Car shopping is different for each of us. Some of us think little about how our car reflects our personality. For others, it’s much of the point of buying one.
This shows up most sharply, I think, in the choices of luxury sports sedan shoppers. People in the market for a BMW, Audi, or Mercedes-Benz sports sedan are, essentially, buying a typical family car. And a luxury car. And a sports car. In one.
They’re saying they need the practical but still want the fun, and have the budget to be discerning about that this time.
The companies that build them know that, and build in many choices in this class. For Audi, an A model is a sports sedan, an S model is a sportier sports sedan, and an RS model is a track-ready thing you can use for daycare drop-off, but it will slightly resent the duty.
I spent a week driving the 2026 S5 as if it were the family car. This isn’t an all-new model for Audi, but it’s close – Audi redesigned the A5 lineup late in the 2025 model year, so it’s still relatively uncommon. There’s no RS version yet, though the company often rolls those out a year or two into production of a new car.
So, the S5 – the medium-heat version – is the hottest thing you can order, for now. In a week of driving around Washington, D.C., and its suburbs, it proved just what you want from a car in this class – a casually comfortable ride with a few notes of luxury and, if you put your foot down, an athlete’s poise.
Which Trim Level
Audi builds three trim levels of the A5 and three of the S5. A5 models use a turbocharged 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine making 268 horsepower. S5 models get a turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 in its place, putting out 362 hp. My tester was the top-of-the-line Prestige model. It includes the sport adaptive damping suspension, though you can opt for it on the mid-level Premium Plus for a lower sticker price. It includes a few features you can’t get on other trims, such as heated rear seats.
New 2026 Audi S5 Prices
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Retail Price
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Fair Purchase Price (92620)
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|---|---|---|---|---|
$64,595 |
$59,600 |
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$64,595 |
$62,500 |
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$64,595 |
$63,100 |
Favorite Feature
Today’s cars are full of beeped warnings – so full that they can become background noise and convey no useful warning. Most use proximity sensors to help you park. They beep slowly when objects are far away, and beep faster as you get close to them. A beeping noise growing faster tells you vaguely that you’re close to something, but it isn’t particularly useful information. The S5 displays, on its central touchscreen, how far away objects are in inches. That’s actually useful. It’s also accurate – I second-guessed its estimates with a tape measure and found them precise, forward and backward.
What It’s Like to Drive
Audi sports sedans have always been known for their prodigious grip. The brand’s famous quattro all-wheel-drive (AWD) system handles snow, ice, mud, and other slippery surfaces like they’re dry asphalt, and makes the car feel remarkably poised on actual dry asphalt.
In the S5, a 362-hp engine sends power to those grippy wheels. It’s not quite BMW M3 power, but it’s more than you’ll ever need, which is the point of buying an S5 instead of an A5. Audi gives you five drive modes for it. In Balanced and Comfort modes, the engine is quiet and well-suited to daily use. In Dynamic and Dynamic Plus, it snarls to life, with a pronounced turbo whine.
Having the ability to turn that on and off is fun.
Brakes are as firm as they can get without feeling grabby – a trick that must have taken engineers some time to tune just right.
Interior Comfort and Technology
The cabin of the 2026 Audi S5 emphasizes high technology and conservative design.
My tester came in black-on-black, but a red option brings some color to the space if you prefer. If you want to curate a space to your own taste, the Audi Exclusive Design Package lets you select from a menu of rarer leather and stitching colors but adds an eye-watering $7,300 to the price tag.
All options include a glossy piano black console between the seats, however. At KBB, we’re not fans of that treatment – it collects fingerprints, and you have to be careful not to scratch it.
The seats, however, are fantastic. They’re shaped like sport seats, making them more supportive in hard cornering, but also well-cushioned, which is rare in sport seats. An adjustable knee bolster lets you customize support for your thighs.
At the Prestige level, the excellent Bang & Olufsen sound system includes headrest speakers so the driver can hear turn-by-turn directions without interrupting the music for others.
The driver faces a curved expanse of screen, including both a driver’s instrument screen and a central touchscreen. The Prestige model places a 10.9-inch passenger screen to its right, screened from the driver’s view so it’s not a distraction.
A steering wheel with flat bottom and top and metal pedals add to the sporty feel.
Both the Premium Plus and Prestige trims get what Audi calls a “panoramic glass roof with variable light control.” It switches from opaque to clear at the touch of a button, with an option for opaque stripes to give you a little shade. I’m not sure it’s an improvement over a traditional sunroof that opens, but there’s no option to replace it with one.
Rear-seat passengers get more legroom than in the BMW 3 Series and 0.1 inches more than in the Mercedes C-Class.
The S5, with its rear hatch design, has the largest trunk in its class.
Limitations
I often use this space to recommend that buyers think twice before spending extra on the sportier model of a sports sedan. Most of us would be perfectly happy with the performance of a lower-end version. But Audi only offers its most adaptable suspension on the S5, so if you’re looking for the legendary handling of a quattro-equipped Audi, the S5 is the most athletic of the bunch, even at neighborhood speeds.
Key Considerations
Audi dealers make a big show of the fact that the company includes three years or 30,000 miles of scheduled maintenance in the purchase price. Don’t overweight that in your shopping – most cars need little maintenance in their first 30,000 miles.
