The 2017 Audi A4 may not look as overhauled as you would expect for a complete redesign — but the devil’s in the details and those details are pretty darn impressive. Watch the video above for more.
Transcript
(engine revving) (upbeat music) The 2017 Audi A4 may not look as overhauled as you would expect for a complete redesign, but the devil's in the details, and those details are pretty darn impressive.
A lot of traditional Audi cues going on, things like this sprawling grille here, very thin headlights and taillights. At a glance, pretty easy to mistaken this for the previous generation A4. Even the dimensions, slightly bigger, but not much changed. Check out this cutline right along here. It runs just below the beltline of the car, blends perfectly smooth into this line where the hood actually meets the fender. That's an area on a lot of sedans where you kind of have this awkward cutline you got to make. Here, blends in perfectly even with the three-dimensional lip. Pretty neat stuff. More obvious differences on the inside of the new A4 which trades its predecessor's hooded dashboard for kind of a lower, more stacked orientation here. There's this iPad-like screen that sort of sits over the center part of the dash, and in our test car, it's joined by 12.3 inch virtual gauges here. They replace traditional gauges. They can even show your navigation system with Google Earth overlays. Now some of the technology is overkill. The Google Earth looks kind of cool, but it doesn't actually add any really useful information, and it just kind of does crowd some of the information you need to see, especially at a glance. This screen here, begging for a touchscreen interface. Instead you got to control it through Audi's MMI Knob-based system down here. Really a drag, especially when you're using things like the standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Those were meant to be on a touch screen, not to be used with kind of a cursor and a knob down here. As far as the luxury quotient in the A4, some nice attention to detail with things like three-dimensional edging around this kind of pod of climate controls, but some lower rent plastics below eye level. Those are areas where cars like the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, even the BMW 3 Series dress up with a little bit more consistency, but a very practical interior in the A4. Lots of room, lots of storage, easy to see out of, big back seat. The A4's turbocharged four-cylinder makes a robust 252-horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque. That's good for stout acceleration, even uphill, though we did notice some accelerator lag right off the line. Still pretty good engine overall and makes up for some of the transmission, which is pretty hesitant to downshift when you need more power. But a lot of shoppers just might not care once they figure out how many standard features the new A4 has. For it's sub $40,000 starting price, you get standards like leather instead of vinyl, power seats, a moonroof, backup camera, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking. A lot of competitors charge extra for many of those features. So if you want top handling performance or the best cabin materials, the A4 probably isn't gonna be your pick, but if you want technology, practicality, and a surprising amount of luxury value, Audi's got a pretty good choice right here. (trunk slamming)
