2010AudiS5

Review: 2010 Audi S5 Quattro Coupe

2010 Audi S5 Quattro Coupe - Click above for high-res image gallery

Thirty years ago at the Geneva Motor Show Audi launched itself in a new direction when unveiled a new coupe based on its then current 80/4000 mid-size model. The Quattro coupe took its name from the innovative new all-wheel-drive system that propelled it. Up until the Quattro vehicles that spun all four wheels were typically about off-road traction not performance enhancement. Audi created a system that sent power to all the wheels, all the time without having the kind of jacked up appearance of Jeep. Three decades of winning rally stages and road races have proven conclusively that Quattro works.

In 2007 Audi launched the closest thing there is to a direct successor to the Ur-Quattro as the lead vehicle for its B8 mid-size platform. The coupe is now known as the A5 and like most other cars wearing the four-ring badge, it is available in both front wheel drive and all-wheel-drive Quattro forms. We recently got to spend several days with the hottest currently available version of Audi's coupe, the V8 powered S5 Quattro in the vicinity of LaJolla, California. Read on after the jump to learn if the S5 lives up to the heritage of the original Quattro.

Gallery: Review: 2010 Audi S5 Quattro 6MT