Best German sports sedan for the price

Author's Rating:

Pros: Incredible build quality, top rate handling, absolute joy to own

Cons: slightly cramped back seat, could use more power

The Bottom Line: 
If your shopping for a sports sedan under $30K, this is it.

Author's Review
After some extensive research to find a car to fit my needs, this was the one that fit the bill. For $27,000 you get everything you could ask for in a sporting sedan.

Audi has been on a upswing since the introduction of the A4 in 1995 (in Europe, 1996 for the US). After the company's destruction via a slanderous 60 Minutes feature, the A4 brought the company back in and change the German luxury landscape altogether. Before, then it was Mercedes if you wanted a reliable German car and BMW for a sports sedan and those were your only choices. Audi's introduction of the A4 changed that landscape. The A4 filled Audi's coffers and subsequently released the A6, A8, S-series cars, and finally the TT. Today, Mercedes has cars which are very sporting, BMW has gone a bit softer, and Audi is somewhere in the middle of sport and comfort. How times change.

Audi has also been synonemous with All-Wheel-Drive. For those of you who don't know, a small British sports car company (who's gone now) named Jensen invented the first AWD car in the 60's which never sold well. It wasn't until Audi in the very early 80's decided to equip its rally cars with it and subsequently its mass production cars that AWD took off.

Enough backgrond, back to the task at hand: this car. This is the first car based off the VAG (Volkswagen-Audi Group) B5 platform which was also later used to create in extended form the A6 and the VW Passat. While similiar in construction and design to both, the A4's smaller footprint gives a nimbler feel than each and the suspension is further tweaked to be much more sporting than the Passat's.

With this in mind, Audi also must change with the times and this is the final iteration of the A4 as we know it. The new A4 a completely new car in every aspect. The new car will be based off the VAG's new B6 platform. It is not available yet in the US but has been on sale in Europe for a few months already. Reports from across the pond have been stunning and many publications have indicated the new A4 is a better handling sedan than the current BMW 3-series(E46). If you like the new design and don't mind first year production bugs, I would advise you to wait for this car which could very well be the segment leader when it's all said and done.

But then are you buying an obsolete car you maybe asking? I went through the same motions while looking through assorted competitors. Other cars that I looked at include the BMW 3-series, Subaru Impreza (no WRX at the time though, doh!), Infiniti I30, the upcoming Lexus IS300 among others. This is the so-called near-luxary sport sedan segment with the exception of the Impreza. I can tell you that this car is still highly capable and the new A4 will be even better.

Step inside the car and you will notice the spartan German but extremely solid feel. Audi gives you a choice between 3 "atmospheres" and 2 types of seating material. Each atmosphere changes the color of the plastics, seats, and trim of your car. The leatherette, a fancy word for vinyl, is one of the best fake leathers you can get. Put you hand on any random surface, any, and you will immediately feel how great this car is put together. Shunt lines are tight and materials are of the highest grade. There have been very critics to this spartan design but most reviewers say that Audi builds the best interiors in mass production cars, period. This car feels expensive.

The interior is outstanding. Standard features for 2001 include a 3 spoke leather sport steering wheel, side curtain airbags, side kidney airbags, in dash CD player, climate control, fold down seats, trip computer, one touch windows, keyless entry, alarm and the list goes on. The dash and centre console lights up a bright red giving it a cockpit feel at night. All the buttons from the radio to the window controls are taunt and give a subtle "click!" Seats are supportive and firm in front and back. Space in back is rather tight compared to others, but it can fit a medium size person for a non-extended period of time. My only gripe is some of the controls such as cruise control. They are non-intuitive to operate but you do get used to it.

On the outside, I can say this car is one of the classic lines of the mid to late 90s. It is one of the few cars that look classy yet purposeful at the same time. From some angles, it does seem to show its age but you look at it again from another angle and it looks thoroughly modern. It is a shame the new A4 looks so much more mature than the current design. Not many cars blend this amount of maturity, class along with purpose, aggression at the same time.

