Audi RS 5 Cabrio hits Oz

Audi Australia has officially debuted its top four-place cabriolet. The RS 5 Cabriolet was launched on the NSW Central Coast today and goes on sale in local dealers this month priced from $175,900.

That’s a significant $20,000 premium over the RS 5 Coupe, which has been repriced to $155,900 (was $161,400) on the occasion of the launch of the soft-top.

The latest “repositioning” is the second price cut for the RS 5 coupe. In mid-2012, with the arrival of the facelifted model, Audi Australia slashed $13,400 of the then-$175,300 two-door. Audi says “sharp pricing” of the recently introduced RS 4 allowed it to “re-negotiate” the position of the RS 5.

The new cabriolet A4/A5 range-topper is mechanically identical to its coupe counterpart. The pair features hand-built 331kW/430Nm naturally-aspirated 4.2-litre V8 FSI engines which feature an impressive 8500rpm redline.

The RS 5 models are available exclusively with Audi’s S-tronic twin-clutch gearbox and feature the latest quattro all-wheel drive system. Audi’s torque vectoring electro-mechanical Sport Differential is also standard on both RS 5s.

Alas the soft-top RS 5 weighs in at more than 200kg more than its coupe equivalent. This is despite the fact that, like all Audi convertibles, the new RS 5 cabriolet gets a “light weight” cloth hood.

Able to be operated at up to 50km/h, the acoustically optimised and insulated soft-top takes just 15 seconds to open and 17 seconds to close.

Audi claims a 0-100km/h time of 4.9 seconds for the RS 5 cabriolet, with combined fuel economy registered at 10.7L/100km. By way of comparison, the RS 5 coupe is quoted at 4.5 seconds and 10.5L/100km.

The new RS5 Cabriolet offers seating for four and up to 380 litres of luggage space. That figure is reduced to 320 litres when the hood is lowered, but additional space can be liberated via folding rear seats. A fold-away wind-blocker is standard equipment; however, this can only be used when no rear passengers are present.

RS-specific features include RS braking system with ‘wave’ rotors (claimed to save a total of 3kg), RS sports suspension, a flat-bottom multi-function sports steering wheel and heated sports seats (front and rear). The RS 5 Cabriolet also gets Audi Drive Select and a rear camera and parking system standard.

Options include adjustable suspension, variable-ratio steering and ceramic brakes. Bring your chequebook. Bucker-style manual sports seats are also offered – at a near $5000 premium over the electrically adjustable memory seats offered standard.

Other standard equipment includes: adaptive xenon headlights, hard-drive-equipped MMI Navigation plus, Audi Music Interface (AMI), a high-performance stereo system and Bluetooth connectivity.

The revised RS 5 coupe is almost identically equipped to the Cabriolet. It misses out on heated seats but gets High Beam Assist as standard.

Both coupe and cabriolet are among the first Audis to be offered locally with the brand’s new Audi Connect web-based info system. An $800 option on A/S/RS 5 variants, the system offers access to Google functionality on the move. But iPhone users take note: the system cannot be used with the Apple smartphone and as such requires its own data SIM.

In a push to increase the number of RS models available Down Under, Audi Australia will add at least two new nameplates to its high-performance stable in 2014. The RS Q3 high-performance compact SUV and RS 7 Sportback will both go on sale in the first quarter of the new year.

Internationally, Audi’s quattro GmbH division plans to grow its volumes this year from around 11,500 units to 15,000 – a 30 per cent increase.

Down Under Audi sold around 320 S/RS/R models to September last year. That volume has grown to 725 units for the same period this year. According to Audi’s own figures, that is up on BMW M (478 units) but substantially down on Mercedes’ AMG sub-brand (972).

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