Review of the new Audi A4 Avant Range

The latest Audi A4 has rapidly established itself as the go-to car in its sector if you want space and driving enjoyment. Should you need a little more space, the current Avant model can serve that up too with 490 litres of fresh air behind the back seats and a hefty 1,430 with the back bench folded.

Every now and then, the car industry seizes upon a concept and rival manufacturers will indulge in a feeding frenzy to saturate the market. With hindsight, some of these concepts aren't at all clever. In the late Eighties, virtually every manufacturer rushed a four-wheel drive saloon car, hatchback or coupe to market. The Nineties saw a sudden spike in sales of small SUVs that fell over when pointed at a corner, while in the early Noughties, premium manufacturers fell over themselves to launch estate versions of their compact executive models that actually held less luggage than the saloon cars they were based on. Every one of them an evolutionary dead end. The latest Audi A4 Avant demonstrates that in the battle between fashion and functionality, there's only ever one long term victor.

Audi makes great play of the fact that its latest generation A4 Avant features a sportier chassis with a repositioned front axle, all new steering and (on 3.0 TDI and 3.2 FSI variants) a latest generation quattro system with 40:60 torque split. If you've money to spend on the options list, you can also benefit from 'Audi Drive Select', enabling tailoring of throttle, steering and suspension characteristics to suit driver preferences. So has the Audi A4 become a driver's car to rival the BMW 3 Series? Not quite, although the differences are so small as to be virtually irrelevant. It's a very capable handler.

The company talks of a range of "new or extensively revised engines", including two directly injected FSI petrol units and three common rail directly injected TDI diesels. Petrol buyers choose either the turbocharged 1.8 TFSI with either 120PS as a manual or 160PS as a Multitronic automatic. The other four cylinder petrol option is a 211PS 2.0TFSI turbocharged unit. Otherwise, it's the normally aspirated but silky-smooth V6 3.2 FSI with 265PS. Most customers however, will want a diesel, so there's the familiar choice of 2.0 TDI (120, 143 or 170PS), 2.7 TDI (190PS) and 3.0 TDI (240PS). If you want automatic transmission on your A4 diesel, you'll need to go for the 2.7 which gets Audi's efficient multitronic continuously variable (CVT) 'box. Otherwise, you'll find yourself with a six-speed manual. If you want quattro 4WD, you'll need one of the bigger engines.

"The most accommodating car in its class."

Styling is a subjective matter, and it's probably not my place to tell you what looks good but let's just say the A4 Avant dodged the ugly stick by quite some margin. The stylists have been very clever in that they have retained a fairly high roofline at the back for load volume purposes but have artfully used chrome finishing to draw the eye to the sleek window lines instead. Couple that with an aggressive swage line that arcs up from the front wheel back to the middle of the rear arch and it's a shape that embodies a lot of dynamic tension. Space in the back is rated at 490 litres with the rear seats in place and 1,430 with the rear bench folded.

This makes it the most accommodating in its class and the practical features don't stop there. One tempting option is the powered tailgate and loads can be secured using tie-down straps and a luggage net. Another option that's sure to be popular is the telescoping bar and securing belt system that proved such a success on the previous A4 Avant. Build quality is typically excellent; the depth of engineering that has gone into the design of the cabin being simply staggering.

With approximate premiums of around £1,200 over its saloon counterpart, the A4 Avant is competitively priced against its premium rivals when trim levels and power outputs are taken into account. Gone are the days when you could buy a Volkswagen or a SEAT and there wasn't a great deal of difference in perceived quality between them and the Audi model that was based on the same platform. Nowadays, you can see where the money has been spent or, in the case of SEAT, the materials quality has been deliberately downgraded. Depending on which engine you choose, there's the option of either a conventional six-speed manual transmission, a revised tiptronic automatic or a smoother version of the six-speed multitronic continuously variable transmission (CVT). Which means no room for the twin-clutch S tronic then.

Equipment levels are strong with an electromechanical parking brake and the intelligent key system built into the design. You can also expect refinements like 17-inch alloy wheels, sophisticated three-zone climate control, a 180-watt CD audio system with Audi's intuitive MMI control logic and 6.5-inch colour display, rear acoustic parking sensors, automatic headlight and wiper operation and aluminium interior trim. Audi lane assist and Audi Drive Select are two options that respectively alert the driver when straying from a lane and sharpen up the car's steering, dampers, accelerator response and transmission shift points.

If you don't care about the bonnet badge, it's tempting to think that you could save £4,000 or so on a mechanically very similar Volkswagen Passat but before you do, make sure to take residual values into account. Add all the figures up at the end of the day and you may well find that there's less in it than you thought.

Insurance costs are very little changed (expect to find your model of choice pitched somewhere between groups 12 to 15) as are fuel consumption figures. The 143PS 2.0 TDI that most will choose manages a creditable 51.4mpg on the combined cycle, while even the 1.8 TFSI is up around the 40mpg mark. Expect to see a little more in terms of change when it comes to residuals. The MK2 A4 was beginning to feel rather an old car, with residuals starting to wane. The MK3 model should pick things up in this regard, more than compensating for its pricing premium.

Only very rarely does an excellent product fail. When this happens, it is usually down to poor promotion, but that's certainly not going to be the case with Audi's marketing machine at work. The truth is that the A4 Avant is a very tough car to fault. It's superbly built, it's big enough to make a decent first of being a properly practical estate car, it rides on the latest A4 chassis so is a much improved proposition for enthusiastic drivers and, when whole life costs are examined, it's surprisingly cost effective to run.

No car is perfect though and the A4 Avant does raise a few questions. Somewhat curiously, it's not possible to buy one with the best gearbox (the twin clutch S tronic) at Audi's disposal. Putting the power tailgate and telescopic load bar on the options list also looks a little mean. Other than that, it's hard to see this one going anywhere other than straight to the top of the sales charts among the best compact executive load luggers.

TOP 5 A4 DEALS

The results below show the top A4 deals on buyacar

Audi A4 1.8T FSI 160 SE 5dr Avant
Price £23,001 Click for a A4 Review	Save £2,139
Audi A4 2.0 TDI 143 SE 5dr Multitronic Diesel Avant
Price £25,541 Click for a A4 Review	Save £2,424
Audi A4 1.8T FSI 160 SE 5dr Multitronic Avant
Price £24,306 Click for a A4 Review	Save £2,284
Audi A4 1.8T FSI 160 S Line 5dr Avant
Price £25,251 Click for a A4 Review	Save £2,389
Audi A4 3.0 TDI Quattro S Line 5dr Diesel Avant
Price £32,181 Click for a A4 Review	Save £3,159