A small affair with an Ingolstadt beauty – Audi A4 2.0 TDI

A small affair with an Ingolstadt beauty – Audi A4 2.0 TDI

While I’ve driven Mercs and Bimmers earlier driving an Audi was somewhere in the middle of my ‘to-do’ list and today it’s been shifted to the ‘been there done that’ list. Was the shift exciting, average or disappointing? The words ahead will undress the truth.

At about 3:30 pm I got a call from the Audi guy and happily I pushed myself downstairs to the entrance of the office. Open the door and the beauty from Ingolstadt stood there draped in silver with her beautiful rear facing me. Although not as exciting to look at as Jennifer Lopez’s back the A4’s does look firmly in place and soothing.

Walked over to the side, opened the door and in typical European style the door opened in a three-stage fashion and the heavy thing closed with a firmly firm ‘thud’. Step inside and the black interior scheme was right up there to my taste considering my fetish for black interiors. Neatly placed controls and a clean looking instrument panel are a good sight for the eyes. The seats were in particular very comfortable and the leather spoke of high quality, something you would expect from a car of this segment.

Time to fire her up then. The ignition process is quite a swanky one. One just needs to take the key fob and insert into a slot on the left side of the steering (the way you put coins in a slot machine) and then with your right foot on the brake just press the fob and the 2.0 litre diesel engine comes to life with few but still audible signs of a diesel crank. Vibration though was close to nil. Reversing was the first thing to do and I wasn’t very comfortable with the sensors guiding me so I banked on the universal equipment – rotation friendly neck muscles. Slot the lever into “D” and we were away. No nonsense and smooth acceleration is what you expect from her and that is exactly what she gives you. Puttering along the roads was pretty easy and visibility was good at the front and side but rear visibility wasn’t very good and had me desiring for more.

While driving around was great this is not exactly what I like doing and hence it was imminent that I would bury the throttle to the floor sometime soon and it did happen that way. In “D” mode the build-up was lateral uptil 2200 odd RPM and it was only after that when the engine showed some character. There was a strong surge ahead although nothing close to spine shoving and the speed increased at a decent speed. Steering response was very impressive and at any speeds the steering communication and feedback between the soft leather and the palm was appreciable.

The next step was to check the performance in “S” aka sports mode. In this mode the throttle response sharpened up a bit and overall the driving feel improved a bit. Nothing astonishing though and strictly decent by my standards. Had it not been for a bloody spaniel I would’ve been able to hit a significantly higher speed than I achieved. One irritating thing was that the electronic handbrake is engaged by a small button and no conventional lever and that pretty much negates any chances of an interesting and fun-filled slide or a short drift.

The rear bench was very comfortable and even during long journeys comfort shouldn’t be an issue. The downside is that it is strictly for two passengers only or for a third passenger who’s a toddler or a homo sapien with no legs. This is due to the rear AC vents eating their way deep inside the rear legroom in the centre. But then again luxury for many isn’t a requirement in this segment.

Boot is pretty large and can easily swallow all your stuff for a 3-4 days outing and also home to the spare wheel known as the ‘donut wheel’ since apart from being a steel wheel it’s smaller in size that the ones acting as the shoes for the car and the difference is made up by a higher profile tyre.

Suspension is on the stiffer side but not as stiff as a BMW and if corner carving is what someone craves for the A4 won’t disappoint you despite being a front-wheel drive. So is this car worth Rs 29.6 lakhs, ex-showroom, Delhi. It entirely depends on what one is looking for. If comfort and safety are a requirement and snob value and features with little usage make sense for someone than the car is worth the money. An enthusiast though like me will really struggle to find value for the more than Rs 30 lakhs on-road price.

Consider this – The Audi A4 with no Quattro, rear wheel-drive or a mother of an engine costs Rs 31+ lakhs and does 0-100 in 9.4 seconds and some cars at1/3 of that price do it in 9.5 – 9.9 seconds. Wanna impress a lady in the cabin with swanky features of not much use then this does the job, want to experience pure driving pleasure then either lower your budget by about 2/3rd of the amount or wait till day after tomorrow by when I drive the Mercedes C-Class and the BMW 320i.