The facelift brought cleaner lights and updated engines, and it is the point where the worst early petrol issues become easier to avoid.
Early EA888 2.0 TFSI engines (2008-2012) can consume oil heavily because of piston-ring wear. A proper fix requires updated pistons and connecting rods (Stage 2 fix).
Early petrol cars can suffer timing-chain tensioner failure, often announced by cold-start rattle before the chain slips and causes major engine damage.
Front-wheel-drive automatic cars use the Multitronic CVT, which can judder, flare, or lose drive if fluid changes were skipped or the gearbox ECU starts to fail.
The 7-speed wet-clutch S tronic on quattro models can suffer mechatronic unit and clutch pack wear, especially if fluid changes were skipped.
Town-driven diesel A5s block their DPFs, triggering limp mode and expensive forced regenerations or replacement.
The A5 Cabriolet soft-top roof can get stuck mid-operation, with bowden cables stretching, motors wearing, and microswitches failing.