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| Launch Report Audi A4 Avant |
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Premium Estate
Audi has achieved this without resorting to styling trickery which might spoil the car. One thing I liked immediately about the new Avant was the fact that the rear side windows, unlike those in many other recently-introduced estates, are a sensible shape. Admittedly the C pillars are a bit thick, so the view out the back isn't as clear as it might be, but at least there's none of this swooping window line stuff which means you find yourself staring at vast expanses of interior trim when you turn round to see whether you can reverse. 120mm longer (though also 10% lighter) than its predecessor, the new Avant has 490 litres' worth of luggage room when the rear seats are in place, and that's a handsome figure. Fold down the seats and the available space increases to 1430 litres, which is pretty good but not the best in the class - the Mercedes-Benz C-Class estate, for example, manages 1500 litres. The Avant's case is not helped by the fact that the seats don't fold completely flat, but it does have useful features like a luggage net and tie-down straps (both standard) and a bar-and-belt securing system and powered tailgate (both optional). It also helps that the tailgate is as low and wide as the interior, with no bumps or corners to negotiate, so loading is very easy.
One of the cars I drove on the launch event had the powered tailgate, and it didn't seem to work when I tried to use it when no one else was watching. Of course it worked perfectly half an hour later under the intent gaze of various Audi personnel. Perhaps the system just doesn't like me. That sort of thing happens quite a lot. |
