What if I told you that I know of a four-wheel-drive vehicle that has the ride of a luxury car, the handling of a German sports sedan, a gorgeous body, the fit and finish of a Brown-ing over-and-under, gets 27 mpg on the highway and can be yours for under $30,000?
Knowing all that would you still want to buy that big, ol' sport-utility vehicle you've been pining for?Yeah, OK, you probably would. The sport-ute mania of recent years has been building momentum like a runaway train, so I'm not about to throw myself on the tracks to try to stop it.
But I consider it my journalistic duty to at least remind you that cars continue to have significant advantages over trucks - which is essentially what most sport-utes are: Trucks in which people sit back where four yards of gravel or a half-dozen White Westinghouse refrigerators were intended to go.
As an alternative, I am going to offer up for your contemplation the 1996 Audi A4 equipped with the optional Quattro full-time four-wheel-drive system.
Audi was a pioneer years ago in offering 4WD in passenger cars, but the Audi Quattro Coupe of the '70s was priced in near-Porsche territory so it never really caught on. Today, the premium for having all four wheels doing the grinding is a reasonable $1,550.
Since Mom Nature cooperated nicely this week while I've been driving a new A4 Quattro, I can attest that it would be money well spent. The ability of the A4 to negotiate deep snow is nothing short of astonishing. I found myself seeking out for deep drifts, almost trying to get stuck. Never happened.
But the A4 is much more than just a bad-weather runabout. Even without the Quattro option, this new offering by the German carmaker gives those thinking about a BMW 325i, Mercedes-Benz C Class, Infiniti G20, Lexus ES-300 or other high-quality, sport sedans, another excellent model to check out.
The A4 is a beautiful piece of automotive sculpture. Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe told us that "form follows function," but I think a whole bunch of people
make their buy/no-buy decisions based on how a car looks sitting on the showroom floor. To my eye, the new A4 could go from the Audi dealership straight to the industrial collection of the New York Museum of Modern Art. Every time I parked my emerald green test car, I found myself looking back to admire it.
The A4 (The A is for Audi and the 4 is for the new midsize platform it's built upon) replaces the Audi 90 - and I do mean replaces. The A4 is nearly 2 inches wider than the 90, and the hoodline is an inch lower. That translates into a sleek, wedgelike profile that owes nothing to the more bulbous 90. I am particularly grateful to the designers at Ingolstadt for resisting the market pressure to bolt a "spoiler" onto the trunklid - a spurious, pseudo-racing affectation that I hope will soon go the way of vinyl tops, fender fins, "opera" windows and "continental kits" into design oblivion.
But if you agree with old Ludwig, then you'll be pleased to hear that the A4's function gives nothing away to its form.
The A4 power plant is a 2.8-liter, 172-horsepower, V-6 that pulls nicely through all five gears - my test car was equipped with a sweet-shifting, short-throw manual, but a four-speed automatic is available.
Like most European "road" cars, the Audi's strong suit is not its raw power off the line. At 0-60 mph in 9 seconds, it's no slug in the drag race derbies, but it's at its best when given a running start, say passing a triple-trailer truck on the freeway or zipping up over Parley's Summit taking full advantage of Utah's new and improved speed limit.
Although the engine sounds a nice racing note when pushed - a requirement for a "sports" sedan - the powertrain is exceedingly quiet under most driving conditions, a requirement for a "luxury" car. Audi does a perfect job of blending the two.
"Handling," the term used to describe how a car behaves itself when taking turns at speed, has always been a top priority of German car companies and is probably the single most important factor in their rising popularity beginning in the 1960s. The A4 adds to that heritage. Combined with superb ride quality - firm and supportive over bumps but not harsh - the overall driving experience is as good as it gets for the genre, price notwithstanding.
On the inside, the ergonomics are also state of the designer's - and engineer's - art, both in function as well as form. The walnut-trimmed dash houses an out-stand-ing eight-speaker Bose stereo system, including a trunk-mounted six-CD changer and a cassette player as well. The automatic climate control (with a pollen filter, no less) is a gem, and the heated leather seats warmed more than my heart on cold mornings.
Other amenities included an ingenious, hands-free cellular phone mounted in the center armrest, a sunroof, remote locking system, expandable ski storage sack that extends from the trunk into the rear seat, foldout cup holders and all of the usual power/convenience goodies you expect in a premium car.
But what makes the Audi different is how all those things blend together. The A4 is no pampering luxury barge. It is first a driver's car, for people who see a car as a sporting machine, not just an appliance to get them to the mall or the grocery store.
Weak points? I liked this car so much that I didn't notice any. However, I did hear a complaint about the tight quarters in the back seat from a passenger. The A4 is the new entry-level Audi and is a bit small for a four-door sedan. While there is plenty of room for those up front, the rear quarters are snug both in leg and head room. For kids, it's no problem, but grownups feel a bit squeezed. If you need more interior room, take a look at the Audi A6 sedan or wagon.
The base price of the A4 is $26,500, in my view a very good value when compared with its "near luxury" competitors such as the BMW 325 sedan (1995 base price $31,450); Mercedes' C280 ('95 base price $36,300); and Volvo's turbocharged 850 ('95 base price $31,045). The base price of the 1996 A4 is about $800 more than that of the 1995 Audi 90, but since some optional equipment is now standard, Audi says the price is actually 2.8 percent lower than a comparably equipped '95 Audi 90.
My test car had the Quattro package ($1,550), the all-weather package of heated front seats, windshield washer nozzles and driver door lock ($450); glass sunroof ($990); ski sack ($160); remote locking system ($190); and the Bose stereo system ($640). With destination charge of $475, total price was $30,955.
EPA fuel rating for the A4 is 19 mpg city and 27 mpg highway. With its generous 16.4 gallon tank, highway range is a lengthy 442 miles.