Audi A4

So good, everyone should have one

Audi’s in Australia have never been as popular as they are in Europe. They’ve had this slightly different image about them, the only people you know drive them are architects, advertisers, or piano teachers. The whole range has always been quite stylish, well built, but slightly anodyne and a little too German. Lets not forget price, you could always get the cheaper similar model from Volkswagen. You paid for the badge, and were ribbed for it. We call it the tall poppy syndrome.

One day, Audi’s styling department went for a wild weekend party up in Sweden. Alcohol might be prohibitively expensive, but they had wads of spare cash from over pricing their cars, and skimping on the style department. When the stylists returned, from their weekend bender in Stockholm, they set about styling the latest A4. Gone is the boring grille, slab sides and over-inflated bulbous rear end. Instead the latest offering from Ingolstadt is full of rakish curves, and a huge grill. My mother likes to liken car fronts to faces, the old grille was like a beaver, busy, boring, and if the car bumped up against your legs, it would weave itself around you, cosseting you the whole time with its warm brown fur. The new grille looks like it eats children at school crossings if they dare dally.

The sides are visually lifted with flared arches, and helps disguise the enormous boot. In Avant form (station wagon) it looks even better than the sedan, gently raked roofline, gives it a subtle gangster look, with thicker shoulders. A good friend to have in a fight. Inside, the interior has been given a breath of fresh air, and in true Audi style, it is a really nice place to be. If I had a drawn out commute everyday, I’d relish the opportunity to be inside the car. When optioned up appropriately, there are enough gadgets to keep you amused for…minutes.

Dynamically? Due to being designed & built in Germany, with the smallest engine, this car has to be able to achieve at least 200kph on an Autobahn. The 2.0 turbo diesel manages amicably, and the car has excellent high speed stability. Straight line speed isn’t everything, and the car on billiard table smooth German roads, is capable performer. The natural handling balance is set up to understeer in extreme circumstances. It’s predictable and not very chuckable, but Audi points out that if you desire a sporting version, the RS4 fulfils that role, thank you very much.

Audi has come a long way recently, and have started to take their game up to Mercedes Benz level. They are expanding their line-up, with more models being release in the market. Their build quality has come a long way too, and are build as solidly, and have that lovely over engineered quality that Mercedes’ use to exude up to the mid nineties. Simply, this makes the Audi A4 all the car you will ever require.