Some pre-purchase A5 advice ?

[rethink]

Hi there, I am looking to order an A5 in the UK and wanted to get some opinions on some questions I have

1) I really wanted to get the sat nav, DAB and bluetooth options but I also want to get the 211 BHP version of the TFSI engine. can I ask what peoples opinions on the 180 BHP TFSI are? Will I really notice the difference in performance? is it worth me downgrading to get my toys. is the 211 significantly more fun than the 180?

2) My second question is , if i do go for the 211 FTSI, whether or not spending that extra money on Quattro is really worth the extra money considering I am on a budget. I have read in places that the extra weight of the quattro actually hinders this particular engine and is better placed on the the V6’s ? Is this the case? Is there actually an argument for not getting quattro on the 211 TFSI?… if I’m not going to see massive differences in day to day use (i.e. town driving, not much long distance) then I would rather save the money

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[warren_S3]

The A5 is a big car, and whilst 180 bhp should be enough in anyone's books, depending on what you've driven in the past it may seem sluggish. First thing I would recommend is a test drive in both.

Second thing, is this private sale or company car? If it's private sale look at whether you can strike a deal with a dealer for a forecourt car for the money you have, or even on a new one (I just got 8% on new S3 which covered off almost all my options). Also look at some of the importers / discount houses in Auto Trader who will buy it as a 'fleet' motor.

Any particular reason you want petrol over diesel? (I can fully understand why!, but A5s with diesel go well with bigger torque offered).

Worst case scenario you could always add a remap to the 180PS version later on???

[splatty]

I have the 180PS on order mate. It's a Company car, and I went for the lower engine so I could have the toys I wanted as the lease was an extra £50 a month for the 211PS.

I have a 143PS A4 2.0tdi at the minute and the 180PS felt fine to me. I didn't find much difference with the 211PS unless you drove it hard as the extra hp seemed at the top of the rev range. I don't do a lot of miles and spend a fair time in traffic, so the performance difference ( 1 sec 0-60 ) didn't bother me at all.

As advised, try both and see what you think.

The salesman said to me that the quattro is nice, but only on the 211PS really ?

Depends on budget I suppose.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

[Audi dynamik]

i would go for the 211 quattro. the quattro is just noticeably different and is just fantastic and the 180 bhp to 211 bhp is a lot of power

[rethink]

Thanks for the responses, I spoke to my local dealer in London and the new shape is out now for ordering (they wont order me an old shape) and it seems they have massively reduced the config options for engines . It seems (although this is currently unconfirmed) that if I want an Auto (which I do) I will have no choice but the 211, which ive been told will now ONLY be avaialble with quattro. They will be dropping the 2.0 180 and promoting the 1.8 from 160 to 170 but with no quattro ...

So basically then I will have an option of the 211 petrol or the 211 petrol