After strings of teasers and spy shots, the new 2016 Audi A4 is finally ready to greet the world. Sporting an evolutionary design, the new A4 features a wider and lower singleframe grille, reshaped headlights and tailights, bolder shoulder lines and enlarged wheelhouses.
Officially unveiled in both sedan and wagon (or Avant in Audi speak) forms, the new A4 (B9) is up to 120kg lighter than the model it replaces, despite being 25mm longer and 16mm wider. Audi claims the body of the new A4 is one of the lightest in its class thanks to an intelligent material mix and lightweight construction.
The longer dimension liberates additional rear legroom in the cabin, which is now endowed with a redesigned dashboard featuring a broad band of air outlets and a large decorative surface. At night, optional discreet contour lighting illuminates the doors and the central console.
Audi’s virtual cockpit, a fully digital instrument, featuring a 12.3-inch LCD screen that displays the most important information in high-resolution graphics, will be available in the new A4.
The infotainment system in the centre console is also all-new. In its top-end form, the MMI Navigation plus with MMI touch and a large 8.3-inch monitor, has a touchpad in the rotary controller to zoom in and out and to enter characters. The entire MMI control logic is similar to that of a smartphone and includes an intelligent free-text search function. The new, more natural, voice-control system also understands input in normal everyday language, such as “I want to call Peter Miller.”
At launch, the new Audi A4 and A4 Avant will be available in a range of new petrol and diesel engines with increased output and lower fuel consumption:
- 1.4 TFSI four-cylinder turbo petrol: 110 kW and 250 Nm
- 2.0 TFSI four-cylinder turbo petrol: 140 kW and 320 Nm or 185 kW and 370 Nm
- 2.0 TDI four-cylinder turbo diesel: 110 kW and 320 Nm or 140 kW and 400 Nm
- 3.0 TDI V6 turbo diesel: 160 kW and 400 Nm or 200 kW and 600 Nm
Further down the track, a g-tron version will be launched which can use natural gas or the sustainably produced Audi e-gas as fuel.
The powertrain and the chassis of the new Audi A4 and A4 Avant have been completely redeveloped. The six-speed manual transmission, the seven-speed S tronic (now also available for front-wheel drive) and the eight-speed tiptronic have been redesigned; the automatic transmissions now offer a fuel-saving freewheeling function. Wheel-selective torque control supplements the work of the front-wheel drive and the quattro drive. For the most powerful TDI, Audi will offer the sport differential on the rear axle as an option.
The new Audi A4 will arrive in Australia in 2016. Model variants, engines, pricing and specification details will be announced closer to launch.