Audi RS5 review – design
The RS5’s mid-cycle update wasn’t entirely successful, but there’s still a presence to its boxed arches and aggressive stance
The RS5 certainly looks the part, thanks to muscular styling that’s said to be influenced by the firm’s monstrous 90 quattro IMSA GTO race car, which dominated American sportscar racing in the late ’80s.
Based on the standard A5, the RS gets subtly pumped wheelarches, a larger grille and a deeper front bumper that’s crammed with intakes and sharply defined creases. Neat touches include the small vents either side of the headlamps and tail lights, plus the familiar silver door mirror caps.
The facelift in 2020 did turn some of its design details on their head, namely the new fake slip vents between the bonnet and grille, and the complex new front and rear lights, but while we would say the previous model looked better, when specified well the RS5 does have an innate aggression that works in most contexts.
You get 19-inch alloys as standard, with larger 20-inch items on the two upper models, although you can upgrade the base car separately if you so wish.
