Test drive Audi A4 B8 since 2007 sedan

Synthetics for roads

You can forgive the new Audi A4 almost anything only for his magnificent letters. But, as we found out during this test drive, he especially has nothing to forgive an almost impeccable car.
 
For those who follow the automobile world, the name of Walter de Silva is known very well. This is, without a doubt, one of the best modern designers. At every new place of work, de Silva brought something unusual, interesting, expressive and attractive to the design of cars of the next brand. At the same time, each time his task was complicated. Why? Yes, because the promotion constantly brought him to the company with more stringent concepts of the appearance of the car. Remember, at first there were Alfa Romeo, Seat and Lamborghini. But the ALFA leadership never objected to experiments, and the model 147 and 156 drawn by Walter turned out to be very helpful and gained great popularity. In the Seat, which at that time was in a very deplorable position, the maestro also gave carte blanche, and he created Altea and Leon cars, unambiguously recognizable.
Working on Lamborghini, de Silva waved to the classics: his concept Miura became an amazing modern shift in the legendary supercar of the 1960s. Then the situation became more difficult: Walter became Audi chief designer, the company is very conservative. And since this year, he moved to Volkswagen, who was pretty lagging behind life. Let's see what de Silva will come up with there (a new Golf, who came out of his pen, should appear soon). But we are currently interested in the Audi-period the great designer managed to give the calm appearance of German cars individuality and even sophistication. What is only one shield of the radiator lattice, now used on all models of the company!
New A4 brainchild de Silva. In it, he, perhaps, tried to demonstrate the maximum of what could be invested in the design of the premium car of class D or, as they say in Europe, upper Medium segment. The word upper is by no means superfluous here. A4 has traditionally increased in size and now in size is not inferior to the first generation of the older A6 model of the model. But now we are talking not about the size, but about the attractive look of appearance. If you recall all the creations of de Silva, then between these cars of completely different brands and concepts it is quite possible to find one common detail of extremely expressive front and rear parts and rather calm clean sides connecting them. This is also traced in Audi A4. The handwriting of the master is recognizable.
The front part A4 is great! The center is still a huge grille of the radiator, and impressive air intakes are departed from it in different directions, interconnected by a bizarre neckline in the lower part of the bumper, and the very summarized heads of headlights are located on top. Two garlands of LEDs in the form of a sickle is a beautiful find. Prominent at any time of the day, they make Audi cars unambiguously recognizable Anfas. The combination of all these details gives the A4 face a very formidable and aggressive expression. How many times have I noticed the desire of drivers to retire from the series they occupied, having seen an approaching A4 in the mirrors from afar, as if they all wanted to better consider the LED rear lights, a couple of exhaust pipes and surprise the modest nameplate 1.8T.
This desire turned out to be very handy on the way to Yaroslavl and back exactly such a route was decided to choose as a test landfill. The road made it possible to fully evaluate the consumer qualities of the new four and, first of all, comfort and capacity. We went on a trip four, three of which have a growth of 180 cm. In eight hours spent in the Audi salon, none of us complained about any inconvenience. It was important for me as a driver that the Audi interior is traditionally ergonomically verified. Real German Ordnung everywhere. The seats (by the way, with built -in ventilation) are moderately tough, perfectly redistribute the loads on the far way, I have never even changed adjustments. Devices are read perfectly, and all secondary governing bodies are in intuitive places. Add to this the MMI system interface is the most sane of all systems of this kind.
The passengers liked the fact that they absolutely did not feel constrained either in front or behind. And we all, of course, appreciated the impeccable quality of interior manufacturing simply nothing to find out. What my fellow travelers complained about, especially the rear, so it is insufficient smoothness. Let me remind you that the test car was equipped with the Audi Drive Select, which, in turn, controls the Audi Ride Control subsystem, which allows you to change the rigidity of the shock absorbers. Passengers said that the differences between three modes (Comfort Auto Dynamic), the switching of which will be managed by special buttons in the central tunnel, they did not feel shaking all the same. Perhaps the fault of this was still optional 18-inch five-spoke discs. Someone correctly noticed that the discs are half the design of the car. Maybe not half, but a third for sure, especially in this case, they have a very interesting, but at the same time laconic design.
But I felt the difference when switching Audi Drive Select clearly and clearly, mainly when moving to Dynamic mode. The above system acts not only on shock absorbers, but also changes the transfer number of the steering, an algorithm for the endless transmission and the response time to press the accelerator pedal. In the Dynamic position, the steering wheel becomes much sharper, and the reactive effect on it is tangible. The car is more willing to follow the gas pedal, and the already excellent variator becomes even more like a regular, but very fast and smooth automatic machine, creating the illusion of step and a kick downs. And the suspension in this mode becomes more collected, and not just shaking, as in Comfort. It already becomes clear here why these huge 18-inch rollers were needed, it is clear why they were partially sacrificed to smoothness and comfort.
The nature of the controllability of the Audi A4 became different after changing the layout (the engine is now located longitudinally and moved to the wheeled base), but only for the better. These changes made it possible to bring the weight to the ideal proportion of 50:50, reduce the moment of inertia when moving along the arc and, as a result, reduce the proprietary insufficient rotation of front -wheel drive Audi. A4 holds excellently for the asphalt. According to subjective sensations, the breakdown occurs much later than on the previous model. Do not mind Audi and throw the feed for gas discharge. They added pepper in Ingolstadt, to say! But I put these experiments, of course, not on the Yaroslavl Moscow highway, but on specially designated sites. And here, on the highway, this Audi is quite an ordinary car, although capable of time to wear different masks with a more family or a more sports expression on the face. There is some kind of synthetics in this (after all, the change of all parameters of the systems occurs at a purely electronic level) and the desire for universalization, the connection in one specific mechanism of two mutually exclusive entities. But there is nothing surprising in this. Firstly, the Audi A4 and in itself a universal car for every day.
Secondly, the manufacturer’s desire to endow the car, if possible, in different qualities, this a priori increases the target audience, which is already rather big: A4 is the most popular model in the Audi production range. And thirdly, it feels that the new four is perfectly controlled not only because of these newfangled electronic systems. I am sure that those who prefer this car even without Audi Drive Select are not disappointed. After all, in any case, they will receive a wonderful new 160-horsepower 1.8 TFSI motor, which is distinguished by enviable efficiency and a wide shelf of torque, and hence the excellent traction, one of the best of the best of the endless transmission, a roomy beautiful salon and a large trunk of an excellent suit from Walter de Silva. Of course, even the initial version of A4 has excellent potential. And, no doubt, he will not be in vain. You can already find out how the famous Audi Quattro -wheel drive is implemented as part of the new platform, for which a little later we will definitely try one of the all -wheel drive modifications. Later there will be a S-version. Well, at the very end and the most powerful four RS4. And it seems that then we will understand how well the new Audi A4 chassis is
Dmitry Krotov
 

Source: Motor magazine [June 2008]