2013 Audi S5: Engineering at every turn

AURORA | There are reasons for what automakers do these days. Perhaps this is a straightened up lunch break from the world of cars from, say, 15 years ago.

Despite what you may think, or what you may have heard, very few cars leave the lines with obvious defects any more.

(Begin slacked-jaw yokel accent)

“I heard the new Mercedes Chrysler S400 has a skewed drive shaft that breaks at 1,500 miles.”

“A mechanic told me that the new Volkswagen truck’s electronics quit at 64 mph and won’t turn on again until 82 mph.”

(End slack-jawed yokel accent)

And so on.

Even with that in mind, I’m looking at the speedometer in the 2013 Audi S5 sedan and wondering: “What is that?”

The distance between the marks from 0-40 mph are larger than everywhere else on the dial. The first 40 mph takes up more than one-third of a dial that goes all the way to 160 mph?

Does anyone else see that?

Did the engineer in charge of the speedometer run out of room to write like a bad sports fan’s sign? Like the signs that say “Let’s go Bronc” and the o and s are barely legible in the margins?

Certainly the rest of the car would appear to be more thoughtfully built than the speedo would indicate.

Starting with the engine, a 3.0-liter supercharged V6 powerplant, the feeling you get from the S5 is one of sinfully delicious performance in a time of inconspicuous consumption.

The high performance engine is slightly smaller than years before, but don’t let that fool you. The old S-series engines in the S5 and the S4 were a small-displacement V8 that produced only 11 horsepower more than the current model. The current forced-induction engine actually produces more torque than those years and over a broader RPM range too. The power is fed equally throughout acceleration — which is to say a lot of power all the time — and the smaller engine can return a greater MPG than the thirsty V8.

That engine cranks through an optional seven-speed, dual-clutch gearbox that begs to be driven to be believed as well. The operative words there are “dual” and “clutch,” which for the uninitiated is the automatic equivalent of shifting through The Amazing Kreskin. The transmission, called S Tronic now, is Audi’s way of preselecting your next gear while you’re driving to efficiently and quickly shuttle you to the speed of sound.

The result of all that super shifting and a 333-horsepower engine is 0-60 in around 5 seconds and a top speed of your imagination.

The benefits of having a lighter engine up front means a better weight distribution throughout the car, which means a more confident feel in the pedals and the steering wheel.

Outside, the S5 is the beneficiary of Audi’s Italian design chief Walter de’Silva’s thoughtful touch. Listed on de’Silva’s impressive resume are cars such as the Alfa Romeo 147 and Audi R8, as well as the Leica M9 camera, all of which are beautiful if not totally outside the layperson’s financial grasp. The S5 really does no better; our test version was $66,895, or the equivalent of 10 Leica M9 cameras.

Following that exterior design language, 2013 S5 features a more aggressive front fascia with wider intakes, more aggressive shoulders and sleeker lines down the body. The rear of the car is summed up nicely with dual, twin-tipped exhaust ports that pleasantly spit after high-rev gear changes.

Inside, the coupe’s front seats are adequately bolstered with a comfortable perch to watch the world whiz by quickly. Audi’s MMI dash interface has been slightly reworked this year to give drivers and passengers a more tactile feel of the interface and Google Maps can be enabled to give a more accurate view of the off-ramp you just blew past.

The back seats — well, there are some.

Braking is handled through the S5’s 13.6-inch rotors in the front and 13-inch rotors in the rear that are responsive with merely a whisper.

The response from every well-oiled cog in this machine is best felt when you’re driving the S5 like traffic officers never existed in the first place.

Touring through mountain roads is this car’s main aim. The S5 is much more of a grand touring car than a sports car, but the performance potential is evident. The S5’s Quattro all-wheel drive system makes an art out of hard cornering and the electronic steering feels connected and firm. Audi’s variable driving dynamics — comfort to sport — can fluctuate the car’s handling between docile to diabolical and adjustable dampers can hold on to the road in nearly every normal situation.

Which brings us back to the speedometer.

As the performance variant of the A5 coupe, the S5 is the bystander’s beacon of Audi’s racing pedigree. Certainly, in a car built for speed on the straightaways, the miles per hour between 0-40 mean about as much as the material used to make a pageant winner’s evening wear.

Is it natural or synthetic? Do you really care?

According to the folks over at Audi, the distance between the digits on the dial is meant to give drivers the feel of quicker acceleration between 0-40 even when you’re blasting down arterial streets that aren’t called the Autobahn.

I guess I’m the one who’s slack-jawed now.

Aaron Cole is a syndicated auto columnist. He knows he’s wrong, but he’d rather hear it from you, reach him at aaron.m.cole@gmail.com