You have your choice of a turbocharged inline-4 with 1.8 litres or a 2.8 litre V6. This is where I feel Audi was lagging a tiny bit behind others. The 2.8 is a fairly average 6 cylinder engine, though not horrible. Tourque is available at low revs though it doesn't let you rev that high either. It does have a basic variable valve timing setup and this engine is suited very well to the automatic transmission if you go that route. Audi has replaced this unit with a thoroughly modern 3.0 design with all the bells and whistles.

I went with the 1.8T which I feel is the better value. The 1.8T generates 170hp with 166ft/lb of torque. Don't let the 170 fool you, remember the adage: you buy hp, you drive torque. While it will not give you a great 0-60, the power band at midrange is absoluately sparkling. You can get the same power from 80-90 as you do from 40-60. This is because the engine generates 166ft/lb's of torque from 2000-5000RPM's, an incredible power band! Even with the power sapping automatic that I opted for, this isn't too horrible.

Onto the handling aspect, this is what you are looking at a sports sedan for. The gold standard has always been the BMW with its 50:50 weight ratio because of the engine behind the axel, rear wheel drive, and multilink rear suspension. Short of putting the engine in the rear, there is no better configuration. Remember the factors that influence handling: 1) weight ratio 2) drive type (AWD,RWD,RWD) 3) suspension tuning and type 4) torsional rigidity. With a heavy iron block engine hanging out in front of the A4, it has a poor weight ratio. Therefore to compensate, Audi tweaked the front suspension with a 4 link design with aluminum parts and a subframe.

Now driving the car, I can tell you the car feels heavy but nimble at the same time. The steering is very direct, heavy, and gives you good communication with the road. Not quite up to par with the BMW in nimbleness but has a superior steering feel because of the decision to overboost the new 3-series steering to give into the "old fogeys wanting young looking car" types. The heavy front also means that the car will understeer at the limits and I have felt this at the high limits of the car. However, the Quattro system ensures that your traction limit is fairly high in most situations but it is also a heavy car as well. The high weight reduces some of its abilities. Its a case of subjective feel vs. objective capability. Take 1.8T Quattro vs. a BMW 325i in the same cornering situation with similiar drivers and tire types, Quattro's superior traction should make it able to take the corner at higher speed. While the BMW is probably more fun letting its tail hang out in a bit of oversteer (how sports cars fans like it), the Audi would take the same corner without drama and fuss.

I would have to highly recommend this car. The 3-series, while a great car, is overpriced when optioned out in my opinion. Granted it is a finely tuned machine, but BMW does have the industry's highest profit margines per car. A new 330i is almost the same price as a bi-turbo Audi S4!

Other competitors include the new Volvo S60 which is highly touted but still a less sporting car and is firmly edged between family and sport. The new C class Mercedes is very capable but also very expensive, more so than the 3 series, when you dish out for the logo. The Lexus I300 is a great bargain but fails to have the class and build quality of the Germans. The interior feels cheap and looks like it came from a Corolla parts bin. The same can be said about the Subaru Impreza WRX. While a great car in every performance respect, it does not convey the same opulence as the German cars.

So there you have it. After 6 years of duty, this car still holds its own. This is a testement to its design. During those 6 years, new designs have begun to overshadow it. That is why Audi is bringing a new soldier to fight the war. This is the final and greatest iteration of a classic. Audi has thrown in some nice ameneties to keep it selling, such as the boost from 150hp to 170hp, the leather steering wheel, the side curtain airbags. This makes it a even better deal.

If you want a more fun car (read: power oversteer) for more money get a 3 series. If you want more power and more fun but don't care about luxury, get the IS300. If you want a pure sports car with awesome power, handling, AWD, but zero luxury, get the Subaru WRX. If you to show off, get the Benz. If you don't care about looks or class at all and want to absolutely annihilate everyone, wait for the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 7. :) But if you want a proven and great design thats the complete package, get this car.

Or else wait for the 2002.