2019 Audi A5

Last year marked a fresh start for the Audi A5, which gained new styling and a four-door Sportback body style to go with the existing two-door coupe and convertible versions; the third variant becomes yet another Audi to add to the list of some of the best-looking cars at the compact end of the luxury category.

Based on the A4 sedan, the A5 competes most closely with the BMW 4 Series, which also comes in coupe, convertible and four-door bodies; Mercedes-Benz, meanwhile, makes a C-Class coupe that lines up nicely against this Audi.

For 2019, the A5 undergoes minor changes, adding standard active safety items like collision mitigation, lane change assist, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert and adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go capability.

Audi also no longer offers the A5 with a manual transmission, leaving all cars using a seven-speed automatic and standard Quattro all-wheel drive. Otherwise, the A5's fundamentals remain the same, with power coming from a 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder engine that makes 252 hp and 273 lb-ft of torque.

You may notice the lack of a six-cylinder engine option here to compete with the BMW 440i and Mercedes C 43 trims. That's because rather than lump all of its engine options under the A5 badge, it puts them in the S5 and RS5 variants, each of which are covered in their own buyer's guide entries.

Notably, Audi cut a bunch of weight out of this car when it redesigned it last year in a bid to improve performance and fuel economy; meanwhile, a new suspension design was conceived to improve ride comfort.

Carried over from last year are the A5's Komfort, Progressiv and Technik trim levels.

Standard equipment across all trims includes 18-inch wheels, panoramic glass roof, heated and power-adjustable front seats, leather upholstery, tri-zone climate control, passive keyless entry with push-button start and a 7.0-inch infotainment display with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Sportback Comfort adds 40/20/40 split folding rear seats and a power tailgate. Also included are the newly-added active safety items detailed above.

Progressiv adds driver memory, 8.3-inch MMI display with navigation and touch-controller, heated steering wheel, advanced key, reverse camera, front and rear parking sensors, interior mirror with compass, 7.0-inch driver information display, and aluminum inlays.

Technik adds 360-degree parking camera, Virtual Cockpit instrument cluster, LED headlights, Bang & Olufsen premium sound system, hands-free trunk release, colour-configurable ambient lighting, automatic high beams, and Audi connect telematics service

As of this writing, Audi hadn't published fuel consumption figures for the 2019 A5, but we expect those estimates will be similar, if not identical to, those for last year's car, which were 10.0/7.0 L/100 km (city/highway) for coupe, convertible and Sportback variants.