George Herald | A fresh look, same A4 quality

Translate to:


News	Classifieds	Directory

A fresh look, same A4 quality
09:47 (GMT+2), Mon, 07 May 2012

The new Audi A4 Sedan.

MOTORING NEWS - It seems like just yesterday that Audi's new A4 was launched onto our roads.

But it wasn't yesterday. In fact it was four years ago and, perhaps, this sentiment is as a result of the car aging rather well. What you see now is the Audi's midlife upgrade so that it can remain competitive for the next two years or so against its major German competitors before it is completely replaced by an all new model of its own.

Audi put in a lot of effort to explain and get across where their design cues come from and what was done to this car. But from a simple looks perspective you would need to know your Audis to easily tell the older model from the new model.

SHARPER SHAPE
That said, I like the slightly sharper shape of the new car. The big differences are the bonnet is more arched, the upper corners of the single frame grill are tapered and the cross ribs and Audi rings are highlighted three-dimensionally.

The head lights get a slight wave at the bottom edges, and hexagon driving lights replace round ones. And when fitted with optional LED daytime running lights you get a narrow, optically neat band that remains open in the vicinity of the xenon lens to give the game away.

At the rear the tail lights reflect the shape of the headlights and in combination with xenon plus, have strips of LEDs along with a bumper that features a new diffuser insert making room for the exhaust that always ends in two pipes.

The interior has also been refined and maintains that class leading feel. The only big news here is the MMI navigation plus system now features four instead of eight buttons, with a script function fully integrated in the volume control dial going with other improvements.

The engines available now are said to set new efficiency standards with fuel consumption levels down 11% on average - despite the increased power and torque of many of the motors. Across the Sedan and the Avant body styles you have a comprehensive choice between petrol and diesel engines with a variety of engine transmissions. Choose from a six-speed manual, an eight-speed multitronic or a seven-speed S Tronic gearbox.

Choose from front wheel drive or Audi's legendary quattro drive to go with consumption figures that are said to range from as little as 4.5l/100km to 9.4l.
Then you can choose from an 88kW and 125kW 1.8 TFSI, a 155kW 2.0 TFSI, through a 105kW and 130kW 2.0 TDI, to a 180kW 3.0 TDI and a range topping 3.0 TFSI with 245kW and 440Nm on the S4. Regardless of your need for speed or fuel consumption, there will be something to suit you in this mix.

Audi sticks to the tried and tested aluminium five-link front suspension and trapezoidal-link rear suspension and the car felt as sure footed as always. The only anomaly here is that the new electromechanical power steering that is fitted across the range, is no longer as superlight (the old steering feel was criticised for being too light) as was the case with the older model.

DIFFERENCE
On the front wheel drive derivatives the difference is hardly noticeable and the feel is much better as a result when driven at pace. It is on the quattro derivatives that the steering loads up quite a lot - although it is not bad when using the handling capability of the car through the tight stuff as this feel is what is wanted.

It is when you are about to enter a series of gentle sweeps that the steering catches you out. It loads up too much in relation to what is required or wanted for this type of relaxed but perhaps brisk driving. It is not a serious issue, it certainly wouldn't put me off buying the car.

As to be expected you also get the Audi drive select system. This means you can change the characteristics of the accelerator, the shift points of the automatic transmission, the power steering and the automatic air conditioning between the four modes.

These are "comfort," "auto," "dynamic" and "efficiency" along with an additional "individual" mode with the push of a button for even further choice.

You also get a full host of infotainment systems to choose from over and above the standard concert CD radio with eight speakers. These systems include the MMI navigation plus system with large hard drive, colour monitor, 3D graphics and DVD player with voice control and optional digital audio broadcasting.

All new is the optional Audi connect system that provides special services in the A4 like voice-controlled Google searches for points of interest and navigation with Google Earth images along with Google Street View.

A WLAN hotspot allows you to surf the internet and send e-mails with mobile devices.

Lastly the old trim lines Attraction, Ambition and Ambiente have been replaced by S, SE and Quattro trim lines.
And with a small increase of around only 1.5% on the sedan models and a drop in price of around 2.5% in the Avant models, the new Audi A4 range might not look all that different. But they are packed with value for money technology, spec and luxury and all at a very competitive price.

PRICING:
A4 1.8T FSI 88kW S Manual R309 500; A4 1.8T FSI 125kW S Manual R332 000; A4 1.8T FSI 125kW S Multitronic R349 000; A4 2.0 TDI 105kW S Manual R336 500; A4 2.0 TDI 130 kW S Multitronic R353 500; A4 1.8T FSI 125kW SE Manual R347 000; A4 1.8T FSI 125kW SE Multitronic R364 000; A4 2.0T FSI 155 kW SE Multitronic R390 000; A4 2.0 TDI 130kW SE Manual R351 500; A4 2.0 TDI 130 kW SE Multitronic R368 500; A4 2.0T FSI 155kW Quattro S tronic R456 500; A4 3.0T FSI 200kW Quattro S tronic R504 000; A4 3.0 TDI180 kW Quattro S tronic R503 000; S4 3.0 TFSI 245kW Quattro S tronic R620 000; A4 Avant 1.8T FSI S Manual R349 000; A4 Avant 1.8T FSI S Multitronic R366 000; A4 Avant
2.0 TDI S Manual R353 500; A4 Avant 2.0 TDI S Multitronic R370 500.

Article by Mark Jones. Mark Jones is Road Test Editor of our associate publication CitiMotoring and chairman of the WesBank SA Guild of Motoring Journalists Car of the Year competition. He competes in race events and is also holder of the SA land speed record in a normal car.