Test drive Audi A4 B5 1994 - 2001 sedan

Publisher - Audi AG, format - A4

Audi A4 1.6 is the cheapest sedan from the products of prestigious German brands. And this is how: a respectable car for active drivers. This is a real Audi with a longitudinal location of the power unit, worked out handling and non -casual engine; A machine with which, if desired, is easy to find a common language.
 

Dossier.
The fact that the successor of a very successful Audi 80 model will be called A4, became known in the fall of 1993. By this time, work on the machine, which lasted more than five years, had already approached their completion, going into the stage of premium tests and adjusting production equipment. The only thing around the veil of strict secrecy was maintained is the appearance of the car, since it laid the foundation for the Audi company design for the coming years. And numerous spy photos and drawings did not report anything specific, because they often contradicted each other. As it turns out later, rumors were not confirmed that the car body will be made from aluminum.
 

This continued until September 1994, when living serial samples officially appeared in front of the car press. In his native Germany, A4 went on sale, while only with the sedan body, in November, and the station wagon appeared only next year, at the exhibition in Bologna. Very little time will pass, and the Audi A4 Avant will divide with Porsche 911 Carrera 4 German national prize in the field of industrial design in 1996. In general, the year 1996 became triumphal for the model: then Emanuel Pirro at the factory A4 Quattro became the champion of the German body championship STW, Frank won the British VTSS, and under the very curtain, in November, the car took the third place in the 1997 car competition. The conveyor continued to work at full power - for example, under the plan for 1995, more than 290,000 were produced at 250,000 cars, while A4 overcame the million -based mark in December 1998. Last February, an updated car, which differs from the previous version with bumpers, a radiator grille, rear lights and a lens -headed head optics, was on sale. But A4 days are numbered - the production of a second -generation model is about to begin. Audi A4 was originally positioned on the market as a car for energetic drivers. Eight main engines and an all -wheel drive modification with a cropped one centimeter with a wheelbase - this is not all. A charged modification of S4 with a 30-valve V6 engine with a capacity of 265 liters is also available. p., and wealthy areas can order a unique RS4 with a 380-horsepower engine. Without going into the technical details of the machine, we give the only and eloquent parameter - the line of 200 km/h RS4 conquers for 17.7.
 

We will get acquainted with the most modest four armed with a base 1.6 -liter engine - until recently, the car in such a configuration due to a number of features of Russian legislation was most attractive to the buyer.
 

Outside.
A4 and the flagship A8 went on stage in the same year with a break of several months and became a kind of transitional stage from the inholstads from sufficiently sophisticated models of 80 and 100 to creations in the style of industrial - A6 of the second generation, TT and the latest A2. A4 with A6 has more in common than it might seem - they, for the company with the current Volkswagen Passat, are built on the same platform.
 
The four are distinguished by a restrained, solid design without extracts, rather suitable for a business class sedan; However, such a product is more focused on a mid -aged clientele, and completely different features are attracted by relatively young buyers. They will probably like a high waist line, and puffed sides of the body, introducing notes of sports, and a strong, rounded ass. It turns out that it is not shameful to go to A4 to anyone. At least Audi designers tried to say so that we could say so.
 

Inside.

Laconicism, adherence to style and quality are three principles that engineers relied on when designing a salon. Let not the most expensive materials in the interior decoration, but the details made of them leave a feeling of quality and thoroughness and absolutely do not dissonate with the general idea of \u200b\u200bthe machine. And, most importantly, there is no feeling that they tried to save somewhere or on something.
 
Perhaps the main disadvantage of the car is the insufficient comfort of the rear passengers. However, none of the fellow countrymen - neither the BMW E36 nor the Mercedes -Benz W202, - they cannot boast of a particularly spacious salon. Better the situation is in Opel Vectra B and Volkswagen Passat B4, but, you see, they belong to a slightly different social layer. So, the three of them to move in the back seat of A4 are really not far and not long, and even if there are two from behind, then they are not very convenient for them to sit at 190 cm - nowhere to put their feet. Yes, and the ceiling now and then strives to get in contact with the heads, so it remains to be comforted by retractable headrests and a container disguised as an armrest.
 
However, we will move forward. Here the situation is completely different. And there are a lot of spaces, and the hard seats themselves, the whole charm of which you evaluate only on long trips, have wide range of adjustment in the longitudinal direction and in height; Plus, they are equipped with heating. One remark - a pen that changes the angle of inclination of the back is very inconvenient, but, however, it only has to use it occasionally.
 

