Audi S5 vs Alfa Romeo Giulietta

What's the difference?

The Audi A5 remains a convincing option in the premium mid-size sedan category, even with the near-$10K price increase over its equivalent grade A4 predecessor.

Even in its base spec, it’s a lovely thing to drive and adds enough new kit to be a reasonable option when it comes to value. In terms of tech usability, it stands out from rivals. Practicality is still king for Audi.

But for the heart-over-head types, the S5 is fast and fun while remaining a comfortable cruiser and the price is decent. On a personal note, a six-cylinder wagon? That's a big yes from me.

For the time it’s available, it’s hard to go past the value on offer in the S5 Edition One. Getting an AWD V6 with that kind of capability for under $100K is something that's sure to tempt buyers. If it doesn’t, we need to take a good look at ourselves.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with meals provided.

So much right and some things not quite right – the Giulietta has the Alfa Romeo mix of highs and lows which the brand is famous for. There’s no mistaking that this is a unique and sexy looking car, with the practicality of a five-door hatch plus impressive handling and performance.  More heart than head decision here though it seems, but romantic Alfa enthusiasts should adore it.

The A5 incorporates Audi’s new design language in a way that makes the 2026 model stand out from Audi’s older offerings, but we won’t know how well it works in the family until more new-gen Audi cars arrive.

For now, the A5 is a generally handsome car. It very much looks like an Audi from the front, even a recent A4 if you only very quickly glanced.

The aforementioned S line styling does plenty in making even the base Audi A5 look like a properly luxe thing. There were a few double-checks at the launch to make sure drivers were getting into the right cars.

Fortunately the new car’s designers refrained from busying up the car with trim, the only big features being the side vents at the front.

But even in Avant form the S5 looks athletic, quad-exhausts in the lower bar and the angular rear bodywork moving away from the previously softer, more rounded look Audi had gone with before.

Inside, the changes are arguably more obvious. The A5 is now much more ‘screeny’ than before, especially if optioned with the passenger-side touchscreen.

It’s still decidedly Audi in its layout and design, with geometric shapes on the steering wheel, screen housing, door cards and even on the gear shifter, which is no longer the more traditional handle-type.

Alfa Romeo couldn't design a boring car even if it was handed a picture of a Toyota Camry and told to copy it or else. The Giulietta is no exception.

There's the deep 'V' grille shared with the new Giulia sedan and 4C sports cars that make up the current Alfa model line-up. There's the bug-eye headlights with pretty inset LEDs and the chiselled bonnet, a side profile which looks like that of a mini Porsche Cayenne and a cute-but-tough bottom with its elegant taillights and twin exhausts.

The latest update brought a honeycomb mesh grille and a slightly different design to the headlight and LED foglight surrounds. The tail pipes were also given a styling tweak, so too were the alloy wheels.

Despite its coupe looks it's actually a five-door hatch with ‘hidden' handles for the rear doors.

The cabin saw new materials and finishes added. The Veloce had the Alfa Romeo logo stitched into the integrated headrests, shiny sports pedals, and lashings of faux carbon fibre trim on the doors and dash.

You can tell a Veloce from the outside by the red Brembo brake calipers behind the front wheels, 18-inch alloys, its chunkier exhaust tips poking out of the diffuser, red pin-striping to the front and rear bumpers, and the black window surrounds.

Okay, how big or small is it? Here's some dimensions for you. The Guilietta is 4351mm long, 1798mm wide, 1465mm tall and the Veloce with its sports suspension is 9mm lower than the others with 102mm of ground clearance.

Compared to say a Mazda3 hatch the Giulietta is 109mm shorter end-to-end and only 3mm wider. But if you're considering an Giulietta why are you looking at the Mazda3 anyway? That would be sensible - Like comparing Cancer Council hats to top hats.

…and that gear selector is a bit indicative of the new A5’s interior. It’s now more of a switch that requires a little more attention than the traditional shifter, just like the way the more screen-focused interior requires a little more of your eyeball time than physical buttons.

Don’t get me wrong, as far as screens in modern cars go, Audi seems to have made it as easy as possible to use the new-gen software in the A5. The menus are clear, there are good shortcuts and there’s no lag… but buttons are always better when your focus needs to be on the road.

Fortunately the driver display is nice and clear, it’s a good update on Audi’s ‘Virtual Cockpit’ and you can set it to display important information without looking too busy.

Ergonomically, the way the central screen is angled towards the driver, the centre console layout and the small control panel on the door for lights, mirrors and the like all seem to be well considered and mean you don’t have to awkwardly reach for anything.

There are a few quirks specific to the A5 and S5, one being that if you opt for the panoramic sunroof, it comes with a transparency switch rather than a physical cover, so it doesn’t do much to keep the light out.

It’s also good to note that the passenger screen - again, if optioned - turns to privacy mode when playing media so as to not distract the driver. Pretty handy!

