Audi is wasting no time building out its bread-and-butter A4 lineup with the sedan and a new allroad debuting at the North American International Auto Show. Both models use a 2.0-liter turbo with 252 hp and a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission. You can still get an A4 with front-wheel drive but almost no one does, which is probably the same reason the 6-speed manual is no longer available on base cars. The allroad makes Quattro all-wheel drive standard and also raises the ride height 1.3 inches. That makes light offroading somewhat easier and the cladding along the lower body seems to be a hit with customers so it carries over from previous allroad generations. The A4 features just about all the tech and luxury features you can get on the high-end Audi’s, including a 19-speaker Bang & Olufsen 3D stereo, the latest and greatest Virtual Cockpit, full color head up display and the list goes on and on. With prices starting at $38k and heading quickly up from there we should probably be glad that the A3 has entered the lineup where the A4 used to reside and helped make Audi ownership a little more attainable.
Automakers, especially the luxury marques, are downsizing in a big way. Their once compact “entry”-level sedans have all grown up. And now they are introducing a new breed of “compacts” to fill the voids. As we’ve discussed before, this sort of activity can sometimes dilute a brand’s pedigree. Nevertheless, these compacts have proven themselves to be lucrative assets time and again. Enter the A3, Audi’s response to the A4 ballooning in all directions. This latest generation loses the hatchback (unless you wait for the plug-in hybrid variant of course) body in favor of America’s more traditional preference: the sedan. Compare the A3 to the A4 of ten years ago and you’ll find a car that fills the vacancy within a mere 100 lbs and with similar size and equipment. Even the engines are familiar; the base engine being a 1.8T and the upgraded 2.0T standing in for the old A4’s V6 with matching horsepower and more torque. Watch and tell us if you agree. Read more…
Rather than take the route of its German competitors and stablemates, Audi chose not to unveil a convertible model in chilly Detroit. Rather, Audi unveiled the Q3 Vail crossover. Though Audi has not promised to offer the Q3 in the US market, they promised that it could go on sale in the US as soon as the end of 2013. If such a vehicle were to be sold in the US, it would be powered by a 2.5L inline 5 cylinder engine with 314 hp and 295 ft-lbs of torque. Read more…
A while back we were staring down a schedule featuring two consecutive Audis powered by the company’s latest 2.0-liter four cylinder. There was a time not so long ago that seeing such a pint size engine in a anything from a premium manufacturer like Audi would have spelled certain sales doom and a hearty round of “what were they thinking!” reviews from the automotive press. Having spent considerable time with these engines in various Volkswagen and Audi products, including an A4 that we tested and approved a few years back, we were confident we’d continue to like what Audi was offering. It didn’t hurt that both the A4 and A5 were equipped with the standard 6-speed manual transmission, an increasingly rare treat for us three-pedal fans. But the question remains, does a four cylinder belong in today’s premium cars? Read more…
The “best A4 yet” is how Executive Dye described this 2009 Audi A4 2.0T Quattro. And not only because the car was vastly improved for the 2009 model year, but because under the hood resides the ever fantastic 2.0L FSI Turbo 4-cylinder. We’ve sung this motors praises before but in A4 duty this motor cranks out 211-hp and 258 lb-ft of torque. These are truly impressive figures for an engine displacing a volume equal to that of Design Editor Gernand’s midnight Mountain Dew!
Driving the new 2009 Audi A4 helps explain a lot of things. Like, for instance, how Audi actually set a new sales record of 1.03 million vehicles in 2008 while most other automakers’ showrooms looked like ghost towns. It’s not that there’s simply more power (there is) or a new technology (several, in fact) it’s that every single facet of all new Audi’s is an improvement over the replacement. And the latest A4 is no exception. We’re here to tell you the 2009 model is more comfortable, more powerful, more dynamically satisfying, more efficient and more luxurious than ever. Don’t believe us? Read on. Read more…
It’s generally not an ideal practice for any party when a journalist’s first exposure to a new vehicle is a drive in the hot-rodded, top-of-the-line model, because all of the lesser models will appear, well, lesser. Yet, this is exactly the scenario we found ourselves in with regards to Audi’s extensively revised A4 lineup. Our first test car was a fully optioned S4 with a sticker north of $55k. As you might expect, we used adjectives like, “hot” “gorgeous” and “astounding” to describe its V8, 18” rubber, and Recaro seats. So it surprised us as much as it will you, to report that those same praises kept creeping into our conversations during our week with the “base” A4 2.0T. It might have been the slick 6-speed, or the stunning Quartz Gray Metallic sheetmetal. Whatever it was, we liked it. A lot. Read more…
Holy crap!
German engineering, 340 horsepower, a lowered suspension, six-speed manual transmission, gorgeous body, and a convertible top that lowers with the push of a button — it’s got everything, plus a relatively comfortable back seat. What else can you say about a car like this? Read more…
If you’re looking for a midsize sedan with a hint of luxury, good luck. You’ll need it with the glut of choices available.
Today’s highways are packed with comfortable, good-looking sedans under $35,000. On the low end there are Camrys, Accords and Maximas with leather seats, navigation systems, and lots of fancy doo-dads. American cars like the Chrysler 300C and Ford Five Hundred offer a little more space for the money — not to mention more attention-getting styling — but they lack the appeal of a luxury brand. For that, there are plenty of solid cars from Infiniti, Lexus, Lincoln, Cadillac and Acura. Read more…
