The rest of the design from the front, features lots of logical styling lines, for example, there are two distinctive creases down the bonnet that link in with the new A4’s V-shaped front.
Move to the side of the new A4 and the first thing you’ll spot is there’s no shut line on the highly sculpted bonnet. That’s because it’s now the clamshell type that stretches down the sides. The bonnet works in conjunction with the distinctive character line that runs from the front lights to the rear lights; we think it gives the illusion that the new A4 is taller. It isn’t, but it has a 12mm longer wheelbase, there’s also a 4mm wider track.
One of the cleanest lines on the new A4 is the saloon’s sharp rear trailing edge of the boot, which forms a boot spoiler.
Unusually, the saloon and Avant A4 models have been revealed at the same time, although we understand that it’s the saloon that will arrive first in the UK.
Go for the Avant estate and it has a 505 litre boot, which can be extended to 1,505 litres with the rear seats folded down. Design-wise, the Avant has its own clever touches in the form of an optimised roof spoiler, with side blades that also apparently stabilise the rear.
Move inside the new A4 and you’ll notice it feels more spacious. Anyway before we look at the design, best get the numbers out of the way. For a start, there’s 24mm more headroom, 23mm rear legroom – which Audi claim is also the benchmark for this sector and even 1mm more shoulder room.
The new A4 has a very simple, horizontal dash design, an evolution of the one we first saw on the current A3. Key changes for the A4 include a central control panel for the climate control and a fixed 8:3 colour infotainment screen. The infotainment controller located on the centre console can now be used like a joystick, the air vents appear to stretch their way across the centre of the dashboard and there’s even an ambient lighting option with the choice of 40 colours.
We had the chance to sit in both the front and back of the new A4 and can report it certainly feels more spacious – especially in the back. Plus, even though the cars we looked at were early pre-production models, the trim and soft plastics lived up to Audi’s premium reputation.
Sport and design interior selections will be available, plus sportier S-Line trim interior and exterior packages .
