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The County of Botetourt lies between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains at the foot of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. It is a beautiful place, even in the haze of a late August afternoon.

It is a setting that speaks to the joy and pain of driving, beckoning you to tour its scenic roads while begging you to tread lightly in consideration of its fragile habitat.

I came on business, taking Interstate 66 out of Northern Virginia and then connecting with Interstate 81 just outside of Front Royal. Southbound I-81 led to the I-581 spur, which took me to Roanoke and nearby Botetourt (locally pronounced bott-i-tott).

It was a three-hour drive in a splendid sedan, a pre-production version of the 2002 Audi A4 1.8T — a more commodious automobile, in terms of interior space and comfort, than its 2001 predecessor.

The new car retains the old engine — a turbocharged, 1.8-liter, in-line four-banger designed to produce 170 horsepower at 5,900 revolutions per minute. Peak torque, 166 pound-feet, develops between 1,950 and 5,000 rpm.

Though equipped with the same engine, the new A4 felt tighter, lighter and more precise than the older model. The feeling wasn’t illusion.

Audi’s engineers increased the 2002 A4’s body stiffness, making it 45 percent more rigid than the 2001 model. More aluminum is used in the new A4’s fully independent suspension system, thereby reducing suspension weight without diminishing its strength.

The result is a drive that yields smiles and giggles without hubris. The point of the A4 is pleasure, not contest. From the impeccable fit and finish of its leatherette and discreetly chromed interior to its elegantly reworked exterior, the car says: “Here’s the road. Take it. Enjoy. Make a trip of it.”

I did that a day after finishing my business in Botetourt.

Mile 112.2 of the Blue Ridge Parkway picks up near Roanoke and runs southwest along the summit of the Blue Ridge through some of the planet’s most beautiful geography.

But the parkway is a bit of a tease. It is a winding, two-lane affair, sometimes dampened by mist and fog, that requires unyielding driver attention. Yet its ambient beauty is so seductive, it is impossible to drive with eyes totally on the road.

In such a circumstance, it is good to have a car such as the A4, even in its tested front-wheel-drive form. I would have preferred an all-wheel-drive (Quattro) A4, or perhaps a front-wheel-drive model equipped with Audi’s new “Multitronic” continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT).

The CVT shifts more precisely and thus saves more fuel than the standard five-speed manual transmission found in the test car. I drove a Quattro and a CVT at exhilarating speeds along Germany’s autobahn this spring. Both were drives to remember.

But the 1.8T A4 used on the Virginia tour was a standout, too. Electronic traction and stability c ontrol systems took the worry out of slippery, curvaceous mountain roads. Electronic brake assistance, designed to shorten braking distance, came in handy during the inevitable traffic jam-ups on mountain descents. (Why do some drivers take rest stops at the bottom of inclined roads?)