Several Audi models are getting an upgrade this year. We head to Germany to test them out
The undeniable high pitched scream of rear tyres that are going full shopping trolley is filling the air of Audi’s test facility in Neuberg.
Which is really saying something, because Eurofighter Typhoons are testing at the local military base. And the shrill of fresh Hankooks delaminating is not coming from an R8, E-tron GT or RS3 but from an S5 Avant.
Because even Audi’s estates are letting their hair down in 2026.. a bit, anyway. A new driving mode called Dynamic Plus is coming to the S5 and the S6 E-tron.
In typical Audi understated fashion, it’s a button on the screen within the Dynamic drive mode setting, but it makes a huge difference. I tried it in the S5 with its 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine, and it really changed the way the thing drove.
Audi’s technical engineers described it to me as being a bit of a drift mode light. It’s very much aimed at the road, whereas that full-on smoke show mode of the RS3 is made for the track.
Fundamentally, Dynamic Plus mode is designed to make the car more rear-biased, allowing more torque to the rear axle and specifically the outside rear wheel to the corner you’re going around. At the same time, it knocks the stability control system (ESC) into Sport mode, which allows for a good chunk more slip.
It’s a peculiar set-up that takes a bit of getting used to. In something lightweight and rear-wheel-drive, there are a few ways to initiate a skid: Scandinavian flick, lift-off oversteer, simply mashing your right foot into the carpet. But with this you mostly do it through the steering rather than the accelerator.
You need to give it an aggressive bung into a corner to really initiate oversteer, and then it’s about keeping the throttle constant if you want to maintain a drifty arc.
There’s safe reliable understeer to fall back on if things go wrong, that is actually quite hard to correct. But the steering angle you can get on when you get it right, even with the ESC essentially on, is pretty amazing. And it’s the kind of thing that you can get your head around in 30 minutes or so.
I never thought a regular S Audi estate would be able to be this rear-biased.
Automatic parking
Audi’s optional Park Assist Pro system is getting a new feature called Trained Parking.
It works a bit like a robot vacuum cleaner: you select a starting point on the car’s infotainment system, show it what to do by driving the route, select an end point and, voilà, it will have learned the route.
If you had a bit of a driveway and a garage, you could easily teach the car to park itself.
It can save five different parking manoeuvres, each up to 200 metres long. And yes, they can be performed consecutively, so you could theoretically get the car to self-park for 1000 metres if you so wished.
AI upgrade
I have experienced an earlier version of Audi’s ChatGPT integration. It involved an engineer asking Audi’s infotainment system (with ChatGPT baked in) how to make a cake. It then gave a detailed answer, albeit through a car stereo while I was driving – not exactly Mary Berry.
This second version makes a bit more sense. The large language model courtesy of OpenAI (ChatGPT’s parent company) now has access to the car’s manual. I asked it how to fill up the windscreen washer and it gave me a very complete answer – basically that the filler was in the frunk. It told me what to fill it with too. Vague destinations – such as “the Italian restaurant with a view of the Rhine” – can now be searched for via voice command too.
Experience worlds
Audi has created new “mood scenarios”, which are effectively modes you select via the infotainment system that use interior lighting, sound, massage functions and climate control settings to create a new “atmosphere” in the car.
The beat of the music being played is affected by speed and acceleration. There are “stings” – effectively drums or little breaks in the music when you go past certain speeds.
The engineers say that in the future, this feature could even be synced up with your Spotify library.
If the artwork of the currently playing song is displayed on the touchscreen, it changes the colours of the ambient lighting to match.
In-car gaming
The infotainment system now allows proper gaming. You can connect a controller via Bluetooth and play games accessed from the Audi app store.
I had a go on a driving game called Asphalt Legend. It worked very well: there was no perceivable lag and the graphics on the screen looked great.
Importantly, the front passenger can play games on their own touchscreen too – while the driver is driving. And the driver won’t be able to see it.
The passenger can now also pair Bluetooth headphones to this second screen.
Braking
Audi has a new regenerative braking system. There’s no official name for it, but the working title was ‘Recuperation to Stop’. Snappy.
This essentially improves the regenerative braking to the point where the electric cars can decelerate to a standstill without transitioning to conventional friction braking.
The upside? Slowing down is much more comfortable. The rocking back and forth experienced with heavy SUVs is minimised. I tried it on a Q6 E-tron with and without the system active, and it made a marked difference.
