Audi’s dream-mobile
IS it me or have Audi toned down their design approach? They used to love a bit of flared wheel arch where possible, stance and statement arriving hand in hand. Has the recession blunted their flair?
I’ve recently spent a week with another of thier cars, the awesome S3, which for me offers one of the best drives in the entire Audi line-up. Honestly, if you’re thinking about a hot hatch, this is it. It doesn’t look that menacing, though.
Apart from lower sills there isn’t anything that shouts that it is about to whip your backside. Unless that is, you choose to have it in tangerine, like the one I had.
Let’s face it, part of the reason we buy sportscars is for the way they look and make us feel. But with their low-key styling, maybe Audi are doing us all a favour, perhaps they’re trying to lessen the shout so we avoid attracting uniformed members of the opposition.
Anyway, here we have the S4, a car which used to have a V8 engine up front but that has since been replaced by a supercharged V6 producing 333bhp. It achieves this by shaving a little pitch off the baritone, more’s the pity. It still sounds good – just not as gravelly. What’s really good, though, is the time behind the wheel.
I know the word “dynamic” is used a lot with cars but this really is agile and surefooted, it drifts like a dream. Not that you may be asking that of your next saloon car of course. But the whole experience is much sharper than the outgoing model, it’s better when steering into corners, and much more pointy and squirty and agile when you find those open roads.
This is partly thanks to Audi’s Quattro four-wheel drive technology which transfers torque between the rear wheels, constantly keeping understeer in check while allowing some good fun that wasn’t possible in the last guise.
If you choose to have the Drive Select package as I had, you can switch between three different driving modes, Comfort, Automatic and Dynamic. The latter is the most sporty and responsive of them.
But, here’s the surprise. Just when you think you must have gone through a tank of fuel from (in my case) trips to the airport and London and some local shenanigans, you’ve still got almost half a tank of petrol left. Not bad for a supercharged V6.
Audi’s double-clutch semi-automatic gearbox is smooth and fast – there’s also little swapping of cogs in either fully automatic mode or when using the paddles on the steering wheel.
Fit and finish is right up there, too. Audi provides such polished interiors and tactile surroundings, it makes being in such a car very cosseting and enjoyable. There’s little difference in head and legroom between this and the equivalent BMW, and there’s a generous boot too.
What’s not to like? Nothing really. It’s fast, fun, comfortable and frugal for the performance it provides. It’s also low-key. Unless you get in orange, anyway.
THE FACTS: AUDI S4
0-60MPH: 5.1 secs
TOP SPEED: 155 mph
MPG COMBINED: 29.1
CO2 g/KM: 225
OTR PRICE: £34,260
THE VERDICT
DESIGN ****
PERFORMANCE *****
PRACTICALITY ****
VALUE FOR MONEY ****