How much is it going to cost to run?

The A5 shouldn’t cost much to fuel, thanks to strong claimed MPG and low tax bills. The all-wheel drive 252hp 2.0-litre petrol returns up more than 40mpg in real world driving (with a light right foot), while even the S5 performance model should score more than 35mpg with care.

The diesels are the MPG stars of the range, delivering between 50 and 60mpg in typical UK driving, which is low CO2 emissions to match. Audi servicing costs aren’t the cheapest, but with infrequent services needed up to 19,000 miles or two years, you shouldn’t end up spending much keeping an A5 Sportback well serviced.

The A5 Sportback is quite green for its size with low emissions for the performance on offer. Specify the Quattro all-wheel drive system on 2.0-litre diesel models, however, and economy drops slightly, with a small emissions penalty. The automatic gearbox, meanwhile, shaves a few grams off the CO2 figure in most cases.

This Audi retains its value well. This means that if you buy the car with cash or a loan, when you come to sell it should still be worth a substantial amount – cutting the total amount you spend.

Servicing and maintenance

You’ll find Audi’s servicing and maintenance costs on par with its premium rivals – in other words, fairly expensive, but with high levels of customer satisfaction.

Audi’s standard warranty, at three years or 60,000 miles is stingy compared with others. Especially BMW’s, which is three years and unlimited mileage. But you can extend the warranty to four years/75,000 miles or five years/90,000 miles for extra money.

Reliabiity

• Certainly looks and feels solidy built
• Technology shared across the Volkswagen Group
• Reliability record is good with company car drivers

The Audi A5 Sportback shares a lot in common with the Audi A4 and therefore the reliability is largely similar. According to the latest FN50 reliability report from Fleet News the Audi A4 is the second most reliable company car you can buy, falling behind the BMW 3 Series.

The engines are seen across the Audi range, meaning that any common issues have been ironed out, while the cabin feels very high quality and built to last. There is a question mark, however, over the Virtual Cockpit digital dashboard and the related electronics, with some Audi TT models with the same system experiencing occasional problems.