Despite its elegant lines and low profile, you won’t find the Audi A4 45 TFSI quattro S line at the forefront of the official Audi website. Instead, a Q2 is sitting there.
It’s not hard to see why, as more than two-thirds of Audi’s sales come from the Q2, Q3, Q5, and Q7. It’s a sign of the times we live in, with SUVs outselling all other vehicle types by a wide margin.
It’s a shame. Without spending too much money, you can get behind the wheel of what is an attractive sports sedan but also a capable off-roader, especially in terms of driving and handling.
Whichever way you look at it, the A4 is an appealing proposition. It outshines its cousin, the Q5, by around $6,000, while providing a more exciting driving experience. And let’s be realistic, at just under 4.8 meters long, it also offers plenty of space for passengers.
In summary, it meets enough requirements for Audi enthusiasts who can’t quite reach the V6-powered S4, offering a sufficient amount of power from its turbocharged engine and confidence-inspiring grip from its quattro all-wheel-drive system.
The A4 45 TFSI quattro S line sits on the totem pole of the Audi A4 before reaching the full-fledged S4, which swaps the regular 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbo engine for a 3.0-liter turbocharged V6.
Before options, the A4 Sedan 45 TFSI quattro S line costs $70,800 before on-road costs, substantially less than the starting price of $101,500 for the S4. However, it still carries a considerable premium over the less powerful front-wheel-drive A4 35 TFSI S line.
Similar rivals include the pricier (but more powerful) BMW 330i M Sport, the soon-to-be-replaced Mercedes-Benz C300, and the Jaguar XE P300 R-Dynamic HSE.
The Audi A4 range retains a five-star ANCAP rating transferred from the 2015 test results, which included a 90% score for adult occupant protection and an 87% score for child occupant protection.
Both road user and safety assist categories recorded a 75% score.
Standard safety features in the A4 45 TFSI quattro S Line include eight airbags, attention assistance, autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian protection, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, lane departure warning, and lane-change assist.
Despite the inclusion of a plethora of active safety systems, the A4 45 TFSI quattro S Line misses out on standard adaptive cruise control with stop & go, traffic jam assist, active lane-keeping assist, parking assistance, collision avoidance assistance, and turn assist, which monitors oncoming traffic when making a right turn at low speeds.
For those, our test vehicle was equipped with the optional Assistance Plus package ($2,900), which also adds a head-up display and 360-degree cameras to the existing safety equipment suite.
As for interiors, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have significantly improved their offerings, and there’s the new kid on the block, Genesis, making it challenging to pick a winner.
Audi still does a good job, especially with its high-end variants. There’s still a fair amount of grey, but the quality of plastics, both hard and soft, is exemplary.
Audi has always excelled in the striated and glossy dashboard, with beautiful polished or brushed metal details complementing the soft-touch materials perfectly. While the A4 still has plenty of that, our test model also had a good amount of glossy black material on the center console, dashboard, and door trims.
There’s no denying it looks good, but it also shows fingerprints and stains fairly easily, as we all know.
The seats are exceptionally comfortable with enough bolstering to properly support your posture if you happen to find some lonely roads. The perfectly round leather steering wheel is refreshing, given that Audi was one of the first to introduce the flat-bottom variety, which doesn’t make much sense to me in street cars.
It’s hard to beat the 12.3-inch Virtual Cockpit driver display, an Audi trademark, for its responsiveness when changing layouts, but Mercedes-Benz car displays offer greater clarity and more vibrant colors these days.
The traditional rotary dial that was common in Audis is gone, only to be replaced by a relatively large and crisp touchscreen. To be honest, I’d like both because sometimes the screen can be challenging to use on the go. The dial is easier in those situations.
Audi also uses thick carpet for its floor mats, so driving barefoot can be quite pleasant when summer is approaching.
There’s plenty of storage space for keys, wallets, and mobile phones in the front, especially the console box, with a rubberized non-slip phone charging pad and additional space for small items.
We could only find two USB ports throughout the car, and they are located in the front (1 x USB-A, 1 x USB-C), while in the rear, we could only find a single 12V power outlet.
A4 passengers enjoy plenty of legroom, especially those in the rear. The trunk space is equally generous with 460L of space at the back, and a decently wide opening for easy loading.
However, you’ll have to weigh the cost/benefit when choosing the more practical A4 Avant, which boasts 495 liters of luggage space and the convenience of a hatch compared to the traditional trunk. It will cost you an additional $2,500, but it seems like a no-brainer for those with active lifestyles, like mountain bikers and surfers.
What’s under the hood?
The engine of the A4 TFSI 45 quattro is a turbocharged four-cylinder in-line petrol engine with a displacement of 2.0 liters, producing 183 kW of power between 5000 and 6500 rpm, and 370 Nm of torque from 1600 to 4500 rpm.
The power unit is paired with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission that sends power to all four wheels through the quattro all-wheel-drive system, an Audi trademark.
The top speed is limited to 250 km/h, and the 0-100 km/h sprint occurs in a claimed 5.8 seconds with premium 95 RON gasoline.
This latest version is also equipped with a relatively simple 12V mild-hybrid system, which can recover energy during coasting or braking. The system uses a lithium-ion battery to power auxiliary functions when the combustion engine is off, while the 12V belt-starter generator provides continuous starts and stops, as well as a bit more power.
How does the Audi A4 Sedan 45 TFSI quattro S line drive?
There’s something genuinely thrilling about this thing. Hit it, and apart from some very slight hesitations below 2000 rpm, it takes off with genuine enthusiasm as soon as the turbo kicks in and the quattro system channels all that power.
It’s not exactly the enthusiast’s choice (that’s the S4 or the RS4), but it’s satisfying to know that there’s plenty of punch in that right pedal to overtake the slow lane hogs or get you out of trouble during high-speed overtakes.
In the city, it’s a smooth-revving engine that pairs well with its dual-clutch gearbox, especially in Auto, although most of the time I found myself shifting the gear lever to manual while hitting the drive mode selection button into Dynamic for some pops and crackles on quick downshifts.
However, while there’s some smoothness in the engine note in the mid-range, higher up, and you get that not-so-pleasant roughness that afflicts many four-cylinder engines.
That lower stance of the standard sports suspension reduces the ride height by 20 mm and also gives the A4 excellent composure and body control in corners. When combined with its electromechanical steering, I found myself taking the long way home just to go through some winding stuff.
Ride comfort is also quite decent, given that it’s a fixed-speed damper setup, where Audi has made significant improvements in recent times.
The damping is no longer sharp and uncomfortable, but there’s excellent compliance built into the suspension that largely soaks up all kinds of bumps and broken roads.
Audi has struck a good balance between handling, chassis balance, and driving comfort in the A4 45 TFSI quattro, although to be fair, it leans a bit towards the sporty side (which is what I want).
It’s fun to drive and quite versatile when you consider the various driving modes on offer.
