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From YourSITE.com Reviews & Road Tests Boxberg, Germany - Several months ago, Audi AG Board member Michael Dick made headlines by suggesting that the next generation of Audi S5 and S4 would likely feature an aluminum Audi Space Frame (ASF) and be powered by four-cylinder turbocharged engines. This comment to a French car magazine made the rounds of blogs and magazine websites in rapid fashion. No surprise – Dick is head of Audi development and, if there is something new in the pipeline, his hands would definitely have touched such a vehicle.
Well, to be fair, this isn’t a next-generation Audi S5 or S4… but it might as well be. You see, the white coupe sitting before me features an aluminum space frame, carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFP) hood and countless other weight saving measures Audi expects to put into production in the near future though details of which they’re not offering up to my gratuitous interrogatives. Beyond these key details, all they’ll say is that the lighter weight of the car’s superstructure allows even further ‘downsizing’ of weight in components such as the transmission and other chassis elements. The car is, as Michael Dick alluded of future S-cars, powered by a 2.0T. The engine has been tuned to 211 hp for the purposes of this test. Power to the ground is from a 6-speed manual transmission mated to quattro all-wheel drive.
Here’s the odd part. On paper, except maybe the power levels, this car looks suspiciously like the future S-car to which Audi’s illustrious board member alluded. In the alloy though, the two-door appears nearly identical to any current A5 S-line you might encounter on the road save a few very minor details. A quick scan of the car as I approach notes only two real discernable differences. It’s got S5-like quad tailpipes and valance and A5 19-inch wheels with carbon fiber inserts. I’d guess this car could and possibly does drive down German streets and Autobahns without being noticed by even the most trained eyes.
So-equipped, this A5 lightweight coupe prototype that sits before us reportedly weighs in at 2,888 lbs. Considering the specs, that makes this prototype’s weight-to-power ratio 13.69 lbs./hp (Figure 1). It’s an impressive number and actually one that’s been admittedly dialed back. Imagining the car with power figures consistent with 2.0T Stage III upgrades available in today’s aftermarket even boosts the car beyond the vaunted R8, a number that is candy for the imagination.
So why did Audi go with a lower power figure? Their staff has set up an experiment for us today involving a bone stock A5 3.2 quattro that will be driven back-to-back on one of the many Boxberg test courses in order to actually feel the difference of this so-called ‘downsizing’, though the size is identical and it’s only weight that has dropped. Both cars are equipped with a manual transmission and quattro permanent all-wheel drive. The production model has a powerful 3.2 liter V6 with 195 kW (265 hp) under the hood. The 3.2 is rated at 265 hp and weighs 3,395 lbs., giving it a better weight ratio of 12.81 lbs./hp. From a power perspective, the stock, steel-bodied A5 3.2 has a slight edge.
I first climb in to the red A5 3.2 for a quick refresher on this particular spec A5’s handling and to learn the chosen Boxberg test loop. I’m following an Audi test driver in a TTRS and am tasked with keeping pace. Setting the car’s Audi Drive Select on ‘Dynamic’, I quickly give chase. The course is short, but provides a great selection of short straights and corners. The beginning is a long, sweeping straight that curves around to the right, followed by normal corners and bends, a quick change in elevation that drops off and then some very tight mountain pass-like bends followed by another final straight. Most of the course can be done in second gear save the bends (1st gear) and the final straight (3rd gear so you don’t look like a hoodlum when you approach the staging area). Two laps behind the TTRS and I’m getting a feel for the course. Two hotter laps in the 3.2 and I’m familiarized with the physics of the 3.2. It’s time to swap cars and jump into the lightweight prototype.
Once inside, the car appears no different than any other A5 I’ve driven. The interior seems to be full production. I depress the starter button and the engine fires to life. The car seems even more unremarkably production inside as the TTRS leads us back out onto the track. The weight and power equation may be on the side of the 3.2 for acceleration but I don’t notice this at all as we throttle out onto the course. The immediate torque delivery of the 2.0T makes this lightweight prototype pick up speed with much more urgency. There’s a hint of less roll in the first sweeper. In the bends, this A5 feels light on its feet, like a TT coupe and possibly even more so. The quick dip on the course also makes the car feel lighter, seeming to hang a bit more in the air before settling its lesser mass onto the tires. In the tight first gear corners it is most obvious why Audi chose this test course. The agility difference between the 3.2 and this car is most radical here.
Of course, handling and acceleration performance aren’t the only benefits of this so-called downsizing. Audi states that for every 100 kilograms (220.46 lbs) saved in weight reduces fuel consumption by 1.3 to 2.1 gallons per 100 miles driven. Two laps of this Boxberg test course are completed all too quickly, though I’m left highly impressed. Without having spotted the carbon fiber on the wheels or especially having driven it, I’d have had an extremely hard time telling this A5 apart from any other I might encounter in the wild. Of course, Audi knows that so-called ‘downsizing’ is the direction needed for a changing world where fuel and power resource are a more expensive commodity. It’s also very obvious that the company intends to use this downsizing as an advantage and not a disadvantage. If cars like this A5 lightweight prototype are the measure, the size, look and feel of the car could very well be unchanged though the performance should be even better.
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