New car news

05 December 2008 - 12:00

Hairdressers Rejoice

In the UK right now, it is cold, icy and horrible.

Audi chose this the darkest of European months to launch the A5 Cabriolet, the soft-top version of its 3-Series rival.

It’ll go on sale in Europe around May – just as temperatures start to soar again– armed with a folding soft-top… no clunky big-arsed hardtop here, thank you.

The roof will open in 15 seconds and close in 17 seconds. Audi says that noise levels are impressively low with the roof raised, but for even more quietness you can spec the intriguingly-named ‘acoustic roof’, which reduces sound levels to that of the hard-top coupe.

Audi has also equipped the A5 with heat-reflecting upholstery (for when it’s all hot) and optional neck-level heating (for when it’s cold, or you need your hair dried in a hurry).

The launch engines will be a two-litre turbo and a 3.2-litre V6 petrol, along with a 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel. Shortly after the launch of the A5 Cabrio, we’ll see an S5 Cabrio with the 3.0-litre supercharged V6 from the S4. Like the diesel A5 Cabrio, this will get ‘quattro’ four-wheel drive – the other A5 Cabrios will remain front-wheel drive.