Hi Tim Nice to hear from you and no problem at all about chatting about your impending purchase of a new S5. These are my honest thoughts about the B10 S5 Avant. A bit long winded ....but that's me I'm afraid ! Am I thrilled with it ? Yes I am with just a few caveats. Coming out of big limo cruisers for the last 20 years.....2 VW Phaetons, 1 Audi A8 and 2 Q8's , to decide on a completely different type of car at my age ( 78 years ) was a big leap. However, I did alot of research and a fair amount of test drives of alternate cars. Including another Q8 , a Lexus NX, an Audi SQ5 and a BMW 550e. And I came down to the Audi S5. Reasons are that was within my price range, size , performance, styling, build quality and the fact that its an Audi ! I specced it as a Black Edition with a few extras. Mythos black , S technology pack which gives you a Heads Up Display, uprated sound system and passenger MMI, red brake calipers ( a must ! ) and adaptive dampers. I ordered the car from Audi Bury st.Edmunds in January and it came into the U.K. in April. About the spec. I woud throroughly recommend the HUD. Not had it in any car before and it's superb. The passenger MMI is useful, We travel to Deutschalnd alot in the car and my Missus is my Navigator and she loves it. And I thought the adaptive dampers would help the drive comfort of the car as we were coming out of a Q8 with air suspension. I wasn't convinced by the panoramic sunroof or the alternate red leather interior. About the infotainment system and the mmi and safety systems. I am no techy and it has taken some hours sat in the car in my drive to learn and experiment. However Tim, if I can get on top of it, I am sure you can ! And despite some very minor glitches it's all useful and very impressive. So, to sum up. I think it's a handsome car. It drives well. The power delivery is impressive. It's well planted with the Quattro system and it's well put together with no squeaks or rattles. I am well pleased and I would highly recommend it. Just one thing . The list price of mine was something like £74,000. Do not pay anything like that as there are many discounts to be had , especially if you take out a PCP. If you are still keen , please get in touch with Polly Goddard, the Group Fleet Sales Manager of the Marriott Motor Group. She is a lovely lady who really knows her stuff and is a delight to deal with. I purchesed both my Q8's from her as well. She will really do a good deal for you. I hope this helps Tim as it's an awful lot of money to spend isnt it so you have to be sure. Anything else, just ask. Frank

Yes, I think you're right. I've seen mention of lower rear arms/bushes being prone due to the loading the receive, but without something like the ChassisEAR it's hard to know which arm/bush is the issue, and if some are ageing, likelihood is that they all are, and so while a chunk of cash, it's all making me think a complete front end refresh might be the best option to cure not only this creaking, but 'creaking to come'. It would be maddening to sort 'this creaking' out, just to have a repeat on different arms/bushing in a number of months time. My hope was to get a feeling form other A5 owners of what they had experienced and found to work/not work as a guide, i.e. sort 'this' and you'll be good, or 'Doing the odd arm' e.g. lower rear, will only cure that before others start. I can't be the only one to experience this ... or so I thought. Have asked Meyle about front end kits based on your helpful advice. Thanks for that 🙂

I started there, didn't find a lot and thought I'd ask here. Seemed a pretty reasonable place to ask this kind of question

Thanks for the pointer to Lemforder and Meyle. You'd discount TRW?

thanks Spartacus I’ll look into it