Latest Audi compact executive models feature a wealth of innovation to refine and enhance every aspect of the driving experience
- Completely new A4 Saloon and Avant models will be available to order in UK in late summer ahead of first customer deliveries in late 2015 (Saloon)
- Up to 120kg lighter than outgoing models, up to 21 per cent more fuel efficient
- Wide four and six-cylinder engine range with outputs from 150PS to 272PS
- Line-up includes new 2.0 TFSI with revolutionary combustion system and 2.0 TDI ultra with sub-100g/km CO2 output (17-inch standard wheel)
- All-new platform and redeveloped six-speed manual, seven-speed S tronic and eight-speed tiptronic transmissions
- Lowest-in-class 0.23 drag coefficient (saloon) for exemplary refinement
- Standard equipment highlights include 17-inch alloy wheels, Xenon headlights with LED DRLs, Audi smartphone interface, Audi drive select, three-zone climate control and 7-inch colour MMI monitor
- In-car technology options include the Audi virtual cockpit, predictive efficiency assistant, traffic-jam assist, rear cross-traffic assist, collision avoidance assist and turn assist
More powerful, more efficient, more intelligent: the new Audi A4 and A4 Avant feature numerous premium technologies which set higher benchmarks for their class. Elegant design blends with an innovative control concept, and lightweight construction meets new, efficient drivetrain solutions. The A4 and A4 Avant are also ahead of their peers in terms of infotainment and assistance systems. As a result, UK customers who will begin taking delivery of their cars in late 2015 can look forward to a truly high-tech experience ― an innovative synthesis of technology and aesthetics.
When it comes to aerodynamics, the two new models dramatically outpace the competition. The A4 Saloon has the best drag coefficient in its class at 0.23, and the A4 Avant pierces the air almost as cleanly with a 0.26 figure. The new models also have impressively low CO2 emissions which in the 2.0 TDI ultra dip below 100g/km.
The most powerful engines are two TDI six-cylinder units with up to 272PS. Driver assistance and infotainment systems are of luxury quality. A new generation of four-cylinder TFSI engines with newly developed combustion methods sets benchmarks in terms of fuel consumption, emissions and performance for four-cylinder petrol engines.
At 4.73 metres long and with a wheelbase of 2.82 metres – the new Audi A4 and A4 Avant have a confident stance on the road. A prominent horizontal line on the front and rear emphasises the car’s width. The flowing design with concise lines communicates the sporty elegance of the brand. The Singleframe grille is wide and low; the optionally available headlights in LED and Matrix LED technology (including dynamic indicators) make technology a visual trademark.
Up to 120 kilograms lighter
Compared with the previous model, the car’s dimensions have grown but its weight has been reduced significantly – by up to 120 kilograms, depending on the engine. The body of the new Audi models is one of the lightest in its class thanks to an intelligent material mix and lightweight construction.
The Audi A4 is a leader in its class also in terms of noise levels. All occupants enjoy generous space; the smooth lines emphasise the width of the interior. The front of the dashboard features a broad band of air outlets and a large decorative surface. At night, optional discreet contour lighting illuminates the doors and the central console. The quality of workmanship is uncompromisingly high. Colours and materials follow a new line concept allowing customers even more freedom during configuration.
Sensor-controlled opening of luggage compartment: the A4 Avant
The luggage compartment of the new A4 Avant offers storage space of 505 litres, which is the highest value in this class. With the rear seats folded down and loaded to the roof, a volume of 1,510 litres is available. The electric luggage compartment cover and electric tailgate are standard equipment. An optional extra is sensor control for opening and closing the tailgate.
The two new models offer an abundance of intelligent technologies, the use of which is even more intuitive with the new Audi MMI display and control concept. Technological highlights of the new A4 include the Audi virtual cockpit, the Audi Matrix LED headlights, the Audi smartphone interface, the Bang & Olufsen Sound System with 3D sound, the Audi phone box with wireless charging, the head-up display, and new driver assistance systems and Audi connect services.
Information and fascination: the Audi virtual cockpit and the MMI
The focus here is on two innovations. The optional Audi virtual cockpit, a fully digital combination instrument, features a 12.3-inch LCD screen that displays the most important information in brilliant high-resolution graphics, with great detail and sophisticated effects.
