The A3 southbound on a Friday night must be due some kind of medal as the most narrow car park in the world. Or the longest queue for the countryside or something. It is certainly not going to be selected for any speed records. Apart from a brief moment at Clapham Common, when nobody is quite sure which way to go, it is a bumper-bumper pain in the bum.
Unless you are in an Audi A4 Avant. I spent an hour and half tootling along at never more than 9 mph and I was comfortable and happy all the way. That’s a pretty unusual state for me in traffic jams.
If you have been chugging around in something more basic, an Audi feels like your first stay in a good hotel, after years of Travelodge. The leather, the switches, the heating system, are all marvellous. Of course they should be for the money.
The main sat nav and audio display is, admittedly, a little complex. It has so many functions that if you try to program anything when on the move, you must increase your accident risk by a factor of 12. This might be just another demonstration of how superior the Audi designers are. By making the system too complicated, I ended up using the steering controls a lot more. So they forced me to keep my eyes on the road and live with searching for radio stations rather than selecting the station I wanted from the rolling screen display.
Despite what I said about the soothing effect it had on me through traffic, this is not a good car for in the city. Driving at 20 – 30 mph in town, it constantly felt like it was straining at the leash. The automatic didn’t seem able to make up its mind what gear we needed at those ‘in between’ speeds. I sort of expect this on lesser Autos and am surprised Audi haven’t come up with a better auto box. At times, the Audi reminded me of one of those dates where you spend all afternoon with someone and they are ever-so-slightly annoying. Then you get to dinner and relax a bit and decide, no you fancy-them-rotten.
Because once I got out of town, I fancied this car rotten again. Eventually, the A3 opens up into dual carriageway on a very slight and very long curve. And you can accelerate very hard and as an American might say, “Oh – my - god.”
I was running slightly late for a ‘function’ so I accelerated with some gusto. Because of the slight curve in the road and the change of road surface I could feel all four wheels working to propel the car forward and take the fight to the 911s that populate the A3 at that time of day.
I found myself wondering if the guys designing this car always wanted to be on the prestige sports car projects. Frustrated, turning out another family wagon, I think they went a bit nuts on the power unit.
Arriving to collect my friends, one exclaimed, “you didn’t tell me it was a diesel. I don’t want to be seen in a diesel.”
I was momentarily confused. It had been such a quiet traffic jam; such an enjoyable sprint down the dual carriageway. I had completely forgotten it was a diesel. In fact every time I wound the window down to enter the car park I was slightly surprised to hear the diesel clatter.
It was every bit as good through the twisty bits as well. Having picked my guests up I headed off down B-roads and the navigator had a ‘just-in-time’ style of delivery. But it was no problem, as with the Subaru from a couple editions ago, you can just turn it at almost any speed. Yes the passengers squeal a bit in the back as they slide along the leather bench, but that’s leather for you. It was no problem to get round the bend at all. The 4x4 system really makes the difference.
Have you ever prayed for rain? No? Then clearly you have never had an Audi 4x4 Quattro to play with. In the wet, this car must be amazing. I say must be, because it was dry all week, so there was no 4-wheel drift for me.
Summary
The Audi A4 is exactly what you would expect. Well made, versatile and of the highest quality. Getting to know the interior systems and setting them as you would if you owned the car would deal with any frustrations I had in the short time I drove the car. I would always choose the manual gearbox so that I could enjoy the car in town and on the open road.
But I am aware that many owners will drive the car in Automatic because they hate the work of a manual and don’t understand what I am moaning about. This is one of the benchmark small executive cars, which holds its value well, making it a safe buy.
Test car details:
Audi A4 Avant 3.0 S Line TDI Quattro
0-62mph: 7.5 Seconds
33.6 mpg
OTR: £31,475.00
Words: Matthew Tumbridge