irishcar.com - Audi A4 Avant review

Nothing like a test drive in a powerful and striking Audi to banish the winter blues. And generally speaking cars don’t come with much more power or panache than the Audi A4 Avant.

An estate model, the Avant arrived here at the back-end of 2001, bristling with high tech gizmos, a choice of nine engines outputs and class to burn. Like the hugely popular new A4 saloon, the Avant is quickly finding its feet - and capturing a healthy share of the niche estate market.

The petrol range includes a handy 102bhp 1.6 litre entry level plant, two new alloy block engines, a 2.0-litre in-line four-cylinder with 130bhp and a 3.0-litre V6 with 220bhp, plus Audi’s familiar turbocharged 1.8-litre, four-cylinder with 150bhp. TDI models are powered by either the acclaimed 1.9-litre unit in 100bhp or 130bhp form or the 2.5 TDI V6 with either 155bhp or 180bhp.

Our January test car, operated through a five-speed manual box, was diesel powered. So sweet and quiet, though, one was hard pushed to believe (apart from the extended refill intervals) that the 130bhp (96kW @ 4000revs) 1.9TDi with pump-injector direct injection wasn’t a souped-up petrol burner.

Buckets of torque, 285Nm from 1750 to 2500rpm translates into great pulling power at all speeds. Zero to 62mph run takes just 9.9 seconds. Top speed, Audi tell me, is an autobahn-blasting 127mph. Making for safe overtaking manoeuvres, speed upshift is rapid and evenly progressive.

A tank capacity of 70 litres means an operating range for the 1.9Tdi of almost 1300km (812 miles). Official figures are 62.8mpg for out-of-town (motorway cruising), 37.7mpg around town (not Dublin) - and a combined rate of 50.5mpg Lots of convoy-style driving, lots of roadworks and three-hours gridlock on the N4 (Enfield and the M50 roundabouts) to contend pushed our average return (one refill) for 1,009 miles down to 46mpg.

A new chassis design and a slick traction control system, does wonders for the Avant. Irish roads (need I tell you) are as bad as they come in third world locations. Yet, Avant proved adept and accomplished in all the necessary road-related skills. Sure-footed on acute or sweeping bends, roadholding, handling and ride comfort leave nothing to be desired.

Almost two metres long and, uniquely in this class, exactly one metre wide, the A4 Avant's load bay is also significantly more user friendly than before, thanks in part to the compact design of the rear suspension. Its sidewall now incorporates a lidded storage box, a storage net for oddments and a 12V socket, and beneath the floor is a ‘secret compartment' offering an additional 65 litres of space. The entire load floor can also be folded together, raised up behind the seats or removed completely to maximise overall capacity. The total cargo capacity with the 1/3:2/3 split seats in place is442 litres, and folding the seats down gives a maximum of 1,288 litres.

Priced from Euro34,675 (the 1.9Tdi 130bhp as tested costs Euro39,635), the A4 Avant is competitively priced vis a vis its closest prestige car rivals on the Irish market. Getting our thumbs up, we reckon the A4 Avant is well equipped, quietly desirable, and well capable of putting the skids under any comer.