best maps available, the cabin tech, the blind-spot detection system and the Bang & Olufsen audio system. Audi calls the cabin suite of the A5 Cabriolet to be its third generation MMI (MultiMedia Interface).
The system has a dial surrounded by four buttons, allowing you to choose the quadrant items on the LCD of the car. For instance, when you look at an audio screen, you will notice one among the quadrants, opening an audio source menu. A primary onscreen menu interface is absent. You can choose various cabin tech functions like telephone, audio or navigation, by pressing the buttons available on the console. The MMI which is of third generation includes a small joystick just above the main dial which enables you to steer crosshairs on the map.
A hard drive of 40GB stores the navigation maps which are beautiful graphically and makes some space for music as well. It has a marvelous resolution using an Nvidia 3D graphics chip. The 3D maps will show the topographic features nicely and outlines various areas like airports, park and urban cities with numerous colors. It illustrates the details of the city outstandingly with the buildings represented in 3D. The route guidance of the navigation system works pretty well. It not only provides text to speech but also shows the lane guidance for junctions and exits on freeways.
The system displays conditions of traffic in a restricted manner when compared to the others. It is capable of calculating the dynamic route to the worst traffic jams but is unable to display a list of the nearby incidents of traffic. It automatically modifies its routing without asking whether you actually you need a deviation of traffic or not. The maps showing the details of topography are irrelevant, but prove its worth when you are driving through tight corners on mountain roads.
An optional feature called ‘Drive Select’ allows you to alter the car’s performance from Dynamic, Comfort and Auto modes by the press of a button. These modes will affect the throttle response, transmission shift points, steering and suspension stiffness. Dynamic mode will tighten the power steering ratio which is electronic for quick turn-in, increases the speed of the engine and makes the transmission shift to a lower gear forcefully. The option ‘Drive Select’ is ultra cool but is unnecessary in this car since the engine is small.
The car, with its turbo charger and a 2-liter four-cylinder, which is injected directly, produces a horsepower of 211 and a torque of 258 pound-feet. While hitting the gas in a turn or attempting a quick launch, the power feels very light. Weighing over 2 tons and the lag in the turbo are the car’s drawbacks. The plus point of the small engine is that it results in better economy of fuel. The EPA numbers for the Audi Cabriolet are 26 mpg in the highway and 20 mpg in the city.
The 2-liter engine with a turbo charger is absolutely fine for everyday use, but you can save some money by not choosing the Drive Select, especially since the only transmission present for the Audi Cabriolet is a 6-speed automatic. But, this transmission’s performance is really good where quick shifts could be done in the manual mode. The audio system of the exceptional Bang and Olufsen is present in the car and leans more to the luxury side, since it uses 14 speakers to produce 505W throughout the cabin.
When the car is stationary, the audio quality is extremely good with the system offering palpable bass and distinct highs. The car incorporates a 5.1 channel system and hence plays the DVD audio beautifully. The sources of audio include Audi’s Music Interface which is a port in the glove box consisting of cables that allows you to connect a 1/8th-inch audio jack, mini-USB device, an iPod and a USB drive. You also have the option to copy MP3 files to your Audi’s navigation drive.
Two SD card slots are present in the faceplate behind the panel as an extra audio source. With the onboard hard drive and iPods, you have the choice of choosing music by genre, artist, playlist and album. The remaining MP3 audio sources allow you to view the music libraries by file name and folder. The MMI features a nice Bluetooth enabled phone system, similar to the previous Audi models. The system can import the contact list of your phone to the Audi, thus available on the LCD.
Sadly, no command system for voice which is capable of identifying the names on the contact list is available. The special features of the car are a rear-view camera with trajectory lines and a blind-spot detection system. The blind-spot detection system switches on a warning light to the side of the mirror casing when another car is traveling in the blind spot of Audi Cabriolet. It is a useful indicator which will inform you when you have to change the lanes safely.
The trajectory lines of the rear view camera shows lines that indicate the distance between the rear bumper and objects. It also displays lines which indicate the direction of the car’s movement based on the direction of the wheel. The engine of the Audi Cabriolet sets a standard watermark for the engine technology in the world market. The navigation system lacks some useful features like external sources of data. Over all, the car is fantastic with its excellent features except for some minor drawbacks.
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