There is something undeniably appealing about this. You're driving roof-down along the Boulevard de la Croisette in Cannes, or if not that then at least giving the impression that you could easily be doing so, even though it just happens that at this precise moment you're actually in Daventry.Onlookers admire the lines of your Audi RS 5 Cabriolet without necessarily knowing what it is. They find it stylish in a subdued yet sharp-edged way. They know it must be, importantly, expensive. But unless they pick up on the more racey design details they will have no idea of how potent the hidden powertrain is, and if this really is Cannes they are so cool that they wouldn't even think of asking.You tell them anyway. An opportunity presents itself, you give the throttle pedal a sharp jab and the car jumps forward, briefly sending a V8 boom through this part of town.It had hardly started before it was over, but ten metres was enough. The dark-haired young woman talking with her friend under the shade of a tree, who doesn't want you to think she knows you exist, betrays herself with a turn of the head and a slight widening of the eyes. You, who don't want her to think you know she exists, not now, of course later, but not just yet, conceal a smile.Be that as it may, it's not much of a car. The essential problem is that it's an A5 with the roof chopped off, and it doesn't matter how much any manufacturer may insist that it has regained the structural integrity lost during this process. It simply never happens, which isn't much of a problem if the engine isn't very powerful.But the engine in the RS 5 produces a maximum of 444bhp, and that's a lot of a problem. To deal with this adequately, the four corners would have to remain as near as dammit exactly as far apart from each other as they were designed to be, and you need only experience the scuttle shake created by driving the car not very quickly on a not especially bumpy road to realise that this just ain't so.You can forget about setting your heart racing with an exhilarating drive on country roads, then, or even of keeping up with a well-pedalled Audi A1 unless there are long straights between the corners. All of which seems to be rather a waste of the engine and the seven-speed semi-automatic S tronic transmission and the obligatory (and, in this case, much needed) quattro four-wheel drive system.There's the noise, I suppose. For a big engine - nearly 4.2 litres - it's a bit of a screamer, needing to be pushed beyond 8000rpm to reach that 444bhp peak. It sings a pretty song up there, no question, but amazingly enough the sound is rather distant.Far better, I found, to use a lot of throttle but to change up a gear every time the V8 hits 4000rpm. That way you get a more urgent and closer-at-hand bellow which I like very much. Admittedly the most power you can get if you do this is around 200bhp short of the engine's full potential, but that's 200bhp you were never going to be able to use properly in any case.If your motoring needs are satisfied by dawdling about looking impressive, with an occasional blast of full-throttle acceleration for Ingolstadt and the hell of it, fair enough. If you want a proper RS 5, forget this one and buy the Coupé. Engine 4163cc, 8 cylinders Power 444bhp Transmission 7-speed semi-automatic Fuel/CO2 26.4mpg / 249g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 4.9 seconds Top speed 155mph Price £68,985 Details correct at publication date
Our Rating