Behind the front row, a regular-sized adult should have enough room to sit comfortably for a decent amount of time without feeling cramped. The light through the sunroof comes in handy here.

Behind that is a 445L boot in Sedan form, or 1299L with the rear seats folded down. As an Avant, the space increases to 448L and 1396L respectively.

Beautiful things tend to favour form over function. The Giuletta tries to do both and succeeds…but also fails in places.

Successes first: despite its coupe looks it's actually a five-door hatch with ‘hidden' handles for the rear doors placed up at window level near the C-pillar. So good is the two-door disguise that our photographer climbed into the back seat through the front door.

Rear legroom is a bit tight back there and at 191cm I can sit behind my driving position but I'd hate for me to be sitting behind me because my knees are digging hard into the seat back.

Headroom isn't much chop either and I literally can't sit in the back seat and hold my head high – a combination of that sloping roofline and the optional double sunroof reduces the head space.

A major practicality fail is the lack of storage throughout the cabin.

Ordering drive-thru is possibly out of the question.

My wife's phone kept mysteriously appearing in the footwell every time we left it in the glove box, like there was a tear in the time-space fabric, but then we realised it was slipping through a gap.

There's no centre armrest storage bin in the front – actually there's no centre armrest. There is a pop-up hidey-hole on the dash but with only enough room for a pair of sunglasses.

The two cup holders in the front are small. It's safe to say that unless you have somebody with hands at the ready, ordering drive-thru is possibly out of the question.

Or if you have long arms and can reach the fold down armrest in the back there are two decent sized cup holders along with a small storage space. There are no bottle holders any of the doors, but there is fortunately room for a phone and wallet because there isn't space for them anywhere else.

But wait, the Giulietta is saved from a total storage fail by a large-for-the-class 350-litre boot. That's 70 litres bigger than a Toyota Corolla's and only 14 litres less than the Mazda3.  We could fit the pram, the shopping and the rest of the gear which goes with a military operation such as a trip to the park with a toddler in there.

The 2016 update saw the Giulietta variants renamed. There's the entry grade $29,990 Super Manual which has a six-speed manual gearbox, then buyers can step up to the Super TCT with a six-speed dual clutch automatic transmission for $34,900 and then there's our test car – the Veloce for $41,990. There's 10 paint colours at your disposal from the colour of our car (Alfa Red) to Perla Moonlight. Only Alfa White comes at no extra cost, the rest are a $500 option.

The Veloce collects the same features as the Super TCT such as a 6.5-inch touch screen, with sat nav, front and rear parking sensors, three drive modes and then adds bi-xenon headlights, 18-inch alloys, leather and Alcantara seats, a flat-bottomed steering wheel, the big exhaust tips and the sports diffuser, tinted rear glass and then less cosmetic features such as sports suspension and launch control.

There's no reversing camera which is disappointing, considering they come standard on some cars half the price.

At this price you'd shop the Veloce against a BMW 120i hatch for $41,900, a Volkswagen Golf GTI for $43,490 or possibly a high-end Mazda3 SP 25 Astina for $37,040.

The Audi A5 is powered by a four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine which powers the front wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. It makes 150kW of power and 340Nm of torque, and should, Audi says, propel the A5 to 100km/h in 7.8 seconds before (eventually) reaching a top speed of 248km/h.

The S5, in all its variants, is powered by a 3.0-litre turbo-petrol V6 which is assisted by a mild hybrid system. It produces 270kW and 550Nm, sending that to all four wheels via a similar seven-speed dual-clutch.

The S5 is much quicker as a result - 100km/h comes along in just 4.5 seconds according to Audi, before reaching a 250km/h top speed.

The Giulietta Veloce has a 1.75-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine which produce 177kW of power and 340Nm of torque. It's a great engine that lets loose a wonderful scream when pushed hard and the little grunts it makes when it changes gear when driving around normally sound like a giant enjoying his food.

The transmission is a dual-clutch auto which Alfa calls a TCT or twin-clutch transmission. I'm not a fan of them regardless of the brand of car they're in but the Alfa version is better than most of the others in its smoothness at lower speeds and decisiveness.

There's so much potential here for a great driving experience.

What about the Giulietta's reliability over time? This version of the car is less than two months old so we can only comment on what it offers as a brand-new vehicle, but you'll find good context in our used review of the earlier 2011-2014 Giulietta.

Audi claims the A5 uses 6.9 litres of fuel per 100km, which should theoretically deplete the 56-litre fuel tank after 811km of driving. We couldn’t test this on the launch, but reaching claimed fuel efficiency figures remains an elusive challenge.

The S5, according to Audi, comes with an impressive 7.1L/100km figure in Sedan form, or 7.2L/100km as an Avant. That’s 788km and 777km of theoretical driving range if you’re up for a challenge.

Alfa Romeo says you should see your Veloce drink at a rate of 6.8L/100km during combined driving, but the dash showed more than double that during mainly urban driving while  channelling  Enzo Ferrari.

