Car_and_Driver_USA_July_2017

with the power that would come with their
successful plunder that drove Coronado
into the unknown.
Once north of the mine, the road bearing
Coronado’s name winds into an 11-mile
labyrinth of climbing corners. If the state of
Arizona is to be believed, most of these are
10-mph bends, and in many of them that
pace is nonnegotiable. The road isn’t perfect.
We configure Audi’s Drive Select to its
individual setting and dial the suspension
to comfort, the extra compliance necessary
to maintain composure on a surface beset
with freeze-thaw imperfections.
Audi’s decision to forgo a manual transmission
is regrettable on the Coronado.
The manual’s death was driven by a lack of
demand, we’re told, and the fact that the
automatic makes the car quicker. Still, the
loss of such a valuable control interface is
palpable in a place where shift speed is irrelevant.
There’s merit, however, in always
having our hands on the wheel, inches from
the shift paddles. We measured grip at
0.94 g on the test track, but on the road, the
S5’s lust for cornering fades in direct
proportion to its front tires’ purchase on
the tarmac. Even in Coronado’s slowest
throws, the S5 refuses to rotate meaningfully
on or off the throttle. Its electronically
controlled torque-vectoring rear differential,
part of the S Sport package, is retuned
to be more responsive and precise but is less
palpable than in the previous S4 and S5.
The Coronado Trail
Virtually unburdened by guardrails and
wildly exposed, U.S. Route 191 between
Morenci and Springerville, Arizona, is
as unrelenting as it is remote. Roughly
retracing the route Spanish conquistador
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado
cut in 1540 as he forged north through
the New World, the trail looks much
the same today as it did then.
FEET
10,000
9000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
Phoenix •
ARIZONA
• Santa Fe
NEW
MEXICO
TOTAL DISTANCE: 123 Miles
Open It Up
–
North of Hannagan
Meadow, the
Coronado opens into
longer, faster corners
with more visibility
and, in the S5, more
confidence.
Elevation Change
–
With a cumulative vertical rise of nearly 13,000 feet and almost 10,000 feet
of bending descents between Morenci and Springerville, the trail’s highest
and lowest points lie almost 5300 vertical feet apart.
• Hannagan Meadow
SPRINGERVILLE
N
Highest Point
–
Just south of
Hannagan Meadow,
the Coronado
Trail peaks at a
boost-required
9367 feet.
• Alpine
Let the
Insanity
Begin
–
North of the
enormous
Morenci
mine, one of
the largest
open-pit
operations in
the world, is
where the
Coronado
gets to the
business of
turning.
Eleven miles
of switchbacks
open
the tour.
MORENCI
059