The art of progress

There are two prevailing attitudes towards working under pressure. The most modern is that pressure is a foil to creativity, and thus a Very Bad Thing. This is why Google builds its offices with Playstation nooks and karaoke bars and an accounts department you enter by trampoline. The other, more old-school take is that pressure makes diamonds. And diamonds are great! Diamonds can’t be faked.

They’re opposite approaches and the jury is out. But those looking for a high-stakes modern engineering project to study would do well to examine Ingolstadt’s team behind the all-new A4.

Few vehicles mean more to their marque than does Audi’s most important car. While the new A4 arrives in a fertile environment – notably characterised by Audi Australia’s 11 years of consecutive year-on-year sales increases – it’s also Audi’s ninth generation (or ‘B9’) model in the mid-sized segment. It follows the brilliant, and wildly popular, B8, which launched in 2008. That car would introduce a real emphasis on weight reduction and sportiness, with a midlife update and direct-injection turbo across the range in 2012. And, consequently, take Audi to the head of the midsize luxury pack.

The pressure to produce a worthy follow-up must have been enormous. Whichever method they chose, it worked.

Where the new A4’s exterior styling is evolutionary – notable changes including a new, clamshell-style bonnet with an emphasis on horizontal elements from the front, new aerodynamically optimised wings mirrors a more robust shoulder line – inside, it’s total revolution.

Both inside the cabin and under its skin, this is a testament to luxury materials, clear-minded design resolve and – most of all – radical technical advancement. It represents a quantum leap over the B8 model, introducing not just real limousine spec to a mid-sized car, but new technology ahead of any of Audi’s contemporaries.

Four powertrains arrive at launch, including three four-cylinder petrol and one four-cylinder diesel engine. Each has its own character. Entry-level begins at the front-wheel drive, 1.4L TFSI, which produces remarkable punch with 110kW and 250Nm – particularly considering its displacement – and a 0-100km/h sprint time of just 8.5 seconds and a remarkable fuel consumption figure of 5.5L/100km. Oftentimes, low-displacement, models can be obvious poor relations – shorn of heft, or plagued by lag. Not so here, with satisfying response even up and out of hilly hairpins.

Next is a front-wheel-drive 2.0L TFSI which generates 140kW and 320Nm, a 7.3 second 0-100km/h time and a remarkable economy figure of just 5.3L/100km – the most miserly return of any petrol sedan, regardless of segment.

A pair of quattros cap the range: a 185kW/370Nm 2.0L TFSI a 6.3 second 0-100km/h time (and another record: it’s the most economical all-wheel drive vehicle on the market); and a 2.0L TDI with a 140kW/400Nm combination, 7.2s 0-100km/h sprint and a 4.6L thirst per 100km. That’s the most economical diesel on sale today – across all segments. And all snappy and immediately responsive to the slightest twitch of the right ankle.

All four models are paired with a new seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch transmission, with quicksilver gear changes that feel – while measured in the hundredths of a second – all but instant. All the while maintaining the sort of well-mannered refinement traditionally the remit of a larger car, even in the higher-revving 1.4. (Indeed, conversation inside is a pleasure at any speed, thanks also to a sound-masking acoustic windscreen as standard. Tick the option for the acoustic windows and quietness levels will actually match those of the A8.)

It’s the sort of edifying response that would have been demanded of those white-coated boffins in the Ingolstadt lab. If only because the A4’s combination of interior design, fit and materials, along with its technological prowess, is almost overwhelming. 

Put simply, had the drivetrain not measured up, and been backed by crisp steering, with satisfying feedback – had it not been visceral fun to drive – then the A4’s dynamic capability might easily have been overwhelmed. 

Such is the shock and awe inside the cabin - because this is where the tech in the all-new A4, for all its on-road chops, truly swings for the bleachers.

Most obvious is the optional Audi Virtual Cockpit. This is the third Audi to have the revolutionary technology (after the TT and Q7), which will also appear in the forthcoming, all-new R8. 

It replaces the traditional instrument cluster with a customisable 12.3 inch TFT screen that runs at 60 frames per second, offering a choice about the size of the now digital dials and the proportion of screen space devoted to navigation, comms and infotainment. It’s augmented by a more ‘traditional’, 8.3 inch rectangular monitor on the mid-dash, as well as crystal-clear, optional head-up display that appears to float in space around two metres ahead of the driver.

Then there are the driver assistance systems. Bolstered by intuitively arranged multimedia, infotainment and connectivity interfaces, the connection between driver and car – and, by extension, road – feels unprecedented.

Nothing’s been left in the workshop cupboard.

Festooned with technology, the A4’s list of cutting-edge wizardry is too long to list, but its highlights are intense.

Safety systems include Audi pre-sense city which detects vehicles and pedestrians while you’re driving at 85 km/h, independently issuing warnings and then braking if it anticipates a collision. Exit warning alerts occupants to approaching cars – or cyclists – if you’re about to open your door. Rear cross traffic assist sings out if you’re about to reverse into a vehicle approaching obliquely (say from a driveway). Optional highlights include traffic jam assist, which can automatically accelerate, brake and even steer in slow-moving city traffic – at up to 65km/h – remaining in your lane (or in the drive-through queue).

Aurally, an optional 19-speaker Bang & Olufsen 3D Sound System places speakers throughout the car, including in the A-pillars. Visually and tactilely, solid-feeling switchgear and quality plastics, woods and aluminium add to the ambience, while full dual-zone air with digital dials extends the welcome to backseat passengers.

This is the first Audi with smartphone interface. Its MMI system understands accents and many colloquialisms. There’s Wifi, fingertip touchpad entry, and backseat, headrest-mounted glare-proof tablets available at launch. An active charcoal filter cleans the air to remove twice as many particles as any competitor model – at any price point. Outside, up front, adaptive LED headlights are standard, with optional Audi Matrix LEDs (which produce radiant light, mimicking natural daylight) automatically able to dim or turn off a dozen individual lighting diodes per headlight. In fact, you need never turn high beam off; the tech allows the A4 to ‘shroud’ multiple vehicles from the full wattage, extending up to eight fingers of darkness into the distance.

The pre-launch build up for the new A4 pushed the line that ‘progress is intense’.

Whatever the intensity at the design studios and engineering workshops that put it together, that pressure has produced a handful of diamonds. This is a capable, palpable piece of automotive luxury – and a new, ultra-premium leader in the midsize segment.

It may not be true that Ingolstadt’s boffins use literal trampolines to stroll between departments at Audi HQ, but if this is a sign for the future, the marque is set to spring to even greater success.