The steering wheel and lever of the gearbox are simply perfect. Actually, the steering column is adjusted in height, but they move a little bit. According to the proprietary scheme, on A4, three steering wheel switching - with the right, glass -cleaning (and the nozzles are included in a separate toggle switch), everything is clear, and the pair of the left is organized as follows: the one that is shorter is responsible for the modes of the head light, and more genuinely - for the indicators of the turns. The pedal node is strongly shifted to the right, it is good that a platform for the rest of the left leg is provided.
 
The dashboard with large dials of the tachometer and speedometer is read five points. The A4 speedometer is equipped with a very practical non -linear scale: after the mark, 100 divisions are compressed and in this order follow up to 260. The odometer and watches are made on liquid crystals, and their window is visually combined with the on -boarding computer symmetrically on the right.
 
Air conditioner with completely button control is exactly the same as we saw on the A3 and A6 of the first generation. He has his own pros and cons: on the one hand, the visibility of information and simplicity in circulation, on the other - a low location, which is why it has to be distracted from the road. But the retractable cup holder is placed in a very honorable place, in the upper part of the central console (two more such items of the first necessity for Americans, but not simple, but with fixers, are between the front seats).
 
Despite the presence of two airbags, the designers of the four left her a glove box. Of course, it did not work out full -fledged - wide, but shallow, but spacious pockets in the doors and two shelves for papers and all sorts of trifles under the steering column serve as decent for inconvenience. Electric drives of the front glasses and external mirrors, spring -loaded handrails above the doorways and mirrors in visors under the sliding curtains in a machine of this class and such a brand look for the granted. But the delicate raspberry backlight of the salon lighting buttons is a really stylish element. The volume of the luggage compartment is 440 liters, which is not the most outstanding indicator. If you fold the back of the rear seat, - and it only throws away entirely, then its capacity increases to 720 liters. The trunk lock button is hidden in a ledge under a license plate, which, in principle, must protect your hands from contact with dirt. Closing occurs in two stages: first you pull the handle attached from the back of the lid, and then you have to lean on it with your palm, so that the risk of getting dirty still remains, although it comes down to a minimum. The lid of the trunk opens the degrees to the hundred, opening the matters of the cargo compartment, clamped between protruding wheeled niches. On the right in it there is a seizure for related goods, and under the cover of the floor a reserve is hidden, notice, full -size, which in our time becomes a rarity.
 

In move.
Thanks to the narrow stands of the body, the overview of the driver’s place in A4 is excellent, and the left mirror with a variable curvature reduces the so -called blind area.
The engine develops a good torque for its working volume. We touch the place and immediately note the transparency of the clutch drive. The car responds equally dutifully to moving the gas pedal, but the engine comes to life only at 3500-4000 turnover and merrily spins up to 6500. The clarity of gear has a lot of pleasure, although the movement of the movements is large. There are no complaints about the brakes - the anti -lock system, and it is activated unobtrusively and almost imperceptibly.
 

There are hints that the Audi A4 loves the operational scope more than the city crowd. For all its brilliant handling with scanty insufficient rotation and ability to draw a trajectory, the car sometimes, especially in steep turns, does not have a reactive effort on the steering wheel in the steering wheel. And on the highway, the car behaves perfectly - the car performs all the instructions as a genie from an Arab fairy tale, its reactions are intelligible and predicted. The car has such, at first glance, an insignificant feature, as a well -felt zero position of the steering wheel - but how much more calmly on the soul when moving at high speed!
 
Having read the previous paragraph, you can draw some conclusions about the characteristics of the suspension and are largely right. Check. So, the Audi A4 suspension is quite tough, confidently cope with minor irregularities, including transverse ones, and not allowing the body to swing on gentle waves. Accordingly, it clearly responds to defects in medium -sized coating, not to mention large pits, and meticulously reads the road profile at medium speeds.
 
For which the car should be praised in a separate order, so this is for isolation from noise and vibrations. The sound of the engine becomes dominant only at high speeds, but you can’t call it especially loud or intrusive. And what about vibrations there are practically no.
 

Summary.
If we summarize from an image and economic point of view, it will sound like this: Audi A4 1.6 is the cheapest sedan from the products of prestigious German brands. And this is how: a respectable car for active drivers. This is a real Audi with a longitudinal location of the power unit, worked out handling and non -casual engine; A machine with which, if desired, is easy to find a common language. The machine, equally turning in the city and stable on the highway. And not such a bad investment, because for acceptable money you get a fairly slowly depreciating car gaining popularity of the brand. The choice is yours.
 

Thank the company
Rus-Auto
for the car provided
 
 

Source: Wheel magazine [No. 39/2000]