Audi A4 Avant is a dream car

With 49 percent of the prestige ‘estate’ car market in their pockets and over 300,000 sales to its credit, Audi confidently expect big things from their latest lifestyle estate. The sparkling A4 Avant is as good as it gets in a market segment it initiated back in 1996.

All marketing pointers, and a more than pleasing introductory drive/launch, look particularly promising. Conversion rates are remarkably high. Six out of very ten Avant buyers used to be other brand buyers. Forty per cent claim design is their main purchasing motive. Thirteen per cent of A4 Avant buyers are women. Audi sold twice as many 6 cylinder engines in 2000 as they did three years previously. TDi sales have risen by 20 per cent. Avant drivers are younger than saloon car buyers. Their average age is 44.

The car itself is a dream. Everything gels nicely together. From the crisp sporty wedge-shaped outline and the agile chassis to the techno wizardry and the eight-strong, free-revving engine range, this is one very well-balanced creation.

The long side view shows Avant in its most powerful and dynamic light. From the rear-end, the Avant looks wide and muscular.

There’s much more elbow and knee room inside a strikingly upmarket cabin that ‘embraces’ the driver. This ‘wrap around’ effect is accentuated by the A4’s high waistline. Instruments and controls are mounted at a high level - within the driver’s ideal field of vision - for very good safety reasons. Dispensing with gimmickry, the graphics are large and easy to read. Seats offering as wide a range of adjustments and increased thigh support and comfort - as in the new A4 saloon - are of a completely new design.

Carrying versatility is an obvious Avant strong suit. The cargo area, without wheel arch or damper intrusions is smooth and flat - easy-to-load and appreciatively larger than one would expect. Carrying capacity is up from 390 litres on the predecessor to 442 litres. With the rear-seat backrest tilted forward, the A4 Avant offers a full 1184 litres carrying capacity. Unfolding an ingenious cargo deck floor reveals an additional storage compartment with 65 litres or carrying space. It houses an ‘easy-to-clean’ plastic tray - firmly attached to the body - for transporting dirty objects. A net on the left-hand side of the luggage compartment provides room for small odds and ends. There is also a storage box with a folding cover on the left-hand side, integrated conveniently in the side panel, and a useful 12V socket on the right-hand side.

Engines - all eight of them - include two new petrol unit designs with an aluminium block : a 2.0-litre inline four-cylinder unit developing 130bhp (96 kW) and a 3.0-litre V6 rated at 220bhp (162 kW). As in the A4 saloon, the entry-level plant is a gutsy 102bhp 1.6 litre affair. Completing the petrol plant line-up are the 150bhp 1.8T and the 170bhp 2.4 V6.

Four TDi plants, include two versions of the brilliant 1.9-litre four-cylinder unit with power outputs of 100bhp and 130bhp respectively. The latter, absolutely sparkles. In my reckoning with a full load on board it’s ideally suited to its Avant lugging task - and ranks better than any of the petrol plants on offer. Top speed for this beaut is 120mph. 0 to 62mph takes 12.5 seconds.

Two V6 TDI power units displacing 2.5 litres are also available for the A4 Avant with maximum output of either 155 or 180bhp. And a particularly attractive combination of outstanding technologies is also making its world debut in the new model, the 155 bhp V6 TDI being the first TDI in the world to feature the continuously variable transmission multitronic offering a very special driving experience. Fuel tank capacity up to 70 litres (quattro models: 66 litres) gives the TDI driver a cruising range of up to 870 miles (1.9 TDI 130bhp).

Five or six-speed manual gearboxes are available for the various A4 models as is Audi’s continuous variable multitronic automatic transmission (for front wheel drive models). For the first time, too, multitronic can also be specified with a TDi engine: the high-torque 115bhp 2.5-litre V6 TDi. Every model, except those with entry-level engines are also available with quattro permanent all-wheel drive.

All models tried over longer 140km courses or shorter but twister 48km runs demonstrated a nimble agility one hears of but seldom finds in the cruiser weight estate class. Nothing seems to ruffle its composure. The steering was especially responsive. The traction even on sweeping bends was deep biting; the body movement negligible.

Irish specification from Audi Ireland tends to be higher than we find in the UK. Thus roof rails, luggage blind and luggage net will all be standard. Other standard features include: a deluxe air con unit, ABS with ESP, a height and reach four-spoke steering wheel, height adjustable front seats, multiple airbags and electric front windows. Pedals decouple in a frontal crash. The steering column is safety-designed. Energy-absorbing padding protects the feet against severe impact.