Audi A4 2.0 TDI Multitronic 2008 Review

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Audi's latest generation of its midsized A4 is larger and more aggressively styled than the model it replaces. Inside, it further consolidates the design and quality for which Audi is becoming renowned. In fact, whoever headed up the A4's interior design team deserves a medal.

The Carsales Network tested two A4s recently -- the A4 2.0 TDI and A4 1.8 Turbo FSI -- and found fit and finish of both cars to be of a very high order. The build quality goes hand in hand with the cars' engineering. To illustrate, the doors have been engineered to close quietly and snugly (a muffled clunk and no tinny twang), no matter how much you slam them, but they're also fairly solid and that inspires some confidence that they'll protect you in a prang.

Ergonomically, however, there are some issues with the A4. The driving position is generally good, although the front seats seem to lack the right sort of shape to support the upper torso of taller occupants. Otherwise, the seats are comfortable and supportive. They're easily adjusted without the endless fiddling around required in the A6 recently tested.

The pedals are positioned a little too far to the right (the footrest feels that way too, and it applies to both the turbo petrol and diesel variants driven). Even the left side of the driver's foot well seems to be pushing against the left leg.

Rear seat legroom is quite good for adults, but the headroom may be border line for those of above-average height. Access to the rear section of the cabin is easy, thanks to the doors opening relatively wide.

The boot extends forward a long way and is nicely lined, but it's shallow, which presumably allows more room for drivetrain components in quattro models. One particularly good thing about the boot is how angular and 'flush' it is. There are no nooks, crevices and the like for larger items to snag when being loaded and it looks like it would easily accommodate some bulky items. A hand-grip to the right of the latch inside the bootlid is useful.

Back in the cabin, the multi-media interface (MMI) system fitted in the turbo petrol A4 is Audi's equivalent to BMW's iDrive and suffers from some of the same issues of complexity -- without the latest BMWs' redundancy systems for those who cannot face the single-controller-does-all malaise. Wanting to disable the overspeed audible alarm took some minutes, even with the basic understanding of how to use the controls to achieve this.

The HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning system) defaults to dual-zone mode from start-up, but the MMI is so inconvenient to use once you're on the move, you'd just manually adjust the passenger's climate control settings to match the driver's if for some reason you wanted them the same.

The MMI system is no easier to use quickly than BMW's iDrive system. It's more intuitive -- we believe -- but still forces the driver to pull over to adjust the audio system, for example. In the case that you want to fade the audio system from rear to front (if you have sleeping kids in the back, for instance) you can take your chances doing that through the MMI system on the move, you can leave it to the front-seat passenger to handle or you can pull over. There are occasions when a simple button works best...

Both cars came equipped with Lane Assist and it's a feature that struggles with typical Australian country road environments -- the sort of roads where you might well want to be woken if you're beginning to drowse. Sometimes the system worked with broken lines, sometimes it didn't. Sometimes it worked below 80km/h, other times, it didn't. Sometimes it worked when there was no obvious cause to trigger it. There appear to be some bugs yet to be ironed out of the system.

The optional Side Assist feature was welcome, but until you're used to it and the way it works, the rapid sequence of flashing LEDs (indicating you've left what the car deems to be inadequate room for a lane change) can be distracting. In his own defence this reviewer provoked this alert while accelerating into the new lane.

Starting the A4 is effected by slipping the key into a slot in the dash, similar to the system in the latest Renault Laguna. Brake pedal pressure must be applied and the driver presses the key further into the spring-loaded slot for the engine to turn over. The engine will start conveniently, without the driver needing to hold the key pressed into the dash.

Beyond the different convenience features fitted to the two cars, the principal contrast between the two arises from the characteristics of the turbodiesel and petrol turbo powerplants.

Turbodiesel first… The A4 2.0 TDI was extremely quiet for a diesel and with the 'Multitronic' transmission (a Continuously Variable Transmission), there were no stepped gear changes, so the diesel A4 -- combining this stepless transmission with the torquey but quiet diesel and a very composed ride -- made for a very comfortable carriage.

As with a lot of the modern generation oilers, the common rail engine will rev to 4500 or slightly higher before the transmission shifts up automatically, yet it will pull hard all the way to that redline. In comparison, the latest generation of Renault diesel is actually willing to rev harder, but what does it matter? Diesels give of their best at lower revs and don't need to run to higher engine speeds.

The diesel A4's fuel consumption averaged 7.2L/100km with a roughly equal mix of freeway, winding open-road and around-town driving. On the freeway, the A4 2.0TDI was capable of bettering 5.0L/100km and there's no doubt that the car could cover an inter-capital run on one tank of fuel -- as is the case with most modern diesel passenger cars.

Straightline performance in the A4 2.0 TDI was an interesting experience. There was a conventional period of lag from the turbo engine (as discovered turning right across traffic on the first night of driving the car), but the engine will muster enough torque early enough to spin a drive wheel away from a standing start. Once away, it accelerates cleanly and rapidly up to speed.

With the CVT's progressive adjustment of ratios, it's all very civilised and, providing relatively brisk acceleration as it does, the A4 2.0 TDI rarely felt like it needed the driver to go for full throttle. From a performance point of view, the car was a well balanced package, integrating the various drivetrain elements in an impressively smooth, but dynamically efficient form.

While not taking away much from the diesel, the petrol engine (born of Volkswagen Group's latest TSI generation) was very refined and had a pleasant bass note.

On a light throttle at 3000rpm, the engine could hardly be heard. Winding out to 6000rpm (at which point the CVT would change up, even in a manually-selected 'gear' -- actually a fixed ratio decided by programming of the CVT's pulley cones), the engine sounded unfussed and willing.

