Exceptionally refined compact executive saloon would be the choice of highly respected magazine test team if a long journey beckoned

• Audi A4 receives ‘Best for Big Miles’ award in BBC Top Gear Magazine’s Best Cars in the World issue due on November 29

They may push cars to extremes to deliver road tests that never pull any punches, but the journalists at Top Gear Magazine have acknowledged that polish matters just as much as performance by declaring the Audi A4 ‘Best for Big Miles’ in its forthcoming Best Cars in the World issue.

The lengths to which Audi engineers and designers have gone with the A4 to bring the unruffled feel and exceptional cabin ambiance of cars in the uppermost classes to the compact executive segment have not been lost on the Top Gear team. In the Best Cars in the World issue, available from November 29, the road testers write: “With the A4, Audi focused on the stuff most people care about: a quiet, comfy cabin, tech to make your jaw slacken and some genuine ride quality."

With an extremely low drag coefficient of just 0.23 the A4 Saloon slips cleanly through the air under power provided by a wide range of strong and economical engines. These range from the super frugal 2.0 TDI ultra with its 72mpg capability and 99g/km CO2 output to the serenely smooth 218PS and 286PS V6 TDIs, the former powering the A4 variant ranked by What Car? Magazine as its Car of the Year for 2016.

The sophistication of the engines is matched by an advanced five-link front and rear suspension delivering the kind of absorbency and control that enables a multitude of miles to be covered seemingly effortlessly, without ruling out incisive handling, particularly where quattro all-wheel-drive is also fitted.

Depending on preference, customers can increase the comfort quotient by adding electronically modulated Adaptive Comfort Suspension with damping control, or choose Adaptive Sport Suspension with damping control for enhanced refinement with a greater emphasis on cornering composure.

Among the in-car technological highlights of the A4 that so impressed the Top Gear Magazine critics are the standard Audi Smartphone Interface bringing Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to the car, the Audi virtual cockpit with its fully digital, absolutely flicker-free display and the Audi phone box facilitating wireless mobile phone connection and charging.

The team will also have factored in features such as MMI Navigation plus with its pin sharp 8.3-inch monitor, Bang & Olufsen 3D sound with 755 watts of music power, Matrix LED headlamps capable of diverting their beam around multiple road users to maximise illumination without dazzle and an array of cutting edge driver assistance and safety systems. These include a traffic jam assist function capable of taking over braking, acceleration and steering inputs at speeds of up to 37mph to take the strain out of stop-start traffic, and the predictive efficiency assistant, which uses route data to calculate when free-wheeling or engine braking can be automatically applied to boost overall mpg.

All of these award-winning refinements can be enjoyed in conjunction with Saloon and even more accommodating Avant body styles, the latter adopting a more rugged stance in the transformation to the A4 allroad quattro with its raised ride height. The high performance S4 with its completely new 354PS TFSI engine and quattro all-wheel-drive is also available in both formats.

Article source: www.audi.co.uk