The prospect of test driving Audi’s new generation car, A4 generated excitement for two reasons.
One, the A4 is a popular selling car from Audi India. And two, the test drive was in Bhubaneshwar, a city I had never visited before. So the traveller in me got all set and I packed and stuffed into my suitcase a little spirit of a wanderer, an explorer and kept larger space for the automobile enthusiast in me.
The city Bhubaneshwar was designed in 1946 by a German architect Otto Konigsberger. The German car manufacturer, Audi, took delight in stating the above and welcomed us, that evening, into the hotel.
Next day early morning we hit the road. I was careful to let out my interests. It is the ninth generation of A4 and is a 1.4 litre TFSI petrol engine car I learnt. From the outside, it looked quite like its predecessor. This one is a shade longer with a greater wheelbase. But, that was not quite noticeable. There is new design of headlamps and tail lamps. The matrix LED headlamps, offered in this one, is the new in thing from Audi. Also, this new A4 is around 95 kg lesser in weight than the older one which helps it to gain some quick pace despite lesser power.
It produces around 150hp and 250Nm of power which is a bit less from the outgoing model’s 170hp and 320Nm. However, the car didn’t let us down. We went full throttle on Highway No. 203 that connects Bhubaneswar-Puri and Konark. And, on those well-laid tracks I could talk with air and whiff past just anyone. A4 did dominate. It has speedometer and tachometer and offers clearer view of navigation, infotainment and car related info. There is the usual 7-inch screen and Audi’s MMI interface. The seven speed dual-clutch automatic transmission is a welcome change too from the earlier CVT. And, by now almost reaching up to the Konark Sun Temple to satisfy my spirit I noticed that the car delivers great fuel efficiency as well. The manufacturer claims of around 17.4 km/l which would be class leading. The new A4 brings smiles and satisfies the traveller’s spirit
