Well as I did one of these reviews for my RS4 and GT3 I thought I should do one for my wife’s current car, the epic 140bhp S-Line B7 Audi, a true powerhouse of a car with something for everyone. It's difficult to know where to start really as there is so much to talk about, it really is a car for 'special' people and I can see why so many middle managers and sales reps aspire to achieve the lofty heights, they are compelling....honest.
It's fair to say they are quite a good looking car in a mundane and inconspicuous way. My wife’s is silver with nice big silvery wheels that come with the S-Line and the interior is black, which is my personal preference in a car as I hate light colours, so no real issues here. Looks tidy, is nicely laid out and comfy to sit in with sports seats that offer good leg support, something missed in so many cars in my view, so no real complaints here. We bought a fairly basic car which was standard S-Line fare with Bose and a couple of other minor options, but pretty basic really. No point loading up such a car as the bath at the end will merely be bigger and Bose is a worthy option as it does make the Hi-fi sound better. Other than that it’s like any Audi A4 really, good boot, not bad seats, nice materials and generally a nice place to be.
However, cars are for driving and this is where this Audi is, compared to a BMW 3 Series for example, crap. No really, it’s crap. I know a few of you have S-Line Audi’s and some of you have A4’s but seriously if you think the A4 is a nice to drive on anything but a straight line you are on glue, it’s really not with so many things wrong so let me start with the steering. Audi seems to think that feel means heavy at slow speeds and light at high speeds, while removing any form of feel as the car gets quicker. At slow speeds and moving around at parking speeds it’s way too heavy, I mean REALLY heavy. My B7 RS4 is much lighter, as was my GT3, M3’s and all of my BMW’s come to think of it; I even think my Griffith was lighter! It has little or no feel that tells you what the road is doing, it feels like a stick in custard and really is the most indirect steering I have driven for some time, not worthy to kiss the feet of a BMW, miles off! When you push on, a relative term in this car, an Xbox gamepad would give more feel. Sure it moves where you point it, eventually, but it really is not an enjoyable helm from which to drive and moving on a road has awful play in it and for those who think we have a dog I have driven 3 identical versions and they are ALL the same!!
Brakes like so many Audi’s I’ve owned and driven before are over served again with little feel. It’s an on/off type thing and though they stop you, which after all is what they are there to do they are not very pleasing to use. To be fair however it is a saloon car and to most people it will mean sod all, rightly so, but BMW are better and this is their competition as Audi strives to be seen as a driver’s car, which to me at least they fail at bar the RS4 and R8 and the M3 is better than the RS4 to drive, though I don’t think is as good a all round car. However, all this is less important to how the car rides its main job. The damping is awful, really awful being that it’s stiff without being controlled and bumps up and down at the slightest pebble. It is a very tiring ride and let me put it into perspective for a moment, my RS4 rides bumps better!! To be fair I think my wife’s is even worse than the other 2 I drove as I think it might have ‘sports’ suspension, which is funny considering it is neither sporty or controlled but there you go. I have had it checked by Audi and they said “they all do that geeza” but said whilst in a nice showroom with Flavia and some big tellys, so obviously they know best...
The engine, well its diesel and it has 140bhp so what can I say really. Sounds like a diesel, has 1800rpm where it’s epic (if you drive an 140bhp petrol) and is relatively quiet at speed. Other than that its mundane and boring but then I would expect no different.
Let’s be fair however, it does cover miles quite well and does return around 650 miles to a tank of lard, which is nice and has found me using it on longer runs when the weather is pants simply because I get around 250 miles from my RS4 and I get bored of stopping for fuel all the time! Though fidgety on most roads it does OK on motorways and the seats I feel are good, so on a long journey from A to B it really isn’t that bad and that, after all, is what the car is designed to do. However S-Line is Audi’s idea of sporty and to put it simply it isn’t, it’s a mile off in fact and one might say contrived and even cynical. I do notice also how you get treated differently when you drive around in a non performance car and this is quite interesting and something I have mentioned before. With the RS and even more so with the GT3 people tend to get out of the way in a non arsey way. On motorways I see people signal over then pull back into my lane when I go past, that would NEVER happen in the TDi as they would simply sit there, something I really miss when not in something that can warp time. Performance cars for all their bad imagery do have a presence that you only really see when you cover miles in one and then use something less potent. I have never had an issue with abuse or people not letting me out of junctions in any car actually but then I am not an aggressive driver and I think this is the biggest problem when you put a gimp behind the wheel of something with serious power.
So would we buy another? Nope, should have bought the 3 series but my wife wanted the A4 and at the end it’s her car, but really not a patch on either an E46 or E90 3 series, really, it’s not. Sure the interior is nice but no better than a BMW in objective terms and to drive it’s not a patch on one, any of them and those Audi fan boys who suggest they are you’re wrong, sorry! Audi makes a ‘nice’ car but they don’t make a good drivers car in the main but oddly they seem to be getting more and more fans which as a petrol head I think is sad really as Audi have been missing the target with drivers cars for years and with one or two exceptions they continue to miss it while reducing the quality of their interiors which have been brilliant in the past.