It had plenty of power and torque, but could deliver that in a way that was almost too punchy, even with the CVT -- especially if you selected the Dynamic mode -- one of the three driving modes available in the turbo petrol model on test. The engine would spin wheels and, relative to the diesel A4, the petrol model generally required a little more finesse from the driver for a fast start in the wet.

Unlike earlier Audis with the Multitronic transmission, the B8 generation of A4 1.8 Turbo didn't feel like it was standing still as the scenery rushed past at increasing speed. In point of fact, the Turbo A4 conveyed a real sense of acceleration and proved to be quite brisk.

But when it came to ease of use, the diesel had it all over the petrol variant. There was actually more turbo lag from the petrol engine and once the turbo was pumping, there was a spike in the torque -- not masked much by the CVT. It was harder for the driver to find that balance between feeding in the necessary throttle for adequate acceleration without waking up the traction control system.

Fuel consumption for the petrol engine hovered around an average of 9.4L/100km, which was not incredibly conservative, but that figure did include a substantial time spent either commuting in traffic or fanging the car along country roads. At a steady speed of 60km/h, as you might encounter on dual-lane arterial roads between traffic lights, the petrol turbo A4 would display a figure of around 6.5L/100km, so it has some potential to be frugal if required.

In both cars, changing the CVT to manual sequential-shift mode selects the seventh 'gear' by default. This is the second highest ratio available and it's hard to imagine when anyone would want to select this ratio manually -- it's such a high ratio.

Ideally (to our thinking), the CVT should be offering you one step below the default at any given speed; eg: third instead of fourth at 60km/h. After all, if you're manually selecting a ratio step, you're most likely to want acceleration or engine braking, not fuel economy.

At the present, if you select manual sequential-shift mode from 100km/h, you'll get an extra ratio you don't want, if you require fourth or even third. That means an extra downshift, which, if you must downshift to the ratio you want in a hurry, could be a problem.

Overall, the CVT worked better with the diesel A4 than the petrol variant. No surprise that the diesel appears to provide a flatter torque curve over a relatively broader range of engine speeds -- and as already mentioned, the set-up of the CVT generally handled the diesel's characteristics better, for a smoother drive.

Nor did the diesel roll back on hills the way the petrol variant did; that may be a consequence of more torque available from the diesel at idle or perhaps the CVT's stall characteristics are different for the two engines. Whatever the case, the automatic electronically-actuated parking brake is something you might be more inclined to use with the petrol engine than with the diesel.

As noted already, the turbo petrol model came with a three-mode dynamic control system (Audi Drive Select), which offered 'Comfort', 'Auto' and 'Dynamic' settings for steering, suspension and transmission -- an impressive system, for its type.

When the Dynamic mode was selected, the ride certainly felt firmer, there was more engine braking and a readier response from the engine through the CVT, with a lower ratio at any given speed. In addition, steering was at once sharper and heavier.

The distinction between Dynamic and either Comfort or Auto settings was quite pronounced. Having said that, if you do a lot of driving on typical Australian country roads (or indeed, even around the suburbs), chances are pretty good that you'll stick with Comfort or Auto settings. The Dynamic setting is ideal for a racetrack, but a little too 'hair-trigger' for most driving situations. It's fun, but you won't need it most of the time.

If there's one way in which the Dynamic mode is a godsend for urban traffic, it's the way in which it doesn't allow the CVT to dither around, giving you immediate acceleration when you want it.

On the Comfort setting, the Turbo A4 seemed to ride a little more firmly than the diesel model, which we attribute to the different tyres fitted to the two -- Bridgestone Potenzas for the A4 TFSI and Continentals for the A4 TDi. Both models handled competently -- even in Comfort mode -- and roadholding was pretty decent too. In addition, both variants provided a balanced compromise between ride and handling. Among European mid-sized cars, the A4 is one of the better examples of this art.

At higher speeds, the A4 felt commendably close to neutral. Both cars would track through a corner in an ideal stance -- more noticeably so with power-off and a little engine braking.

Dynamic safety systems rarely stirred from their slumber unless the driver was trying fairly hard, although traction control was easily aroused with injudicious applications of 'welly' to the right pedal.

While the steering (Audi's bette noir) is an improvement on the A6 recently sampled, the overall level of servo assistance ranges far and wide, depending on speed and lateral force (cornering). In corners, the A4's steering -- for both cars -- could be a little more consistent, but did improve as speeds rose and the driver committed to a harder line.

To elaborate on that, the steering for both cars was heavier than the A6's -- in fact there was plenty of weight once the car was travelling above 60km/h -- but the lack of feel made it hard to place in corners. There was some feedback once the car was cornering harder, but more often than not, the driver needed to correct the car's line through a corner perhaps two or three times.

On full lock, there was some noise from the electric servos in the steering system, but other than that particular circumstance and some occasional vibration from the tyres on the road surface, felt through the wheel, the A4 was pretty quiet all round.

The Continental SportContact 2 tyres fitted to the diesel A4 were generally quieter than the Bridgestone Potenzas of the petrol A4 and only squealed with significant provocation from the driver. The 'Bridgies' fitted to the petrol variant were still relatively quiet, but were more audible on coarser bitumen. Out on the open road, there was more noticeable wind noise, but even that was moderate.

This new generation of A4 represents a significant advance on the previous B7 models. There are many virtues and just a few vices in this model, but as is often the way with Audis, the trick is to be very selective with the options. Whatever you do though, definitely order the A4 with Audi Drive Select.

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