Audi’s five-door, four-seater coupe is a standout for more than just its styling.

Audi A5 40 TSFI/RS5 Sportback

Price: A5 $92,450 as tested; RS5 $157,900.

Powertrain and economy: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol, 140kW/320Nm, 3.0-litre twin turbocharged V6, 331kW/600Nm; seven-speed dual clutch, eight-speed automatic; FWD/AWD; combined economy 5.9/ 9.0 litres per 100km; CO2 136/206 g/km.

Vital statistics: 4673/4723mm long, 1846/1861mm wide, 1371/1360mm high, 2764/2766mm wheelbase, luggage capacity 465 litres,19/20-inch alloy wheels.

We like: RS5 is a fast and impressive car; styling has aged well; beautiful interior materials.

We don't like: A5 spec could be richer, Sportback shape is not for families.

BY now we should be getting used to the feeling that the wholly fossil fuel-reliant cars entering the market right now might very well be the last of an ‘old’ breed.

Electric in all its diverse formats is incoming and you can be positive about it, or hide your head in the sand, but either way the single biggest change in this industry since - well, since it began – seems a done deal.

And yet, that doesn’t mean you’ll wake up tomorrow and find petrol station forecourts chained off and growing weeds and everything moving being sustained off the mains. As quick as the change is racing in, there’s still time now – and potentially for quite a few years to come – to keep enjoying the tastes and sensations of what we’ve grown up with.

Spending time with Audi’s updated A5, tested in ‘mainstream’ 40 TSFI Sportback and more extreme RS5 formats, also presented as a breather from another trend.

THE RS5 (above) is a real stormer, but Audi offers enhancements that really lift the street image of the A5 (below).

There are now so many SUVs, some many formats and sizes, that it’s actually becoming rare to strike an orthodox car any more. But that’s definitely what the A5 is. It felt refreshing to be sitting this low down but also a little odd.

Who’s still into it? Well, apparently there’s been a bit of resurgence of interest now that Audi has stopped bothering with the three-door shell and now put all its engines and drivetrain choices into the five-door shell. It’s a slinky car, so not the very best choice if practicality is a priority; but doesn’t have to be, because that’s why Audi has the A4.

With this Sportback the boot space is fairly decent, but the rakish roofline of course eats into rear headroom and, also, when a tall person (hands up, here) is driving, legroom behind does rather suffer. It’s tolerable, but no more. It’s also really a four seater because the high transmission tunnel running down the centre of the car means the middle-rear seat is all but useless.

Still, I really cannot imagine many buyers are choosing this car for full-out family consideration but Audi won’t imagine that’d be a problem; it’s why they also do a DNA-sharing A4. The ‘Five’ is more a driver with front-seat passenger kind of deal, though it does offer plenty of luggage room for weekend getaways: the boot will take 480 litres and it has a nice, wide opening, although there is quite a high lip to lift things over.

The car’s look is an enduring strength. For a design that dates back to 2015, it still looks quite fresh, and certainly desirable; tangibly sportier and sexier than the A4.

The sheer quality is also massively impressive. Audi has long been the king of cabin quality and even though it's true to say that some aspects have been bettered by competing marques, it is still a really swish place. The sense of quality is undeniable.

The A5 on test was an $83,500 car that could have passed for a $150k model, thanks to being loaded with around $9000 worth of extras. Those 19-inch Audi Sport alloy wheels, for $1200, really suit its style for starters. This one also had sports suspension with damping control ($2500), a flat-bottomed sports steering wheel ($750), a matrix headlights package that’ll set you back $2800, privacy glass for $1400, and an ambient lighting package $300. So, $92,450 all up. For making million dollar impression? Good value.

Further, it also pretty good to drive. Markedly more decisive at RS level but still quite enjoyable in entry format, where even though dynamic assertiveness is less pronounced there’s delight in well-weighted steering. Suspension tune is pretty well sorted too; the RS is harder, of course, but even its comfy enough.

A5 buyers are clearly performance chasers; surely that’s why the street race editions now dominate. Whereas once the RS car was the niche edition, now the entry version is more fitting of that designation.

Strictly speaking, the 40 is the only ‘A5’ here for Kiwis. The other choices are the $126,500 S5 and the $157,900 RS5, which carry a different expectation given they swap from a front-drive system to having the brand synonymous quattro and bump out the entry car’s 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol for a V6.

