MOTORING Heirs and graces
Its big brother has the royal seal of approval, but Audi’s superb A4 Allroad is just as much of a prince among cars
WORDS NEIL LYNDON
be seen as a person with a certain style – then only one car will meet all your needs. As Prince Charles might confi rm, the Audi A6 Allroad is just the job. That large, luxurious, high-performance
I
estate car can make a reasonable fi st of crossing a muddy fi eld. With permanent four-wheel drive, raised suspension, bodyshield panels and armoured undersides, the A6 Allroad could pull a horsebox to the polo ground and probably get out again to carry its owner in style to the party at the big house. For the rest of us who may not aspire so high,
there’s the Audi A4 Allroad. This is a car that offers all the qualities of the heir to the throne’s chosen favourite (we’re talking about cars here, don’t get saucy) but in a compressed form. The A6 Allroad is based on the large saloon platform of the VW group, whose commonest form is the Passat. The A4 Allroad is based on the same platform as the Golf. In thinking about the A4 Allroad, therefore, you have to keep yourself in check lest you embarrass yourself with the line, ‘Honey: I shrank the Audi’. It’s not just the car itself that’s smaller; the price, too, shrinks markedly compared to the A6. The two-litre TDI version of the A4 Allroad I borrowed would cost £40,600, a price tag that
‘It adds to the pleasure of driving to give the engine a breather when it has been thrashed to its limit’
f you’ve got all the money in the world, if you are devoted to country life and also follow interests in the city, if you like to
kingly £50,000-plus. I’ve been fond of the A6 Allroad ever since it
fi rst appeared in 1999. For Audi to have brought together such a range of qualities and abilities puts that car in a quirky category that is shared by very few. In recent years, Volvo’s V70 Cross Country has come close to equalling it, though it may not be quite so engaging to drive on the road as the A6 Allroad with its near-sportscar performance. My A4 Allroad couldn’t hold a candle to the
155mph top speed of the A6, and was more than three seconds slower than the A6’s 5.6- second 0-60mph; but, surprisingly, it didn’t feel markedly different to drive on the road. Despite being 37mm higher than a standard A4 Avant estate car and having a softer suspension set-up (both modifi cations to facilitate off- road driving), the A4 Allroad has been craftily composed to compensate, and it holds the road through corners with minimal sway. Ride and steering are up there with the best of Audi – and few rivals can claim that. My car did not have gear-change paddles on
includes about £8,000-worth of extras. An A6 Allroad equipped to a similar level of specifi cation would certainly set you back a
Below: Small and powerful and blessed with permanent four-wheel drive, the A4 Allroad won’t break a sweat negotiating country life.
the steering wheel for its S-Tronic dual-clutch automatic transmission, so I had to reach for the stick on the centre console when it seemed reluctant to shift out of fi rst gear. No hardship: it adds to the pleasure of driving to give the engine a breather yourself when you feel it has been thrashed to its limit. Key differences between the A6 and A4 Allroads are, of course not felt primarily in the driver’s seat. The A4’s rear seats are tighter for space and probably best for children; and it is possible to see from one end to the other of the load space in the rear without using a telescope. Even so, the A4 Allroad works brilliantly as a family car in daily use. Our children loved being driven to school in it, and my wife made strenuous efforts to commandeer it for her commute to work. No chance.
I was deter-
mined to make the most of my time with the A4 Allroad and enjoy my opportunity to pretend to be King-in-Waiting. Curiously, nobody bowed or
doffed their cap.
WWW.SCOTTISHFIELD.CO.UK 197
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