Audi A4 long-term Test ReView: First Report

Audi A4 exhibiting excellent cabin but dynamic plain on our road-testing; the pros outweigh the cons from time to time?

Strange, isn’t it, how the German executive saloon market has developed its own little cliques? If you want the driver’s car, you pick the BMW 3 Series. For the smartest interior, you go for the Audi A4. And the Mercedes-Benz C-Class flits between the two, depending on the generation.

So as we start a six-month tour of duty with Audi’s latest A4, it’s fair to say that our expectations are pretty well set. We’ve road tested the A4 — the very A4 you see here, in fact — and awarded it a solid four stars, without ever feeling like it rewrites the rule book on dynamics. “It has a well-judged handling compromise for the majority of A4 owners,” concluded our road testers, before adding: “What’s disappointing is that the car isn’t a more poised, involving thing to drive.” Ouch.

That the A4 emerged from this rather bruising analysis of its enthusiasts’ credentials with four stars is testament to how strong the rest of the package now is. The strongest point, right on message, is the cabin, which is superbly built, beautifully finished and uncluttered to the point of sophistication. But we were also impressed by the engineering involved — not least an EU6-compliant engine that has 187bhp and emits 113g/km of CO2 with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox.

We’re going to be putting the best and worst of the A4 experience to the test, because our car is a fully laden example that showcases as much of the available tech as possible, at a fairly eye-watering price. That mechanical line-up aside, it’s in S line trim, which brings sports suspension (not great) plus threezone climate control (better) and LED headlights and tail-lights (jury’s out). 

Our car then has the sort of options list that Audi likes to apply to many of its press vehicles — which is to say it’s exhaustive. There’s a mixture of black leather and Alcantara on the seats (£450) and variable front headrests (£125). But these are just the appetisers for the real meat of the options list, which comes through packages.

Our car has the Vision Pack (a headup display and Audi’s natty 12.0in screen that replaces the traditional instruments), the Storage Pack (stay calm: it’s a storage net, rear cupholder and bag hook in the boot) and the Driver Assistance Pack (adaptive cruise control and collision avoidance).

Best of all, though, it has the Technology Pack, which brings an 8.3in widescreen display in the centre of the dashboard for Audi’s MMI infotainment system, high-resolution Google maps navigation, on-board audio storage, more system controls on the steering wheel and a ‘phone box’ that includes inductive charging for smartphones. No one can say our car wants for creature comforts, even if the combination of sports suspension and 19in rims risks undoing that through ride quality and road noise.

These bundles don’t come cheap, though. The Technology Pack alone weighs in at £1450. So by the time our car’s final specification comes whirring out of the Audi configurator, its price is a whisker shy of £40k. Even for a vehicle that will predominantly be chosen as a company car, that’s a hefty figure. You could have a well-equipped BMW 520d or a V6 diesel Jaguar XF for the same money, in fact.

Indeed, in the longer term we’re lining up one of the six-cylinder diesel A4s that seem to offer bargain company car tax rates with smoother, stronger performance. Crucially, we’ll spec it ourselves, so there’s hope that it could cost roughly the same while offering a more cosseting experience and even more accomplished performance.

But it seems suitable, at this point, to hand this fully laden four-cylinder A4 saloon to a man who has experienced the full gamut of its predecessors, good and bad, and whose proficiency as a keen driver is beyond question. So by the time you read this, the Audi will have had the optional 19in rims you see here swapped for the standard 18in items and then been dispatched west to the driveway of one Andrew Frankel. We can only wish it well. Six months with him could make the Autocar road test look like a mere blast down the autobahn.

John McIlroy

Audi A4 2.0 TDI 190 S line S tronic

Price £34,030 Price as tested £39,030 Options Technology Pack £1450, Driver Assistance Pack £1400, Vision Pack £1150, black leather and Alcantara seats £450, Storage Pack £175, variable front-seat head restraints £125 Economy 44.8mpg Faults None Expenses None

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