AUDI A4 Review

We had a bit of a surprise when first driving our test car, being accustomed to a much more mushy suspension setup we seemed to find in almost all past Audis. This is not the case with the new A4, especially while equipped with 17-inch alloys with low profile tires. Although far from punishing our kidneys with every bump in the road, Audi engineers managed to fine tune it to the point where you'd think it's electronically controlled.

Our A4 didn't have Audi's Drive Select option, albeit its ride would have told us otherwise. The reasoning behind our odd statement is the fact that the non-Drive Select A4 can actually make you think it automatically changes its suspension setup from soft to hard depending on the road surface you're driving on. Obviously, it didn't, but otherwise the basic suspension did its job flawlessly. There was a pinch of hardness to the settings though, enough to give you more confidence in high-speed cornering without intervening too much on the comfort of our bums.

As for the comfort features of our test car, we will have to make a pretty short list, since this is far from the way you can configure an A4 to the point of almost doubling its price. The most impressive piece of "luxury" was probably the HI FI Audi Symphony audio system, which didn't distort too much whenever we upped the volume on the radio. Although without Audi's MMI infotainment system, the car did have a pretty big LCD screen to show most of the on board computer's functions, including the audio and the climate control system.

Speaking of climate, our A4 was equipped with a dual-zone automatic system, also having two ventilation holes for the rear passengers. A nice surprise but probably overrated surprise considering the trim level of the car were the four automatic electric windows. Apart from this, the rest of the comfort equipment was pretty basic, especially taking into account we're talking about a premium automobile. There was no leather trimming except the one on the steering-wheel and around the gear-lever, while the seats were manually adjustable and non-heated.

Although electronically-controlled, we were a bit disappointed about the amount of feedback from the wheel at lower speeds, mainly because of a huge level of assist. At higher speeds though, the feeling input is much improved and the level of assistance is lower, making the model steer almost like a sports car. Of course, some people might actually enjoy a steering assisted heavier than Madonna in concert, especially since it helps during parking maneuvers, but we didn't.

As for the engine, its probably one of the prime examples of modern technology in petrol engines, benefitting from a number of innovative technologies. We couldn't decide on the piece we enjoyed the most, but it was probably the low pressure turbocharger (LPT). The turbocharger housing itself is so small that it delivers a lag-free response on almost every part of the rev range. Also, the mildly high revving nature of the 1.8-liter is kept intact, but with and added dose of oomph across the range.

The second best part of the engine is the direct injection, just like in a modern diesel engine. For anybody who was wondering, the TFSI in the car's name comes from Turbocharged Fuel Stratified Injection, which is a cleverer way of saying the engine is turbocharged and has direct injection. 160 horsepower and 250 Nm (184.4 lb ft) is not something to rock your socks off, especially when talking about a turbocharged engine, but those numbers are enough to propel a relatively heavy vehicle, even without quattro, to a pretty fast 8.6 seconds from naught to 100 km/h (62 mph).

Although at first we were left to wonder why so many gadgets were missing from the Audi A4 we tested, we were then reminded this model is at the lowest of the Audi premium sedan ladder. Not exactly at the first step from this point of view, mind you. As paradoxical as it may sound, the most useless but useful at the same time are the eye-catching LED daylight driving lights. They are useful mainly for the "look at me!" in everyone of you, but also when driving in poor visibility conditions, even in the day time.

The uselessness comes pretty much from the same reasons. You're using them in the daytime, when, in theory, the sun is already doing all the lighting for you... so why would you need an extra set of lights just for that? Anyway, there is also a basic list of entry-level useful gadgets you can usually find in just about any self-respecting premium sedan nowadays.

Apart from the trendy LED daylight driving lights, our test car was also equipped with HID headlights with an automatic turn on/turn off function, a rain sensor for the windshield wipers – for which, again, we can't really find an actual purpose – a dual-zone climate control system with "two and half" controls for the air volume and temperature, four automatic power windows and a height-adjustable steering wheel.

While this doesn't seem to be such a short list of useful gadgets, keep in mind the car was also missing quite a few. We're mentioning power and heated seats, retractable side rear view mirrors and parking sensors. We could live without them, naturally, but they would have come in handy, especially when talking about a premium car.

If we only take into account the crash test results the new A4 has been through so far, this is a VERY safe automobile. At the EuroNCAP it managed to earn five stars by both the 2008 and new, 2009, crash testing regulations. At the American IIHS crash test it didn't get any rating below "Good", thus making it to the top of its class in safety ratings. In other words, the A4 has received top marks on two continents when it comes to be controllably crashed.

Some people might believe in conspiracy theories related to the authenticity of these tests (we've met this kind of people, trust us), and they only take cold, hard facts in equation when talking about the safety of an automobile. Well, the Audi A4 is equipped in standard with anti-lock braking system with electronic brake assistance and electronic stability control.

If that's not enough to ease some hypochondriac's soul, the car also benefits from six standard airbags, two frontal dual stage ones, two lateral ones and two head airbags that go from front to back. It also has seatbelt pretensioners and load limiters for the two front seats, there to protect you from just about any "normal" crash.

Although not the best equipped - both engine and features-wise - A4 in the Audi lineup, our test car handled beautifully and flawlessly, managing to surprise us on quite a few occasions. Even though it's the second least powerful petrol engine in the line-up it can carry its weight more than decently, making us believe we're driving a more powerful car on more than one occasion. The six-speed manual was also very precise and with some pretty sporty gear ratios. On the whole, the A4's new found dynamics were the ones which impressed us the most from our test drive.

Before actually driving it, we we're expecting quite a good fuel consumption from our test car, considering it is equipped with a pretty modern engine without mountains of displacement under the hood. Electronically-controlled fuel stratified injection, a small displacement, a low pressure turbocharger and an optimum gear indicator should have proven to be very fuel economy-friendly, but we didn't actually benefit from it considering the heavy-traffic conditions. Our lowest city fuel consumption was 11.2 liters per 100 kilometers (US 21 mpg), while the medium fuel consumption on the whole was somewhere around 12.5-13 liters per 100 kilometers (US 18-18.8 mpg). Those figures dropped to around 8 liters per 100 kilometers (US 29.4 mpg) when driving outside the city, but on the whole our car exceeded the manufacturer's estimation by quite a few numbers.

The ugly thing about the new A4 cannot be anything related to its design, both in and out of the car, and probably the only thing that somewhat managed to influence our well-being in a slightly bad way was the fact that it was far from being equipped like a premium sedan should. We realize that the options list is so long that it might actually double the car's price, but that doesn't change the fact that our test car had a pretty basic equipment when talking about an Audi.