Discuss.
It's fair to say they are quite a good looking car in a mundane and inconspicuous way. My wife’s is silver with nice big silvery wheels that come with the S-Line and the interior is black, which is my personal preference in a car as I hate light colours, so no real issues here. Looks tidy, is nicely laid out and comfy to sit in with sports seats that offer good leg support, something missed in so many cars in my view, so no real complaints here. We bought a fairly basic car which was standard S-Line fare with Bose and a couple of other minor options, but pretty basic really. No point loading up such a car as the bath at the end will merely be bigger and Bose is a worthy option as it does make the Hi-fi sound better. Other than that it’s like any Audi A4 really, good boot, not bad seats, nice materials and generally a nice place to be.
However, cars are for driving and this is where this Audi is, compared to a BMW 3 Series for example, crap. No really, it’s crap. I know a few of you have S-Line Audi’s and some of you have A4’s but seriously if you think the A4 is a nice to drive on anything but a straight line you are on glue, it’s really not with so many things wrong so let me start with the steering. Audi seems to think that feel means heavy at slow speeds and light at high speeds, while removing any form of feel as the car gets quicker. At slow speeds and moving around at parking speeds it’s way too heavy, I mean REALLY heavy. My B7 RS4 is much lighter, as was my GT3, M3’s and all of my BMW’s come to think of it; I even think my Griffith was lighter! It has little or no feel that tells you what the road is doing, it feels like a stick in custard and really is the most indirect steering I have driven for some time, not worthy to kiss the feet of a BMW, miles off! When you push on, a relative term in this car, an Xbox gamepad would give more feel. Sure it moves where you point it, eventually, but it really is not an enjoyable helm from which to drive and moving on a road has awful play in it and for those who think we have a dog I have driven 3 identical versions and they are ALL the same!!
Brakes like so many Audi’s I’ve owned and driven before are over served again with little feel. It’s an on/off type thing and though they stop you, which after all is what they are there to do they are not very pleasing to use. To be fair however it is a saloon car and to most people it will mean sod all, rightly so, but BMW are better and this is their competition as Audi strives to be seen as a driver’s car, which to me at least they fail at bar the RS4 and R8 and the M3 is better than the RS4 to drive, though I don’t think is as good a all round car. However, all this is less important to how the car rides its main job. The damping is awful, really awful being that it’s stiff without being controlled and bumps up and down at the slightest pebble. It is a very tiring ride and let me put it into perspective for a moment, my RS4 rides bumps better!! To be fair I think my wife’s is even worse than the other 2 I drove as I think it might have ‘sports’ suspension, which is funny considering it is neither sporty or controlled but there you go. I have had it checked by Audi and they said “they all do that geeza” but said whilst in a nice showroom with Flavia and some big tellys, so obviously they know best...
The engine, well its diesel and it has 140bhp so what can I say really. Sounds like a diesel, has 1800rpm where it’s epic (if you drive an 140bhp petrol) and is relatively quiet at speed. Other than that its mundane and boring but then I would expect no different.
Let’s be fair however, it does cover miles quite well and does return around 650 miles to a tank of lard, which is nice and has found me using it on longer runs when the weather is pants simply because I get around 250 miles from my RS4 and I get bored of stopping for fuel all the time! Though fidgety on most roads it does OK on motorways and the seats I feel are good, so on a long journey from A to B it really isn’t that bad and that, after all, is what the car is designed to do. However S-Line is Audi’s idea of sporty and to put it simply it isn’t, it’s a mile off in fact and one might say contrived and even cynical. I do notice also how you get treated differently when you drive around in a non performance car and this is quite interesting and something I have mentioned before. With the RS and even more so with the GT3 people tend to get out of the way in a non arsey way. On motorways I see people signal over then pull back into my lane when I go past, that would NEVER happen in the TDi as they would simply sit there, something I really miss when not in something that can warp time. Performance cars for all their bad imagery do have a presence that you only really see when you cover miles in one and then use something less potent. I have never had an issue with abuse or people not letting me out of junctions in any car actually but then I am not an aggressive driver and I think this is the biggest problem when you put a gimp behind the wheel of something with serious power.
So would we buy another? Nope, should have bought the 3 series but my wife wanted the A4 and at the end it’s her car, but really not a patch on either an E46 or E90 3 series, really, it’s not. Sure the interior is nice but no better than a BMW in objective terms and to drive it’s not a patch on one, any of them and those Audi fan boys who suggest they are you’re wrong, sorry! Audi makes a ‘nice’ car but they don’t make a good drivers car in the main but oddly they seem to be getting more and more fans which as a petrol head I think is sad really as Audi have been missing the target with drivers cars for years and with one or two exceptions they continue to miss it while reducing the quality of their interiors which have been brilliant in the past.
Discuss.
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