The MMI control concept in the centre console is also a newly designed feature and acts as the main control element. The top-end infotainment system, MMI Navigation plus with MMI touch and a large 8.3-inch monitor, has a touchpad in the rotary controller to zoom in and out and to enter characters. The entire MMI control logic is similar to that of a smartphone and includes an intelligent free-text search function. The new, more natural, voice-control system also understands input in normal everyday language, such as “I want to call Peter Miller.”
Concentrated computing power
MMI Navigation plus is backed by the computing power of the second-generation modular infotainment platform, which allows Audi to bring consumer electronics innovations into the vehicle quickly.
If customers order a car with MMI Navigation plus, they automatically receive the Audi connect hardware module, which connects the A4 and A4 Avant with the Internet via the high-speed LTE network. Passengers can surf the Internet and send and receive e-mail with their mobile devices via a Wi-Fi hotspot while the driver can use the tailored services of Audi connect.
The Audi smartphone interface is a new standard feature. It supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto platforms and displays smartphone contact and information such as navigation mapping on the MMI screen. The Audi phone box connects smartphones to the on-board antenna and charges them inductively according to the Qi standard. For discerning hi-fi fans, the Bang & Olufsen Sound System with innovative 3D sound is available, which introduces the additional dimension of height. The new Audi tablet can also be used as flexible rear seat entertainment.
Powerful six and four-cylinder engines
The new Audi A4 and A4 Avant will launch with seven engines – three TFSI and four TDI. Their power output has increased significantly and ranges from 150PS to 272PS, but fuel consumption has been reduced by up to 21 percent. CO2 dips below 100g/km in the 2.0 TDI ultra Saloon. All engines combine high efficiency with outstanding responsiveness and refinement. This applies in particular to the two 3.0 TDI six-cylinder engines.
The new Audi A4 has a groundbreaking innovation for the petrol engines: The 2.0 TFSI ultra with 190PS uses an absolutely new combustion method that makes it especially efficient. During the model lifecycle, a g-tron version will be launched in markets with the appropriate infrastructure which can use natural gas or the sustainably produced Audi e-gas as fuel.
S tronic, tiptronic and manual transmission
The powertrain and the chassis of the new Audi A4 and A4 Avant have been completely redeveloped. The six-speed manual transmission, the seven-speed S tronic (now also available for front-wheel drive) and the eight-speed tiptronic have been redesigned; the automatic transmissions now offer a fuel-saving freewheeling function. Wheel-selective torque control supplements the work of the front-wheel drive and the quattro drive. For the most powerful TDI, Audi will offer the sport differential on the rear axle as an option from 2016.
Driving dynamics
The handling of new A4 makes a great leap forward. The suspension and steering filter out disturbances such as an uneven road surface, but communicate to the driver important information such as increases in lateral forces and tracking. This performance is based on the redeveloped five-link axles and the electromechanical power steering. They lay the foundation for dynamic handling and first-class ride comfort while also reducing fuel consumption. Additional options are dynamic steering, which varies its ratio according to the car’s speed and the steering angle, and suspension with adjustable shock absorbers with which the driver can for the first time select between two settings: sports or comfort. Both of the suspension settings are included in the Audi drive select driving-dynamics system, which is standard equipment in the UK.
Widest range in its class: driver assistance and safety systems
The Audi A4 and A4 Avant set the benchmark in their class with numerous driver assistance systems. The predictive efficiency assistant helps drivers to save fuel, Audi active lane assist helps them to stay in lane and the Stop&Go adaptive cruise control including traffic-jam assist eases driving in slow-moving traffic. One special feature of traffic-jam assist is its control strategy. It takes into account a large number of parameters such as road markings and the traffic ahead. Some more innovations that make important contributions to safety are parking assist, rear cross-traffic assist, exit warning, collision avoidance assist, turn assist and the Audi pre-sense systems. Camera-based traffic-sign recognition is also available.
The two new Audi A4 models will be available to order in the UK later this summer – deliveries of the Saloon will begin towards the end of the year and the Avant will follow in early 2016. Their standard equipment is even more comprehensive than that of their predecessors. It includes 17-inch alloy wheels, xenon headlights with LED daytime running lights, the Audi smartphone interface, keyless go, a Bluetooth interface, Audi drive select, a 7-inch MMI colour display and three-zone climate control.
