New to the Audi A5 line-up is a two-wheel drive diesel variant with an S Tronic automatic gearbox, something not previously offered by the German manufacturer.
Previously if you wanted an A5 with an S Tronic transmission and the low CO2 emitting 2.0-litre, 190hp motor, you also had to select all-wheel drive.
Here we discuss the on-paper benefits of the new combination, and if you want to know what it’s like on tarmac, we’ve got that covered in our road test here.
There was a Multitronic CVT gearbox on the two-wheel drive car, but like Quattro, this pushed up the benefit-in-kind rate. It was also not as good to use as either the manual or S Tronic ‘boxes.
Now though Audi has equipped both two- and all-wheel drive variants of the 2.0-litre TDI A5 with the S Tronic dual-clutch gearbox, offering punchier shifts and better economy than the old CVT.
In fact, whether you choose six-speed manual or seven-speed DCT, the BIK rate stays the same at 22%. The latter has a higher P11D, so you can expect to pay an extra £6* a month. Ticking the Quattro box pushes your A5 into the next BIK band as well as increasing the P11D price, so it’s even more costly:
- S Line 2.0 TDI Ultra 190hp – BIK 22, £134 a month
- S Line 2.0 TDI Ultra 190hp S Tronic automatic – BIK 22, £140 a month
- S Line 2.0 TDI 190hp Quattro S Tronic automatic – BIK 23, £152 a month
Verdict
An extra £6 a month for the excellent S Tronic automatic gearbox is a bit of a steal, frankly, and if you spend a lot of time queuing in motorway traffic it’ll pay for itself very quickly.
Unless you’re trying to cut your BIK bills down to the bare bones, we can’t see any reason for picking the manual gearbox.
*Based on a 20% tax payer on 2016/17 rates
