Audi’s next A4 will be lighter, technologically advanced and here in 2016.
The new Audi A4 continues a welcome trend by being lighter than its predecessor, in this case by about 120kg, even though it is slightly larger. It is also more slippery, reducing drag and that combined with new engines has seen fuel efficiency now down to 3.7L/100km for some variants – Audi say overall consumption for the range is down 21%. Even the Avant petrol model is a mere 5.0L/100km, which is highly impressive. There’s seven engines, which these days is a lot. Three are petrol and four are diesels.
Audi make much of new technology in the A4 – there will be an optional 12.3″ screen, natural voice control, iOS and Android integration, 3D sound, heads-up display, wireless charging, driver assistance systems and an Audi tablet can be used as rear-seat entertainment. Base models get an 8.3″ touchscreen.
Driving dynamics benefit from a complete redevelopment. Some variants will have a six-speed manual, there’s a seven-speed automatic and an eight-speed automatic. Front and all-wheel-drive are options. Selected models get torque vectoring and a sport differential. Interestingly, there is a free-wheel fuel saving option.
The steering is electromechanical, so it can change ratio (turns of wheel ratio to turns of front wheel) according to the car’s speed. The suspension is adjustable from comfort to sport in models with better than 140kW.
There is the usual array of modern driver aids – lane keeping assistance, adaptive cruise control, cross-traffic assistance. Camera-based traffic sign recognition is available, although that typically isn’t on cars sold in Australia.
The new A4 looks to be a significant step forwards from the current model, and continutes Audi’s theme of focusing on technology, performance and luxury. There appear to be no entirely new breakthroughs, but a lot of this tech is still at the stage where it’s maturing so could be the Audi has done a better job of design and integration than most, as you’d hope with a new development. We’ll find out more when the new A4 range launches in Australia in 2016.
