SOMETIMES it's the things you wouldn't expect that can determine the choice of an executive car.

The badge, performance and economy are all important, but sometimes it could be the  quality of the alloy wheels or the sound system can swing it.

The Audi A5 offers plenty of options on all those scores.

It is a sleek, stylish sporty-looking  coupe, a shape that disguises the fact that there are five door on the tested Sportback option.

It looks good with the clever, LED trimmed bi-xenon headlights, sporting profile and ultra-stylish spoked alloy wheels.

The sporty theme continues inside, and one of the stars of the whole Audi line up is the now well refined multi media interface or MMI.

This system was always good, but it has been adapted, improved and frankly simplified.

The clever silver dial below the gear stick still controls the computer brains of the car, but there are far fewer buttons and sub menus.

Four corner buttons surrounding the dial will let you flick through menus that controls the car performance information, sat nav, DVD player, DAB radio, CD, bluetooth phone connectivity and the ever expanding built-in jukebox.

I remember sampling this jukebox system some years back and when the list was fairly limited. But a bit like Audi itself it just keeps getting bigger.

With the stunning premium level Bang and Olufsen sound system, you have a home entertainment system on the move.

The interior itself is filled with high end quality materials and leather seats, which make it a comfortable place to be.

There is a real sense of luxury and attention to detail.

There is also decent space inside, once you master the trick of sliding in, and a surprising amount of headroom even in the back for a coupe.

Taller people will have to take care while sliding into the driver's seat as the roof line is quite low but once inside the low slung seats you are cocooned in comfort.

There is also plenty of stowage space, including drink holders in the rear doors while the boot is long, but not very deep.

On the road, the car  has excellent body control, it feels sure-footed in corners and composed on most types of road.

There are different driving options, which switch at the flick of a button on the dash and transform the car into dynamic and punchy or back to comfort mode.

It's also refreshing to see an executive car like this with a slick six-speed manual gearbox.

It is so quiet inside it can be easy to forget how quickly you are going - until at higher speed road noise from the big tyres kicks in and can become a pain on some surfaces.

Otherwise the engine is the refined heartbeat of the car and is barely audible, while wind noise absent.

The 177ps diesel powering the car has plenty to offer both in terms of pace and economy. It propels the car from 0-60mph in just 8.5 seconds, good pace but it that hurt the pocket or purse.

With a claimed 55-odd miles per gallon and low CO2 emissions, it is cheap to run and road tax is low as are benefit in kind charges for the business user.

The start-stop system that cuts engine power when you are sitting in traffic, and restarts in just two-tenths of a second, adds to the economy.

Other standard kit is impressive which you would expect from a car costing more than £30,000 and includes air conditioning, the MMI with large display screen, a radio operated key, those huge spoked alloys to name a few.

There were also parking sensors, rear reversing cameras leather and climate control. The option list is comprehensive too, if you have deep pockets.

The safety specification is also compehensive with the usual array of airbags, ABS, ESP, while alarm and immobiliser keep thieves at bay.