AUDI A4 Review

Audi has had a pretty interesting history, starting with the glorious years in the pre-world war II era, then the Volkswagen model cloning until the 1980s or so, to challenging the two very best premium manufacturers, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Some might say that the real threat to the two Teutonic knights started no earlier than 1994. That was the year when Audi decided to change its models' nomenclature from the non-sensical "50", "80", "90", "100", "200", "V8", "quattro" to the much more logical "A", followed by a number designating a different segment for the model.

Coincidentally, that was also the year when the first generation of their A4 model was launched, along with a facelift for the 100/200, renaming it the A6, while the aluminium space frame A8 was also unleashed upon the BMW 7-Series and the Mercedes-Benz S-Klasse. Technically, the B8 Audi is the third generation of the A4, since we don't like calling the extensive facelift suffered in 2005 as a "new generation". So, fifteen years later, can the latest Audi A4 still play in the same field as the sales-leading BMW 3-Series or the techy Mercedes-Benz C-Klasse?

For years, Audi's marketing strategy has been pretty misleading for its customers. The main key attributes of their goals went something along the lines of "BMW sportiness" and "Mercedes-Benz comfort", all in one "four circles" package. The latest Audi A4 is apparently going in the same direction, but throwing a "technology" twist in the features pile. "Vorsprung durch Technik" aka "A lead through technology" became Audi's European slogan in the mid-nineties, while the "Never Follow" was the company's strapline in the US.

We've managed to get our hands on the Audi A4 1.8 TFSI model, with 160 horsepower and 250 Nm (184.4 lb ft) of torque, to see if the company's slogan is still effective in a model that's not the biggest, most comfortable or sportiest in Audi's lineup. Built on Audi's new Multi Longitudinal Platform (MLP), which can also be found under the new Audi Q5, the latest A4 managed to both impress and unimpress us, with the accent put on the former.

Being the first "popular" model in the revamped Audi range to sport LED daylight driving lights, the new face of the A4 is clearly "trendy". We won't go as far as saying it's a trend-setter, since the BMW "Angel Eyes" were achieving pretty much the same thing circa 10 years ago, without all this LED fuss about them. Just like the "B7 facelift" in 2005, the new A4 was designed by Walter de'Silva. He's the guy who first made a name for itself as an Alfa Romeo designer, helping to reposition the Italian brand back into BMW territory with the 147 and 156, after which being lured by Ferdinand Piech to manage the same thing for Seat.

Some nine years later, Walter de'Silva is now overseeing the design direction for the whole Volkswagen Group brands, which means the "spicing up" of the Audi brand will continue, with more and more "latin lines" being added to an otherwise mathematical, Teutonic design. These are the words to better describe the new Audi A4. The overall almost Bauhaus-like design of just about every generation of the A4 was kept on the new model, but the de'Silva latin touch can be seen from almost any angle.

The front sports the Audi single-frame grille flanked by two very classically-shaped headlights but with a very interesting interior design. With the headlights in "off" mode, the new A4 looks like just about any other Audi from the 2000s, but just by turning on the LED daylight driving lights it almost changes its appearance, transforming itself from a "Q-car" into an evil-looking predator on wheels. We are well aware of the exaggeration when it comes to a 160 horsepower four-banger under the hood, but strictly from a design point of view, the A4's front fascia is definitely a looker.

The side view is not that impressive, since just about any bystander could misleadingly point and say "What a nice looking A6! Oh wait." The rear on the other hand is clearly part of the new Audi design language, sporting two stoplights almost identical to its coupe-brother, the A5. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, since even de'Silva himself said that the A5 is pretty much his prettiest creation. We don't exactly agree with that statement, but that doesn't mean the new A4 is bad-looking, just a teeny-weeny bit boring from some angles.

A few years a ago, a myth started to surface about Audi losing their main "interior guy" to Mercedes-Benz, thus also losing their main edge over both BMW and Mercedes-Benz. We're not entirely sure that is the truth, especially since our test car's interior, although equipped with some pretty basic features, was top notch. The new A4's driver-oriented center console manages to influence both positively and negatively.

Naturally, the "ups" consist of a much higher number than the "downs". First, there's the almost flawless build quality, with the fit and finish reminding us of a much more expensive type of automobile. Second, the design is in the older BMW style, with the center console being much more easier to be reached by the driver than by the front passenger, which usually translates into "driving machine". Thirdly, but not lastly, most of the knobs and buttons are in plain sight and easy to reach, contributing to a very ergonomic feel.

