Audi A4 Road Test

Audi A4

The rear seats have a 60:40 split and fold to the backs so that the boot capacity can be increased from 480- to 962-litres and the backrest of the centre seat folds down to reveal the first aid kit while doubling as an armrest.

At the front, the fascia is very driver-focused with the buttons and control laid out in quite a regimented manner. It could quite easily look old fashioned but doesn’t thanks to the materials used and the metallic-effect accents and trims. The light-coloured Comfort seats at the front (with heating and power) make a difference to the interior ambience, creating a feeling of sedate calm, which is in contrast to the 3.2 engine under the bonnet, of which I find impossible not to take advantage.

This 3.2 FSI V6 unit has been around for a while now but has recently had an ‘extensive’ redesign and now produces 265PS a 6,500rpm and 330Nm of torque from 3,000- to 5,000rpm, however, you can feel it pulling strongly from around 1,750rpm giving the impression that it is ever-present and readily available at a mere scrunch of the toes

When mated to the 6-speed manual ‘box, it takes just 6.2 seconds to complete the 0-62mph dash and the top speed is 155mph, where legal. A word about the manual transmission; it is nice and slick in its function but the clutch pedal is a little high with the consequence that after a long journey or in heavy traffic you can feel as you’d spent an hour doing step aerobics - a slight exaggeration, maybe but a valid point, nonetheless.

The efficiency of this large FSI engine is borne out by the fuel consumption figures of 20.9mpg (urban), 42.1mpg (extra-urban) and a combined figure of 30.1mpg with 219g/km CO2 emitted from the twin tailpipes.

There are four other engines available; a 1.8TFSI (turbocharged) with two power output versions of 120- and 160PS, a 2.0TDI (143PS), a 2.7TDI V6 (190PS) and a 240PS, 3.0TDI V6 unit. Most of them are mated to the 6-speed manual gearbox as standard, however, the 2.7TDI diesel comes with Multitronic Constantly Variable Transmission (CVT) and a 6-speed tiptronic automatic transmission available on A4 models with quattro permanent four-wheel-drive, that is to say the 3.2 FSI and the 3.0TDI engines.

With quattro on board, needless to say the handling of the 3.2 test car matches the performance to the point of inducing a permanent grin that lasted well after the car had been returned to Audi. Smooth when required or agile and sporty, the combination of poise and agility is a definite winner.

There is much more to this car than we have space for on these pages and interested parties should book a day off to visit their Audi dealership because I’m sure that’s how long it will take to go through it all. So, what more can I say but ‘Fire up the Quattro!'

Audi A4