Maruti Suzuki Swift
New engine and more features
INSIDE, A PROMINENT CHANGE IS THE MISSING MMI CONTROLLER FOR THE 10.1-INCH TOUCHSCREEN. THE 12.3-INCH VIRTUAL COCKPIT REMAINS
the S5 Sportback does have the Audi smartphone interface to seamlessly integrate your Apple or Android phone functions.
Behind the steering wheel is where you’d definitely want to be in an Audi S5 and I am a huge fan of how Audi’s go around corners. Once you’ve gotten a hang of the quattro AWD’s 40:60 power split between the front and rear axles, its then easy to understand how the self-locking centre differential offers leech-like grip, cutting out most of the understeer otherwise associated with AWD cars, making it an absolute hoot to drive around corners. Healthy power figures from the V6, turbo-petrol make for a 4.8 seconds run to 100kmph and the engine delivers it’s horsepower and torque aggressively. That feeling is further amplified with the throaty exhaust and one might still call it an intermediatelevel sporty sedan but it sure is a fast car.
The chassis and steering are set up sharp for quick changes in direction but what makes the S5 better than say an RS5, is its overall usability. There’s some amount of body roll when it’s pushed hard into corners but that also means that that softness translates to a fairly comfortable ride when driving sedately, still retaining the sharpness of the chassis that you can use to slice through traffic if you’re not carving corners in the hills or on a racetrack. This is despite the S Sport suspension package being standard but if you like geeking out on more tech then Audi will offer damper control as an optional extra. On the flip side of performance driving, I never had to be cautious going over speed bumps or on broken surfaces as the ground clearance is ample to keep those air splitters intact. The Audi S5 Sportback definitely makes you think that the perfect compromise does exist.
You see, the limitations of an all-out sports car or sports sedan is that you can never experience their full potential and might out on public roads which leaves you the option of heading to the nearest racetrack and let’s face it, they are far and few in India, only three to be exact. Which means as a daily driver, something like the S5 Sportback seems perfect. It’s happy to trundle about town with its mild road manners offering you a fairly comfortable ride while the trickle down RS genes come to fore when you press hard on the accelerator. The only downsides being a slight lack of features for a car that’s priced around the Rs 80 lakh mark being a CBU import.