The S5’s is single turbo and makes 260kW, the RS5’s is twin turbo and generates 331kW. The A5 gets along with 140kW, which is okay, but you’re never in any doubt about it not being the biggest or sharpest knife in the drawer.

Which is presumably why Audi will very quickly remind how economical it can be, with a cited optimal fuel consumption of just 5.9L/100km for the combined cycle. RS acolytes won’t bother to ask how their one fares but, well, let’s just say it’s not anything as brilliant.

Mind you, the A5 should have an edge given that, above the fundamental four-cylinder advantages, it has an additional fuel-eking feature in the form of a mild hybrid system, whose core implementation is a belt alternator starter connected to the crankshaft. When a driver lifts off the throttle or brakes lightly the BAS can recover up to 5kW of power and feed it into a lithium-ion battery. When the car is operating in the 55-160kmh speed range, the vehicle can coast with the engine switched off and the lithium-ion battery then powers the electrical consumers. Audi says the MHEV system can reduce fuel consumption by up to 0.3 litres per 100 kilometres.

The A5 provides an extensive suite of technology to enhance safety and comfort, with plenty of options to add if these don’t seem enough; it seems strange, though, that these cost extras include an active cruise control.

A5 interior presented as the epitome of high-tech smart … until the RS5 (below) showed up.

It’s standard on the RS5 but should also really be packaged to the entry model, as well. In respect to the operability of various functions, the A5 is the latest model to feel Audi's decision to drop the old MMI rotary controller for the infotainment and switch to a touchscreen. You get used to it easily enough but it’s challenging to work out how it delivers a comprehensively better operability.

Of enduring appeal is Audi’s ‘Virtual Cockpit’, which replaces the conventional dials with a full-LED display, ultra-high definition screen quality and iPhone-like configurability, to give a highly effective blend of technology and sophistication.

Shifting to the RS5 required something of a change of mindset. It’s obviously even more capable of putting a smile on your face away from the main road. Just triggering the V6 into burbling idle is enough to remind that a far more potent engine lurks beneath this version’s creased clamshell bonnet. Seeing that there are now RS1 and RS2 drive buttons on the well-crafted, flat-bottom Alcantara steering wheel further raises the heart rate.

An ability to nail 100kmh from a standing start in just 3.9 seconds and reach 250kmh before the speed limiter is serious shove by any measure. But that’s just part of the RS recipe and because all that muscularity channels through the company's quattro all-wheel-drive transmission too, you at least know the power is being dispatched to all four wheels in the most efficient fashion.

For all that, yes, there will be occasions when it aches to deliver more than you might necessarily want it to, but at same token it is not so feral as to become the sort of car that you’d never want to allow to fall into inexperienced hands. It will comfortably cruise at 100kmh in top gear with the engine barely seeming to rise far beyond idle speed.

Naturally, there’s more. A lot more. This engine has less aural theatre than the old V8, but when the turbos spool up, the V6 really comes alive - there is a massive swell of torque that'll keep your head and back firmly against the quilted leather sports seat. Switch the drive mode to Dynamic and the transmission into manual and you’re driving a wholly different car.

The RS5 sports a twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6, the A5 gets by quite nicely with a 2.0-litre four-cylinder.

The one constant whether driving easily or eagerly is the tremendous traction. Despite having such huge torque within 35 degrees of right ankle articulation, the quattro system can never seemingly be bested. It could potentially be a more exciting ride if it could be made to deliver a more rearward bias, but then it might risk becoming less manageable. As is, it stands as a hugely effective cross-country tool, enabling drivers of all skill levels to safely maintain a decent average clip in seemingly all conditions.

Picking the RS5 from lesser A5s hardly requires an onerous detective work; the car is seriously altered in a myriad of ways beyond it achieving the requisite badges. You can add more, of course, by buying into a carbon fibre styling pack, an RS sports exhaust system and having the brake callipers treated to a red paint finish. Matrix LED headlights also enhance the package and, of course, the after-dark illumination.

You would struggle to call even the RS5 an all-out ‘driver’s car’, but it – and the A5 – are nonetheless good to drive. You can cover ground at quite a lick in either.

The way things are going, it’s very likely the next generation of this car could be massively different to what we get now. Even though the RS edition received its V6 because the V8 it once had was just politically untenable, given how deeply Audi has immersed into making electric cars it would seem probable that, at the very least, a plug-in theme is not so much a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ for this line.