The A4 rides on a new platform that is not only of longer wheelbase, making it a bigger car than both the 3-series and the C-class, but also features reconfigured running gear intended to improve both its chassis balance and the precision of its steering. The Audi’s bodyshell is 10 per cent stiffer than before, 10 per cent lighter and aerodynamic, and its CD matches the 3-series’ excellent 0.27.
Much of Audi’s engineering effort has been expended on introducing new systems to the car, though most are optional. They include dynamic electric steering whose planet and sun gears allow automatic counter-steering at the edge of adhesion to prevent understeer and improve braking stability, and Audi drive select, which allows the driver to play with the settings of the dampers; throttle response, the automatic transmission’s shift points and the steering weight, and the choice widening from three to 24 if the car is specified with the MMI infotainment system, with each system programmable individually.
The engine range is more familiar, but new are the 2.0 TDi. This common rail direct injection diesel replaces the old and outclassed pumpe-duse units, and the 158bhp 1.8 TFSI petrol. Previously seen units include a 261bhp 3.2 FSI petrol V6 and the 187bhp 2.7 and 237bhp 3.0 V6 TDi's, these last two only coming with a Multitronic CVT eight-speed automatic, that’s also an option on the 2.0-litre diesel. Otherwise, its six-speed manuals all round.
Powertrains apart, virtually every component in the A4 is new, although passers-by might struggle to register the fact, so similar does this edition look to the last. If you look solely at its silhouette and proportion, you can trace this car’s look directly to the Audi 80 of 1986. Such evolutionary styling, and a mechanical confection whose advances in large part lie on the option list, leave this Audi feeling slightly less novel than an all-new platform implies that it might.