One of the first press cars I ever drove as an even younger lad than I am now was the circa-2017 Audi S4.

Without the perspective of all the many, many cars I've since driven, that S4 blew my mind a little bit with its combination of capability and refinement.

Now, with the context of most of the cars available to the Australian buyer in mind, it’s reassuring to get into this new generation and find that the mid-size Audi torch has been gracefully passed on.

Audi says the new generation, sitting on its new platform, has more focus on balanced driving dynamics, steering precision and steering feel. Without sacrificing comfort, Audi wants the A5 to be a sharper driver’s car.

It might not gel with the Euro tradition of a rear-drive executive sedan given the base A5 is front-wheel drive - the brand of course focusing on its quattro all-wheel drive system - but the A5 is decidedly agile for its size. 

Compared to the S5 especially, as the A5’S 1770kg plays the S5’s 2025kg in Sedan form (2040kg as an Avant). It’s a noticeable weight difference, and it makes the A5 more playful without getting properly ragged.

It also rides on smaller 19-inch wheels and would overall probably make for the better daily driver. Even without the all-wheel-drive traction and extra power the S5 offers, the A5 makes a good case for properly plush commuting. Its 150kW isn’t lacking by any means, and that 340Nm does plenty to help when overtaking.

Its suspension feels well damped, keeping the road’s imperfections out of the cabin without numbing the ride and leaving you without feedback. The steering is similarly direct without being too heavy, making the A5 feel athletic for its size.

But for all the A5’s strengths, there is something undeniable about a six-cylinder European sedan (or wagon). The S5 is heavier, sure, and therefore not as naturally nimble, but it makes up for it. And it’s not just the extra power and mild-hybrid assistance.

It’s a great highway cruiser for a start, but it also adds the confidence of all-wheel drive to a trip, which proved extremely useful on the very rainy winter day we tested it. It holds up well on rough surfaces despite the bigger wheels and extra heft, plus it doesn’t feel out of hand when cornering fast, rolling into a predictable understeer rather than quickly losing traction.

But if you’re in any way conscious of your budget, consider the Edition One. It doesn’t lack any of the key things that make the S5 great, and you get to pocket enough money to buy a second used car.

There's so much potential here for a great driving experience such as the accurate and direct steering and great suspension which provides a comfortable ride and great handling, only for all to be let down by turbo lag which kills the responsiveness in the car.

Of the three steering modes: Dynamic, Natural and All Weather, the Dynamic setting was kept on almost always with the other two just feeling too lethargic.

The Giulietta is front-wheel drive and there's a lot of torque being sent to those wheels, but unlike a stack of Alfas in the past there's next to no torque steer. That said, our hill start test on a wet night saw those front wheels scrambling for traction as it accelerated up the slope. Cornering grip from the tyres is excellent, however.

There's some Alfa Romeo ergonomic issues in the cabin we've gotten used to over the years, but just because you're accustomed to something doesn't mean it's okay. For example, the cramped driver's footwell with the brake and accelerator pedals so close that it's easy to hit both at the same time.

Such is the intensity of the spray from both the window washer and the headlight washers it's like you're captaining a fishing trawler that's hit a massive wave at sea.

The indicator and wiper stalks are also so far from the steering wheel rim that they're almost out of reach – I don't think I have small hands, nobody's ever pointed them out or laughed at them.

And speaking of wipers, the Giulietta is obsessed with keeping itself clean. Pull the wiper stalk towards you to clean the windows and such is the intensity of the spray from both the window washer and the headlight washers it's like you're captaining a fishing trawler that's hit a massive wave at sea. Put the car into reverse and the rear wiper starts squirting and washing.

For Christmas I want Alfa to upgrade their media unit or bin it – the UConnect system disconnected my phone without prompting and isn't intuitive to use.

The Alfa Romeo Giulietta has been given the maximum five-star ANCAP rating. It doesn't have the advanced safety technology such as AEB and lane keeping assistance which is now standard on any small hatches for a lot less money.

For child and baby seats there's two top tether and two ISIOFIX points in the back seat.

Audi’s five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty is starting to fall behind the industry standard, though is about normal for a premium brand. On top of this, customers can opt to purchase extra years of warranty up to a maximum nine years which costs $3590.

Audi does also offer 12 years of bodywork manufacturing warranty against corrosion or perforation. There’s also five years of Audi roadside assistance.

Servicing intervals for the A5 come in at every 15,000km or 12 months, with customers able to purchase fixed-price servicing plans at a discount compared to paying per service.

A five-year servicing pack for the A5 Sedan is $3360, and for the S5 it’s priced at $3540.

The Giulietta is covered by Alfa Romeo's three year/150,000km warranty. Servicing is recommended at 12month/15,000km intervals with a major service every two years. Alfa Romeo doesn't have capped price servicing but there is Mopar Vehicle Protection which customers can purchase with the vehicle for $1995.