Audi S5 (2007) CAR review

Have I missed something? How can we be reading about an S5 when we haven't even had an A5?

Because Audi knew BMW was going to launch its M3 this spring and wanted to spoil the Munich firm's thunder. So it decided to launch both the A5 and its hot 354bhp S5 spin-off at the same time. The £39,725 S5 isn't so much a rival for the 414bhp M3 though, as a rival for the £35,670 twin-turbo 335i. But there are bound to be a few potential buyers prepared to pay a few thousand extra for the M3. And a few more prepared to pay even more - probably more than £50k - for the Audi RS5 when that turns up in 2009.

But what exactly is an A5?

It's a 3-series coupe rival with a new-to-Audi swoopy design language. But it's also so much more because underneath those coke-bottle hips is Audi's new MLB chassis. MLB stands for modular longitudinal chassis and it's the architecture that will underpin the Q5 off-roader and A7 coupe as well as the replacements for the A4, A6 and A8.