Bartek S.
Aerodynamic Ace
Let's be frank. In product planning terms, the U.S. is no market for the car we just drove. Sure, Audi plans to begin sales of a Q7 SUV with this very same 3.0-liter turbo diesel V6 beginning in less than a year and you can bet that fitting it into their best-seller A4 will follow. But a manual transmission? Nobody buys those anymore and certainly not in an expensive German luxury sedan… or would they?
After taking a spin in Audi’s all-new A4 kitted with that 3.0 TDI with 6-speed manual, we can solidly say it is a fantastic package and it’s all your fault it won’t be coming. Well, not you exactly, but the general buying public as a whole and their anti-manual ways. If your job is to read customer preferences as do the good folks in AoA’s product planning department, then this is the wrong setup for reaching sales targets. Alas, reality’s another name for a female mutt. You know… the b-word.
Okay, fine, it’s wrong… yet oh so right… like a Shocker sticker on a Tesla. So, when this lone A4 3.0 TDI appeared amongst rows of diesel Q7s at a recent Audi winter test drive, you know exactly where we bee-lined.
The first thing that strikes you about the new A4 is its size. Though not quite as wide as its aggressive sibling the A5 coupe, the A4 is actually longer than the low-slung two-door and notably bigger than the outgoing A4. Even still, the new A4 bears a considerably strong resemblance to the sultry coupe – visual osmosis that Audi is banking on to help their most popular model continue with its sales records.
Under the hood of the all-new A4 beats an engine that will be the core of the brand's diesel rebirth in North America. The 3.0 V6 TDI produces a conservative 237-hp and, as is typical with a diesel, torque that eclipses that figure — its healthy 369 lb-ft is on tap from the lowly engine speed of 1500 rpm. As a result, a manual-transmission version like our tester is capable of 0-60 runs in just 6.1 seconds — a mere 0.2 seconds slower than the twin-turbo B5 S4 of less than a decade ago.
Inside the grey Audi, the handsome new interior borrows much from the A5/S5 coupes. Amber-brown leather seats contrast well with the car, while equipment once-reserved for the highest-priced Audi offerings is now available and often standard – MMI, electronic parking brake, rearview camera, and more.
Making its debut on the new A4 is the Audi Drive Select (ADS) option. With ADS, the driver can choose their own settings for suspension dampening, steering feel, and throttle response. There are four settings: Comfort, Auto, and Dynamic are pre-set programs, while Individual allows fine-tuning of specific parameters via the MMI setup screen. Go with Individual, and you can apply any setting to each of the factors — say, Dynamic steering and throttle, but a Comfort or Auto suspension. Changing from the most comfortable to the most dynamic settings for throttle and steering makes for a subtle alteration in response. Adjusting the suspension nets more obvious results, though — firming the car's ride and adding a slight degree of harshness. Audi tells us the ADS system will be introduced in more highly equipped models.
On the snowy roads around Niagara-on-the-Lake, the A4 felt poised and controllable. No doubt, the more rearward engine placement of Audi's new modular longitudinal architecture helps the car's balance. With so much torque on tap, the A4 was more than willing to send up rooster tails of snow from all four corners once ASR was deactivated. Even before ESP is off, the programming is lenient enough to let you hang the car out a bit, but you still need white-washed roads in order to really play Formula D champ.
More interestingly, this larger, more luxurious and more powerful A4 is said to net over 40 mpg. The diesel A4 could help establish a new paradigm for socially conscious performance enthusiasts. Unfortunately for those enthusiasts, U.S. market conditions (witness the high price of drivetrain federalization and low take rate for manual gearboxes) mean an A4 3.0 TDI will likely only come with two pedals when it reaches our shores sometime in 2009. Even still, the car will be no slouch and DSG (S-tronic in Audi speak) may get the nod even though it doesn’t play well with the J.D. Power types.
http://www.fourtitude.com/news/publish/Features/article_3889.shtml
...!
THAT IS BLASPHEMY!
