Category: Compact Executive 
Price Range: £21,665 to £34,855
Good-looking; attractive interior; turbo petrol engines.
Not hugely roomy; overlight steering; extra-cost S-line suspension necessary for a sporting drive.
A great drive with the right suspension and steering set-ups, rather nondescript otherwise.
The A4 Avant has two distinct characters. In the standard form, it's dull and uninspiring. The steering is overlight and vague, the chassis clunky and prone to wallow on tight corners, and even with the more powerful engines, it's not an engaging car to drive.
Yet add the optional sports suspension (lowered by 20mm, with the S-line pack taking it 10mm further down) and it's a different car: agile, well-balanced and far more responsive. The Drive Select Pack's variable-ratio steering takes some getting used to - it weights up or lightens, according to speed - but it has far more feel than the standard set-up. Audi calls this system 'dynamic steering', and it works in conjunction with the ESP stability control to keep you in a straight line in difficult situations. Drivers can also select preferred shift patterns for the auto gearbox, throttle response, steering feel and shock absorber stiffness (auto, comfort, dynamic) though this is really just another button to play with - there's little actual discernible difference between modes and most drivers will no doubt find their preferred mode and stick with it. The further option of hydraulic CDC (Continuous Damping Control) is pretty superfluous, though the Quattro four-wheel-drive system is well worth having.
There are more differences between the A4s in terms of chassis/suspension than there are between engine-variants - the 160bhp 1.8 TFSI is a lively drive (it does 0-60 in 8.9 seconds and 135mph, which is quite quick enough), the 2.0 TFSI and 2.0 TDI 170 are great fun, and anything more than that is not worth spending the extra on. The 170bhp 2.0 TDI is a good mid-range choice, giving 138mph and 0-60mph in 8.6 seconds.
The 3.2 V6 FSI and 3.0 TDI are perfectly pleasant, but their engines give little extra in terms of real-world performance or even high-speed refinement and cruising ability. Indeed, neither are quite as quiet and smooth as they could be, and the eight-speed multitronic gearbox has at least two fake gears too many - with a nicely torquey engine, you certainly don't need eight. If anything, this gearbox impedes progress, not enhances it.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Audi A4 Avant
wrote on 07 02 2009