THE ALL-NEW AUDI A4 AVANT
- New A4 Avant models available to order now priced from £27,300 OTR
- UK deliveries began in January – 1.4 TFSI examples expected from April 2016
- Class-leading 505 litres of seats-up luggage capacity, with a power operated tailgate and electrically retracting luggage cover as standard on all models
- Standard equipment highlights include 17-inch alloy wheels, Xenon or LED headlights with LED DRLs, Audi smartphone interface, Audi drive select, three-zone climate control and 7-inch colour MMI monitor
- Technology options include the Audi virtual cockpit, Matrix LED headlights and numerous new driver assistance systems
- Wide four and six-cylinder engine range with outputs from 150PS to 272PS
- Line-up includes new 2.0 TFSI with revolutionary combustion system and 2.0 TDI ultra efficiency champion with CO2 from 104g/km in SE and Sport models
- All-new platform and redeveloped six-speed manual, seven-speed S tronic and eight-speed tiptronic transmissions
Space may be the final frontier, but for customers exploring the all-new, and newly available, Audi A4 Avant it is likely to be one of the first and foremost considerations. Fortunately the five-door version of What Car? Magazine’s 2016 Car of the Year proves to be a star in this respect, offering the most expansive seats-up luggage capacity in the premium compact executive sector to complement the quality, technological ingenuity and optimal efficiency for which the A4 is already renowned.
The even more versatile A4 can now be ordered at prices ranging from £27,300 OTR to £40,350 OTR, and retention of these original values is likely to be another important consideration for prospective purchasers. Here, too, the A4 Avant doesn’t disappoint, with leading trade guide CAP Monitor predicting that the majority of versions will achieve residual values that are either strongest in the premium compact estate class or unbeaten in the class.
As an example the A4 Avant 2.0 TDI ultra Sport 190PS – the expected best-seller in the range – is predicted to retain 40 per cent of its value after three years or 60,000 miles, ahead of its key premium sector rivals.
Class-leading luggage capacity
The all-new A4 Avant intelligently integrates a class-leading 505 litres of luggage capacity – extending to 1,510 litres with the seats folded – into a capacious interior that now affords even more head and shoulder room for front seat occupants and offers an increase in overall rear leg room compared to its predecessor.
All this can be enjoyed in remarkably hushed tones thanks to numerous aerodynamic and aeroacoustic advances, and in surroundings that exude a degree of quality and technological sophistication that far exceeds even the outgoing car, which was renowned in its own right for its outstanding fit and finish.
All-digital Audi virtual cockpit
Among the technological highlights are the optional Audi virtual cockpit with its fully digital, absolutely flicker-free display, and optional Matrix LED headlamps capable of establishing and tracking multiple road users and illuminating the appropriate corridors of lights either side of them to maintain maximum visibility without dazzling other drivers.
Highlights of the options list also include a 19-speaker, 755-watt Bang & Olufsen audio system with 3D sound, Audi Entertainment mobile incorporating two detachable touch-screen tablet computers built into the rear seats, the Audi phone box bringing two separate Bluetooth connections and wireless smartphone charging* and MMI Navigation plus with a larger 8.3-inch monitor complemented by the MMI Touch fingertip-responsive touchpad built into the rotary controller.
These can be added to the three ‘core’ specification levels SE, Sport and S line, each of which offers either Xenon or LED headlamps with LED daytime running lights, along with features including three-zone climate control, cruise control, rear parking sensors and the Audi smartphone interface, which supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto platforms and displays smartphone contact and information such as navigation mapping on the A4’s seven-inch colour MMI screen.
There are also plenty of premium features that greatly enhance everyday use, particularly in the Avant which offers powered tailgate operation and an electrically operated luggage cover as standard.
Helped by outstanding drag coefficients of as little as 0.26 and a weight advantage of as much as 120kg compared with its predecessor, the all-new A4 Avant is appreciably more refined and up to 21 per cent more fuel efficient than its predecessor.
The Avant engine line-up will initially include a wide choice of 2.0 litre and 3.0-litre TDI engines with outputs starting from 150PS and rising to 272PS. The refined and responsive 1.4-litre TFSI petrol engine at the entry point to the A4 Saloon range will also become available to Avant customers slightly behind the first phase in April 2016.
Twelve ultra variants
As in the Saloon, two versions of the 2.0-litre TDI engine with 150PS and 190PS power a total of 12 front-wheel-driven ‘ultra’ variants offering up to 70.6mpg with CO2 output of as little as 104g/km – their frugality can be enjoyed in conjunction with both SE and Sport specification incorporating 17-inch alloy wheel designs.
