Audi A5

"The diesel is the first TDI to get hybrid tech. The MHEV+ system can run the car in electric-only mode for very short distances"

- Paul Barker

REX YOU'RE going to have to bear with us for a second, because while the car you see here is the replacement for the Audi A4 saloon, it's also very much not the new Audi A4 saloon.

That starts with the name, which is now A5. The change is to differentiate between Audi's EVs and internal combustion-engined cars; all ICE models will now have odd numbers, so the A4 needed to become A5. Which also means the old A5 - the Sportback and Coupé - are gone forever, and the A5 is now only available as a saloon or an estate.

To make things more complicated, the saloon is actually a hatchback, and is very similar to the old A5 Sportback. So if you in the market for an A4 saloon, the A5 is your only option. The A4 name, which has been around since it replaced the Audi 80 in 1994, will disappear for a couple of years until an electric compact executive saloon is revealed in time.

Admittedly, the A4 has diminished in importance in Audi's range in recent years, as the move to SUVS has eaten into the popularity of saloons and estates. Even with the discontinued Coupé, Sportback and Cabrio A5, the A4/A5 models were no better than the sixth-biggest sellers in Audi's UK line-up.

The new car comes with a choice of two 2.0-litre petrol engines, with 148bhp or 201bhp, or a 201bhp diesel, the latter the only regular A5 available with a choice of front or quattro all-wheel drive. There's also a hot 362bhp S5, and in the future a rangetopping plug-in hybrid RS 5 will be added.

All A5s get a seven-speed S tronic gearbox, while the diesel is the first TDI to get hybrid tech. The MHEV+ system can run the car in electric-only mode for very short distances, and Audi says it improves official emissions by up to 10g/km. The two petrol cars have claimed economy figures of up to 42.8mpg, depending on spec, while the diesel returns up to 58.9mpg. The price gap between the 201bhp petrol engine and the identically powered diesel unit is more than £4,000.