033WAJ

As a everyday car that makes commuting a pleasure, easily a 9. If you're on the fence, go with the Bimmer. Audi drivers know what they want.

CMK

It seems to me there's very little discussion here on the board about getting an ECU tune on a 2.0T - especially with a manual.

The only person who's really seemed to talk about it at any length over the past few months has been a5dude, whose car didn't seem to agree with the APR tune.

Is there anyone on here who can say that the A5 with the 2.0T and a (working) APR tune is a whole lot better than stock? I'm thinking of going from my '08 R32 to a B8 2.0T with a manual, but I'm not sure if I want to go A5 or A4, and so far the vast majority of tune discussion has been about the S5. Yeah, that's not happening.

rugg1132

I test drove the Stasis A4 2.0T a few months ago. It was an automatic. The drive was brief, I was actually more interested in the exhaust at the time but I can say that there was a significant power gain.
I think when I finally decide to spend some money on the car I'll go with the Stasis ECU and Exhaust. It knocks an entire second off the 0-60, that's pretty significant.

sharding

Any idea how much of that comes from the exhaust? I haven't been able to find specific numbers for each piece alone. I'd prefer to just do the ECU, not so much for cost reasons, but because I'm not particularly interested in "an improved exhaust note." It may be heresy to say so, but I don't really want to hear my car any more than necessary -- louder is not better in my book. But if it makes a significant difference in power, I'll consider it...

bebopdeluxe

As somebody who went from an '04 S4 cab to a 2011 A5 cab, I was preparing myself for a step-down in "fun factor"...but after almost 20 years of treating my commute as a form of auto-cross (with cars like the S4 cab and a chipped/modded E34 BMW 540i), I felt that it was time to take a step-back...and as sweet as the S5 cab is, all that would have done is traded the gearshifter for paddles. After reading everything that I could find, I steeled myself for retiring my left foot and dealing with turbo lag and the "buzz" of a 4-cylinder engine.

After a week of driving my new ride, I have to say that I am MORE than pleasantly surprised.

The ZF 8-speed transmission is smooth and seamless (I am SHOCKED at how quickly the thing goes from 1st to 6th gear in normal driving). I go 80 mph in 8th gear on the highway at less than 2000 rpms, and get almost 30 mpg on the highway. And when I have to stomp on it, the trans hops down to 6th gear and it goes from 75 to 100 in a HURRY (not as fast as the S4, mind you, but fast enough). The car does most of what I need to do on the road, and the stuff that I can't do anymore? For the sake of my 4 kids, it's probably good that I can't do them anymore...

I know that forums like this are primarily populated by performance guys...and for almost all of you, the 2011 A5 cab simply won't get it done. But for somebody who was ready to take a step back, I find the combination of the 2.0T and the ZF 8-speed totally acceptable and fun to drive.

Huey52

In my recent test drive I was actually amazed at how minimal the turbo spool-up lag actually was. There's some of course but so little it's not a show stopper to my A5 acquisition plans. Nice also to be able to get high mpg when you want to (my prior RX-8 only averaged 18 mpg; tho' I rarely drove it conservatively).

jpinwdc

How about the handling of the A5 Cabrio? When I drove the A5 coupe and the cabrio back to back, I found the cabrio didn't handle as well. It was not as crisp in the corners. I attributed it to the extra weight versus the coupe.

sharding

Thanks for helping me feel a little better. I've been waiting for my A5 since the end of August, and lately I've been really having second thoughts, wishing I'd ordered an S5 or maybe something else entirely. The vast majority of my driving is commuting in traffic, so I don't need a beast of a car realistically. I don't want something that feels sluggish, but when I'm honest with myself I think I'll be happier with a car that tips a little more on the "comfort" side than the "performance" side for my daily driver. That's what originally pushed me to the A5 instead of some other cars I looked at (S5, Boxster, etc.). It's just that the 4 month wait for my order has given me too long to overthink the decision....

Hopefully I'll be happy with my A5 Cab, especially if I chip it. I'm definitely planning to do the ECU, but I'm still curious to hear from anyone who has input on how much difference the exhaust makes in actual performance (and again, "louder" is in no way a positive for me).

bebopdeluxe

I am sure that there are handling compromises between cab and coupe - both in terms of weight as well as structural integrity. And as nice of a driver as I think the A5 cab is, it is not the handling peer of my S4 cab (although the A5's better weight distribution certainly helps).

When you make a decision to buy a cab versus a coupe, though, there is going to be an undeniable difference in its handling and drivability...but that is MORE than offset by the feeling that I get on a nice day when I push that button on the center console, wait those 19 seconds, and drive al fresco...

Jonesy10

I have a 2010 A5, 2.0t with the 6-speed automatic. Many have told me that this is a crap car, but i'd still give it an 8 on the fun factor. I knew this wasn't going to be an S5 when I bought the car, and I'm okay with that. The only turbo lag i feel is from a stop, in first gear. You will get the turbo "kick" coming off of a red light hard. After that, then engine pulls nicely through the rest of the gears. At speed, the car handles great, and the lighter front end makes the handling better than other front end heavy Audi's. The other "fun factor" that people aren't talking about too much is the smile that you have on your face at the gas pump. I'm averaging about 29 mpg on every tank. That's mixed driving, but my main commute is 50 miles round trip at 55mph. No other luxury coupe that gets this many looks will have gas mileage that is this good. After my tax return, I plan on getting the Stasis ECU upgrade, and that should refine the car up to a level of power that should have come from the factory. More to come on that.....