Tuner Posse: High 5 - ABT AS5 Cabriolet

Audi has enjoyed record sales in recent times here in Singapore. Great for the German carmaker but not so good if you desire exclusivity. So how do you make your Audi look exclusive and stand out from the hordes of others than?

Audi tuning guru ABT Sportsline might just have the answer for you. The Kempten based, German tuning company will be familiar to most Volkswagen and Audi aficionados, having fettled with VAG products since the birth of the first Golf in the early 1970s. ABT Sportsline offers tuning programs for all current and past Volkswagen, Audi, Seat and Skoda models and is available in Singapore via Autovox.

The A5 Cabriolet is one of the prettiest premium four-seater convertibles out there and ABT has enhanced its looks and the way it goes with the AS5 kit it offers. Up front the ABT AS5 Cabriolet sports a new front apron with bigger side intakes and an extended lip spoiler as well as an ABT radiator grille. Whilst the more aggressive looking bumper gives the A5 a more purposeful stance, the three body coloured vertical bars of the replacement grille are an acquired taste and we’re not fans of the grille to be honest – perhaps honeycombe like inserts from the RS 5 would be more garang.

Along the flanks, the ABT side skirts give the car a lowered stance but once again the front fender inserts, which are made to look like air extractors on the front wings are an acquired taste. They don’t look at all convincing and well integrated to be fully functional air vents.

At the rear, the AS5 looks sportier than regular topless A5s thanks to the ABT rear bumper with cut-outs for the quad exhaust tail pipes.

Rounding off the exterior mods are the 20-inch gun metal coloured ABT DR alloy wheels with ABT Spacers as well as ABT and AS5 badges on the bootlid as well as the front grille. The DR is just one of several alloy wheel design options that ABT offers, with the turbine like DR the latest in the range.

Through ABT Chiptuning ECU tuning, he engineers at ABT Sportsline have claimed to have extracted up to 275bhp and 390 Nm from the A5’s 2-litre TFSI lump, up from the stock car’s 211bhp and 350Nm. The car pictured here has the tuning kit installed and since none of the engine’s mechanical parts were modified, the engine bay looks clean and stock despite the additional power and torque of the AS5.

On the road, the AS5’s acceleration certainly feels stronger than a stock topless A5, especially in the mid-range and top end. There’s just a hint of laziness at low revs as the turbo is still trying to gain momentum but top end is really much improved over stock as it doesn’t feel breathless and flat like the latter as the revs near the redline. ABT might not have quoted any performance numbers for the AS5 but we reckon it to be roughly four-tenths to half a second quicker off the line than a standard A5 Cabriolet’s 7.3 seconds 0-100km/h time. The quad pipe ABT muffler also makes a more rorty exhaust note than the standard car’s.

For improved handling, ABT also offers a height adjustable suspension kit. The kit isn’t fitted on the car here. Despite the 20-inch wheels and 35-series rubber, the AS5 surprisingly doesn’t ride any noticeably worse than the standard car on 18-inch wheels. The brakes have been uprated to an ABT brake system consisting of ABT front calipers with 345mm rotor discs and flexible steel brake lines.

Underneath the canvas roof, the owner of the car has kept the interior relatively standard bar the fitment of ABT aluminium foot pedals. In addition to the foot pedals, ABT also offers customized floor mats and an aluminium foot rest for the AS5.

The AS5 Cabriolet might have certain exterior enhancements that may not suit everybody’s tastes, especially in the fender inserts and the radiator grille but ABT has certainly done a good job with the (light) engine tuning and the sexy looking wheels to make the A5 Cabriolet not only better on the performance front but also somewhat sexier looking.

Autovox is the Sole Importer of ABT Sportsline for S.E.A.

Credits: Story by Joe Yeo Photos by Raymond Lai