Indian Autos blog

When you start the car, male or female, car lover or not, the exhaust grunt of the 3.2-liter V6 engine pumps up your adrenaline, it sounds like a sports car. Shift to drive from park, release the brake, and once you cross 1,200 rpm hurriedly, there is a massive power exchange between the engine and the wheels, which sucks you in. You’re pushed back into the seat, your head tries to cave into head rest. The acceleration is insane.

Steering feedback is tremendous. It is nothing short of a sports car’s steering system. The thick rubber also helps in this aspect.

Three modes namely Comfort, Auto and Dynamic are the drive settings. Comfort mode is for highway cruising, in Auto mode the ECU sorts out the the car and the dynamic mode is for the late night thrill ride. The suspension on the mode becomes stiffer (by a small margin), the throttle response also becomes sharper and the gear ratios are re-assembled closer.

Good view of the road after the high seat setting boosted confidence. The graphical park assist system helped in commuting through thick traffic. The suspension was a bit bumpy and shaky. If you were driving on continuous stretches of bad roads, you would end up with a headache.

The ground clearance is very low, and we had a few minor underbelly contacts with the speed breaker even when we took them at 10kph. We learned the best way to take the speed breakers was by driving the car at an angle through them.

We took control of the gearbox using the paddle shifters and in second gear, the car easily raced past 100kph. The paddle shifters are not advisable for the inexperienced.

Adaptive braking system helps in slowing the car at any speed. ABS and EBD work together, its braking system is the best in its segment.

We’ve explained the sensation of driving an A4 as short as possible. The painful part is the fuel economy of this thing – An average of around 5.5-6 kmpl of hard highway and city driving resulted at the end of the day. Around 200 kms, 60-70 kms city rest in the highway should not bring out such figures. It’s not going to be easy owning such a car. 200 bucks of fuel could run out the moment you pass the first intersection.

From the driver’s perspective -

Good bits -

The A4′s seat’s got a blower inside it. This air circulation inside the seat keeps your back dry all the time. Remember, no matter where the A.C is, it can never cool your back!

The driver’s seat on the A4 is big and cozy. It offers good shoulder, neck and thigh support. The seat also has a 2-slot memory capability which is useful if your wife is using the car. You prepare the seat to your settings by using the button on the door.

The rear view mirror needs special mention. It’s not too big or too small. It won’t be knocked off by careless cyclists. At least that’s what we think. The car’s A-Pillar is slim and does not create any sort of a threatening blind spot.

The A4′s steering feels good to grip. The steering on one side has controls that take care of the FM station, MID display and bluetooth operation. On the other side, there’s a control for volume and mute.

Bad bits -

Due to the absence of a clutch pedal, we needed a place to rest our left foot. Even if they had not provided this so called dead pedal, we would have found it more comfortable! The dead pedal is almost flat. Maybe someone used an ironing box on it?

The ingress and egress, for a tall, well built person, is like entering a cave. The A4 sits lower, and that does not help tall people like me. I think I should kneel down and try entering the car.