The V6 TDI contingent starts with the 218PS version which played such a key role in securing What Car? Magazine’s Car of the Year Award for the saloon – here it returns up to 64.2mpg with a 114g/km CO2 output when combined with Sport specification and front-wheel-drive.
To fully exploit the economy potential of this absolutely up-to-the minute engine technology, the powertrain and chassis of the A4 Avant have also been completely redeveloped. The six-speed manual transmission, the seven-speed S tronic twin-clutch (now also available for front-wheel drive) and the eight-speed tiptronic have been reworked, and in the process the automatic transmissions have incorporated a fuel-saving freewheeling function.
The inherent agility of the A4 Avant with its completely new platform incorporating sophisticated five-link fully independent front and rear suspension can be amplified further by adding a more intelligent and faster-reacting evolution of quattro all-wheel-drive as an option for 2.0 TDI 190 and 3.0 TDI 218 engines. The purely mechanical system with its self-locking centre differential is also a standard feature of the 2.0 TFSI 252PS and 3.0 TDI 272PS versions.
All models are available with suspension in either a comfort-focused state of tune or with a tauter and more sporting set-up – the latter is standard for S line versions but can be ‘deselected’ in favour of comfort suspension at no extra cost. For even greater emphasis on dynamic ability it is also possible to specify a dynamic steering system which varies its ratio according to speed and steering angle and adaptive damper control with a ‘sport’ bias for all versions. Adaptive damper control with a ‘comfort’ set-up favouring suppleness can also be specified for all versions bar the ultra models, which are exclusively equipped with sports suspension.
Where these options are fitted, their operating characteristics are configurable via the Audi drive select adaptive dynamics system, which is a standard feature across the range. Its Comfort, Auto, Dynamic, Efficiency and Individual modes also have a bearing on the response of the throttle, the shift points of the automatic transmissions if specified and the weighting of the steering.
Driver aids
The high quota of standard fit onboard technology can also be complemented by an array of the most advanced driver aids which can take the strain out of everything from reversing out of a parking space into fast-moving crossing traffic to enduring stop-start city driving. Drivers looking to maximise economy will also appreciate the predictive efficiency assistant, which helps drivers to reduce fuel consumption by up to 10 per cent by using navigation route data to alert them to situations in which it would make sense to reduce speed, such as before bends, towns or speed limit signs that are not yet visible. The system can adapt the preselected speed to the route and the speed limits and also take over predictive control of the free-wheeling function of the automatic transmissions.
*Subject to phone compatibility
| Model | Transmission | Specification | OTR pricing |
| A4 Avant 1.4 TFSI 150 PS | 6-speed manual | SE Sport |
£27,300 £28,250 |
| A4 Avant 2.0 TFSI 190 PS | 6-speed manual | SE Sport S line |
£29,100 £30,050 £31,550 |
| A4 Avant 2.0 TFSI 190 PS | 7-speed S tronic | SE Sport S line |
£30,630 £31,580 £33,080 |
| A4 Avant 2.0 TFSI quattro 252 PS | 7-speed S tronic | Sport S line |
£36,930 £38,430 |
| A4 Avant 2.0 TDI ultra 150 PS | 6-speed manual | SE Sport |
£30,550 £31,500 |
| A4 Avant 2.0 TDI 150 PS | 7-speed S tronic | SE Sport |
£32,080 £33,030 |
| A4 Avant 2.0 TDI ultra 190 PS | 6-speed manual | Sport | £32,400 |
| A4 Avant 2.0 TDI ultra 190 PS | 7-speed S tronic | Sport | £33,930 |
| A4 Avant 2.0 TDI 190 PS | 6-speed manual | S line | £33,900 |
| A4 Avant 2.0 TDI 190 PS | 7-speed S tronic | S line | £35,430 |
| A4 Avant 3.0 V6 TDI 218 PS | 7-speed S tronic | Sport S line |
£35,650 £37,150 |
| A4 Avant 3.0 V6 TDI quattro 218 PS | 7-speed S tronic | Sport S line |
£37,080 £38,580 |
| A4 Avant 3.0 V6 TDI quattro 272 PS | 8-speed tiptronic | S line | £40,350 |
