superswiss

People definitely notice the RS5 up here in NorCal and even in SoCal judging from my recent road trip to Santa Barbara. On a regular basis, I see pedestrians turn their heads when I pass by, people gawking at it in the parking lot and complementing it when I stand next to it. Had this chick in a generic SUV parked next to me the other day and she was drooling over the car. I also catch drivers on the highway glancing over when I pull up next to them. In particular BMW drivers of all. Audi is the new it car around here and people definitely notice the halo cars like the R8 and the RS.

visualguy

Weird... Never happened to me in NorCal, and I've driven all over the place in my S5. Also, I think only Audi aficionados would notice the subtle differences between A5/S5/RS5 or care. The R8 is something special which is very noticeable, so I can see how it would get attention.

By the way, I'm still waiting to encounter any women who care much about cars or would drool over an RS5... I'm not saying they don't exist, but I'm yet to meet one. All the women I know have pretty much zero interest in that, find it boring, and consider guys showing off in sporty cars to be silly. Just my experience...

superswiss

Don't know what to tell you. You seem to be hellbent in your denial about the RS5. One day you'll have to accept that Audi "S" models pretty much as of 2010 are optional engine trims. In the past they used to compete with M and AMG models, but not anymore. Quattro Gmbh is pumping out more than one RS model at the time now and the "S" models are simply the top engine trim of the Audi volume models. The S5 was Audi's answer to the 335 Coupe and now it is to the 435.

I don't know how many RS5 you have seen in person, especially a Panther Black one sparkling under the California Sun for example, but an RS5 commands quite a presence up close compared to a stock S5. I did European Delivery and it attracted as much attention in Europe as it did here.

Women are attracted to design and looks. In this particular case, this one wasn't drooling over the sports car aspect of the RS5. She was commenting on the beautiful design and that Audi knows how to design cars. No woman so far that complemented the car has ever commented on any of the performance aspects of the car. My wife drives a sunflower yellow VW Beetle. You know why? Because it looks cute. It drives like a dog.

visualguy

My S5 is Estoril Blue which is one of the most beautiful colors Audi offers. In addition, I own an SQ5 with the Panther Black color that you mentioned... Neither car attracts any notice whatsoever, which is actually fine with me. I've seen a couple of RS5, and the difference in looks between the RS5 and the S5 is subtle. These cars are pretty, but don't stand out, unlike Porsche, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Maserati, or even Tesla. The R8 is the only Audi in that design league, although the A7/S7/RS7 are somewhat noticeable as well.

DoubleA4

Well, I suppose I just hold the A5 as not a trackable car and thus its less. Call me short sighted and all that. Some of it might be true but I just don't see the A5 as anywhere near an S5. I feel the jump between the S5 and the RS5 is less than that from the A5.

I have the original front fascia and not the universal front fascia shared by all the new 4's and 5's (its a shame really).

HA, yeah, I understand that in Cali people won't blink at anything less than an R8 but I live in Chicago and imagine the number of nice cars cruising around is much less around here. Winter is a bitch and challenges us car-nuts to try and not destroy our cars during those months (potholes, road salt, etc).

superswiss

The gap between the A5 and S5 is completely artificial in the North American market. We don't get the top trim A5. The top trim A5 has a slightly detuned V6TT making 272HP. There's really not that big of a difference between the A5 and the S5.

saltwater1

Wow - thanks for the responses guys!

Took a Demo RS5 for spin today - really impressive for such a heavy car. The sound was really sweet - I couldn't stop doing the manual down shift!!! It's certainly not in the same league as the Turbo from an acceleration point of view - the butt dyno doesn't lie!

Loved pretty much everything about the car with the exception that it doesn't come with adaptive suspension? I really like this feature on the Porsche. I see you can get it as an option in Europe? I played around with the different driving modes a bit - it's a nice feature that would only be better if the suspension changed as well. From what I could tell - all it does is change the assist on the steering and the throttle map?

Anyway - I was all ready to move forward on the purchase/order process until they told me their trade in number for the Porsche - I actually started laughing! I was thinking they would be around 10k less than KBB 'private sale' but the number they offered was more like 20k... needless to say I didn't order. Might look to sell the turbo privately in the spring and try again...

superswiss

Here's a link to all the engine trims of the A5 on audi.de. You get S-tronic and everything. As I stated before, Audi "S" models these days are simply an engine trim with a bit more focus on Sport. In the US market Audi is artificially differentiating the A5 from the S5 in order to not cannibalize sales.

http://www.audi.de/de/brand/de/neuwa...or/benzin.html

superswiss

Yeah, we can thank the lovely DOT for this. Apparently the rear crash zone didn't meet the US crash safety standards and needed to be redesigned. It just boggles my mind that it's fine for a country that doesn't have any speed limits on many rural highways, but it didn't meet US standards. Go figure. Anyway, the redesign didn't leave room for the valves that control the suspension. Drive Select changes, throttle map, exhaust valves, steering and the sport differential and if you have it, the adaptive cruise control.

EDIT: And it also controls the aggressiveness of the shifts as well as the shift points.

visualguy

Private sale is the way to go almost always... Trade-in values are inherently lousy... Some people say trying to sell the car to a dealership that sells the same brand (Porsche in your case) works better even if you don't buy a new car from them, but that hasn't been my experience. They all seem to offer black book or less, and that's typically a lot less than what you can sell it for privately if you're ok with going through the hassle.