Audis all look the same

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Is it unfair to say that all Audi cars now look the same? Probably not.

The German brand's SUVs have an uncanny similarity when viewed front on, as do its cars – the only exception being the odd supercar or roadster.

Indeed, picking which Audi vehicle you're looking at 20 paces away is now challenging.

Which brings me to the new Audi A5 Coupe…

Just launched in Australia, the 2017 A5 Coupe is an impressive drive, hugging the road through corners and offering loads of poke. It comes with some ultra-cool technology, impressive safety systems, best-in-class aero acoustics, boot space and what Audi claims is the most efficient AWD diesel pairing in Australia. Yet does any of that matter if it you can't tell what it is?

There's clearly a strategy within the company – which seems to be the MO of BMW and Mercedes too – to maintain a familial aesthetic across all its vehicles. And it must be working to some degree, because sales of German prestige cars are rising, not falling.

Peter Strudwicke, Audi Australia's product manager for the A5 range, says the just-launched model will be at least as successful as its predecessor. With more than 500 orders for the car before it hits showrooms, the new A5 has already built significant momentum.

But based on feedback we've seen on various motoring.com.au social media channels, your opinion regarding the design hasn't all been positive.

"Inside is fine, outside is pretty disappointing. Audi is losing ground on design... Thanks God for Mercedes, truly a piece of pure Art!" said Arnaud Gaffard on Facebook.

Lewis James chimed in too: "I'm sure this will look better in the flesh as do the outgoing models, but must say I'm underwhelmed by the design."

Taehee Lee thinks that BMW and Mercedes do it better: "I like Audi and used to drive A4 in the past but I have to say that this A5 is very disappointing in terms of design. Why would anyone buy this over C-Class or 4 Series?"

And George clearly wasn't pulling any punches: "Dear God, without Schreyer at the helm they have no idea what they're doing. Horrible horrible."

We note that Peter Schreyer (now a Kia Hyundai senior exec) was never actually at the helm of Audi design but we hear you, George…

We asked Audi Australia's Strudwicke to respond the criticism and he said that opinion was much the same even within the Audi office… But that it changed once the vehicle was viewed in the metal.

"Almost to a man, everyone who's seen the pictures [of the Audi A5 Coupe] around our office were like 'hmmm, you know, it looks good… but'.

"So when we brought the first in a few months ago and the A5 Coupe arrived, most people said, 'wow, that's actually much better looking than I expected'".

Strudwicke thinks that's the key – seeing the car in the three dimensions.

"You have to look at it in the flesh, because photos don't really show the car properly."

We also had a chance to compare the new model with the old one during the vehicle's national media launch in Tasmania and for this scribe at least, the original's smoother, less fussy design is preferable.

Strudwicke wasn't about to entirely disagree.

"A bystander watching the A5 unload said 'that car is gorgeous'… It was the previous generation model. We brought it here as comparison.

"It just shows you the inherent 'rightness' of the design – that nine and a half years after the car was launched in Australia it still gets admirable looks from people. And the new one of course takes that to a new level.

"It's clearly an A5, and it was very deliberate to keep it looking like an A5. We're pretty happy the designers have done that," he said.

Beauty is subjective. For instance I think that Natalie Portman is very attractive, while my colleague Ken Gratton does not.

A question then for readers: is this German pre-occupation with making their cars look the same [across a line-up] a good thing? And is the new A5 Coupe a stud or a dud?