2007 Audi A4 Review

Specifications

There’s no better way than a road trip to really get to know a car. From usingup every bit of trunk space to finding new places to keep water bottles from rolling around on the floor, from the nuances of the shifter to how intuitive the layout of controls is, and from real world fuel consumption to wringing every ounce of ability out of an engine on long, lonely stretches of highway. Last week I took a brand new Audi A4 3.2 S line sedan over to Rhode Island and Cape Cod for a little RandR, and beer and clam chowder. I got to know the car intimately and quickly grew to appreciate its charms and its graces for many reasons. However, one thing that stuck out in my mind was that—except during one very intense stretch of pushing it to its limits—I wanted the wagon, in particular the 3.2 Avant with the S line and Titanium package that I drove a while back (see this site’s archives for that story). Ultimately, I only needed the trunk space of the sedan to fully accommodate my cargo, but there was something tickling the back of my brain and I wanted to be able to toss stuff in through the rear hatch and have a bigger mess back there than I could manage in the tidy little trunk.

Aside from that you’re not going to hear much in the way of complaints.Last year I took an S4 for a road trip and this 3.2 cured some of its thirst without giving up too much in the way of performance, particularly with the stiffened S line sport suspension. I might have asked for something cushier for the long road trip, but when I hit some roads that seemed to scream ‘go faster’, that suspension kept the sedan flat and the summer performance tires planted. It was the same road that showed a slight edge to the more rigid sedan body style, and I got the clear message that the four-door is the performance choice. Not that I drove the wagon on the same road, but I could feel the memory of slightly greater looseness in the wagon—not enough for me to change my desire for the Avant, but it’s out there for any of you who do care.

Almost everything else was the same in this sedan as the Avant, from the 3.2L V6 that spins past 7,000 rpm and makes an almost turbine-like whine that reminded me slightly of Mazda’s crazy Renesis rotary engine spinning to 9,000 rpm. The 3.2 was also paired with a six-speedmanual and a firm clutch that first seemed a little jumpy, with initial shifts always providing a bit of a lurch until I gradually found myself deftly freezing at the perfect clutch point when the next gear was gripping into action; most of the time, anyways. It’s definitely a learning curve just to get into the habit of driving it smoothly, but once I got the smoothness of it I found my shifts getting quicker and more seamless, and I could almost hear the engine chuckling and thinking, “Now you’ve got the hang of it, sonny.”

Between the 255 horsepower and 243 lb-ft of torque, the hills of western New York State and some of the steep climbs I found on them were no match for a very eager V6 with a V8 soundtrack—the only meaner sounding V6 I can think of is the TL Type-S. Similarly, the rain was no match for the low-profile wiper blades and the sticky summer rubber with power at all four corners thanks to quattro all-wheel drive. I don’t know why it is, but whenever I take a road trip I always hit at least one stretch of insanelyheavy rain, and this trip was no exception, hitting when I was intending to tear up a two-lane connector road. As fate would have it, the torrential downpour and the fuel tanker in front of me who was more interested in staying on the road than allowing me ample room to perform wet weather testing kept me in check and kept Hannah (my girlfriend) from clawing the leather off the armrest handle.

Later on the first day, my second test from the elements came on another similar two-laner, this one in western Connecticut late at night complete with nerve-wracking switchbacks and heavy, heavy fog. The fog was so thick that I was looking for a way to travel with fog lights only, as even the regular headlights created a blinding wall of light directly in front of me, but I couldn’t discover a way to activate the foglights without the headlights. Annoying, although not as annoying as the fact that it would have been a perfect road to appreciate the swiveling adaptive headlamps that turn to illuminate a bit more of the corner ahead and around—instead they only turned to illuminate more fog. Once again, the only thing to do was slow down and enjoy the scenery—in this case, the creepy fog.

It also sparked the memory of Audi’s incredible performance in recent IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) crash test surveys. Their incredibly sound structure and additional safety features like airbags all around, ESP stability control, and active head rests help it score a Gold Medal as a best safety pick. However, I had no intentions of testing this reputation on this particular trip, except perhaps a bit of mayhem with the ESP, which was always quick to set me straight.

The A4 was up to the task of getting me safely to my destination, but it also managed to add some flavor to the trip, with its excellent steering relaying the stories the road was telling. The steering was also light and easy, until I was pushing it very hard around certain corners where it would tighten up like a sail filled with the wind that guided it and provided a good counterbalance to the tightening grip of my hands. With steering, engine, transmission and suspension all willing partners on the long trip, it was the command center of this vehicle that withstood the most demanding attention.

From chairs to stereo and gauges to trip computer to navigation, I made use of almost every trick up the A4’s sleeve. While I’m usually a huge fan of Audi seats, I had trouble staying comfortable for long stretches on this trip, but the occasional adjustment of height or lumbar support relieved the monotony and stress on my spine. I was also much better about takingthe recommended 2-hour break—which the trip computer reminds you of as it starts to flash every time you pass a two-hour interval. The memory seat function also made switching drivers a much quicker transition.

The trip computer also helped me keep track of how much fuel I was burning with both instantaneous and cumulative readings. For my trip over and back I managed 25 and 24 mpg respectively, and when I did a similar trip in my VR6 I could barely keep it over 24. More rewarding was the fact that I only had to stop twice for gas on the way over, a couple times on my stay in RI and Cape Cod and twice on the way back, for a total of $240 spent—definitely cheaper than a pair of plane or train tickets.

But the true charm of driving over wasn’t the savings over other modes of travel, or even the independence of having a vehicle at hand at the destination. The true charm was having a world-class sedan and a reason to avoid the Thruway and Mass Turnpike, those dreaded soulless routes with nothing but the question of “Will the next rest stop have a McDonalds or a Burger King?” No, this time we took the scenic route, and while many locals saw nothing more than red streak painting the backdrop of budding trees covering the northern reaches of the Allegheny Mountains or against the stunted pines and grassy beaches of Cape Cod, we did stop occasionally, in nowhere towns and lonely off-season beaches, soaking up the oddities and character that each place has to offer. In the A4 3.2, we had the luxury to take some side roads, stop when it pleased us and make up time elsewhere. It’s not the first car I would think of for a road trip, but it performed every function admirably. Best of all, in between all those stops and detours it entertained and delighted driver and passenger, making the trip itself a pleasure.