The "downs" on the other hand are few but one might be more than enough to get on the front passenger's nerves. The main quarrel he might have is the driver-oriented console, which leaves him with few control options related to the temperature and flow of air in front of him, even though our test car was equipped with dual climate control. The other downsides consist of our A4's level of equipment, which was... adequate, to say the most.

Don't get us wrong, our test car was equipment with an Audi Symphony HI FI system, dual climate control, automatic parking brake, board computer with a huge LCD on top of the dashboard, electric power steering and four automatic windows. That said, it was also missing powered and heated seats, leather trim, the MMI infotainment interface, Audi's Lane Assist and so on. Those are all expensive options, especially for a the second least powerful A4, but if you're on the lookout for standard premium features on a premium car, you won't find them on an almost basic A4 1.8 TFSI.

The interior space is on the same level with the other competitors from this class of aoutomobile (read: Mercedes-Benz C-Klasse and BMW 3-Series), with a slight plus for the rear legroom, which is almost as big as in the longer A6. With that being said, our test car's interior is a bit better looking than in other entry-level premium sedans, the space is more than enough for four or even five 95-percentile human males, while the lack of premium features make it a good buy only if you really want the one of the cheapest Audi sedans available.

The 1.8-liter turbocharged four-banger under the hood uses direct injection and a low-pressure turbo (LPT) to increase the otherwise anemic torque figures to an adequate 250 Nm (184.4 lb ft) of torque. By being mated to a six-speed manual gearbox with pretty good precision and having a dashboard optimum gear indicator should translate into a pretty good performer in the fuel economy department, despite the petrol fuel nature of the engine. Sadly, that wasn't exactly the case with our test car, since we did our city-driving in over-crowded stop-and-go traffic.

Audi's pretty respectable (for a mildly-powerful petrol engine) fuel economy figures for urban driving are given as a relatively low 9.5 liters per 100 kilometers (US 24.8 MPG). Sadly, given the circumstances, the lowest we managed to achieve with our example was 11.2 liters per 100 kilometers (US 21 MPG). The major fault for this situation was the heavy traffic on one end, and our stubbornness in not changing the gears as quick as the optimum gear indicator was requesting.

The main reason for our pigheadedness was probably the fact that the optimum gear indicator was very anti-driving most of the time, requiring us to change into fifth or even sixth while going at 50-60 km/h (30-37 mph) in the city. We obviously found this a bit insulting for a car that can reach 100 km/h (62 mph) in 8.6 seconds, so we acted accordingly.

The overall visibility is A OK from most points of view, including the massive (for a sedan this large) outside rear view mirrors. This, along with the adjustable steering wheel and the (manual) height-adjustable driver's seat can give you tons of visibility when you attempt to park. Speaking of parking, on our test car this job wasn't facilitated by an automatic parking system like in some other Volkswagen Group products, nor by some mighty useful front or rear parking sensors. In other words, the tested model leaves parking entirely to the skill of the driver.

When finally escaping the busy streets of the city, the Audi A4 TFSI finally began to stretch its legs and show us what it can be done by using just a puny sub-2.0-liter engine with low-pressure turbocharging. The otherwise heavily-assisted steering really picks up the pace along with the speed, delivering a very good feel when negotiating high speed cornering.

Unlike the previous generation A4s, and just about every post-1970s Audi, the MLP platform under the new A4 body uses an engine configuration that finally sits AFTER the front headlights [/end Clarksonian speak], therefore improving the dynamics of the vehicle it powers.

In other words, the engine sits further towards the rear, giving the A4 a better front/rear axle weight ratio. Of course, one should not imagine that the new configuration is as hardcore as the one found in almost every BMW, but compared to past Audis, this is a massive improvement. Although not equipped with the Audi Drive Select, our test car's suspension handled more than satisfying during the few high speed bursts on the highway we did, making the whole car feel very controllable.

Of course, not being equipped with the highly-touted quattro system, but only front-wheel drive, didn't do much in the dynamics corner for this A4 example, but the sporty suspension settings, 17-inch alloy wheels with low profile tires and electric power steering managed to give us enough feedback from the road not to actually feel the said "impotence" of the drivetrain.

Although at first it gave us a sense of having a firm setting, the suspension setup is so good it can both keep the car steady-planted on its wheels at high speeds AND soak up most potholes or tram tracks, in the often misunderstood "premium" way of doing it.

The 160 horsepower and 250 Nm (184.4 lb ft) of the engine may seem a bit low for a car that weighs 1485 kilograms (3273.9 pounds) and has such a sporty design, but trust us, 8.6 seconds from naught to sixty are a bit impressive coming from a vehicle as this. Take into account it almost matches the 245 horsepower AWD Subaru Outback we've tested before, which sports a similar weight.