Audi A4 Review: Model | A4 | Car Buyers Guide

A Swatch is a watch but a Rolex is a lifestyle. Made with the greatest of care by people for whom watch making is an art, you can expect little change out of €5,000 for one of the most revered timepieces you can get. Or you could spend €100 and get something that tells the time just as well, with the added bonus that if you lose it you won’t feel like throwing yourself off something. It’s a conundrum that car buyers face all the time. Do I scrape my way into a German executive car with all the badges and bragging rights I could wish for or take the plunge and go mainstream with the benefits of more opulent levels of equipment in exchange for driving the same type of car half the country drives?

Imagine you have 40k to spend and you need a saloon. The Audi A4 2.0 TDI is an obvious choice. Newly launched, the A4 has A5-aping looks and the reflected prestige of Le Mans wins along with the cool-as-you-like image of the four rings and your budget will even get you the 143hp SE model. Or you could head down to your local Ford dealer where for your €40,000 the dealer will hurl more Mondeo at you than you can handle. A 2.2-litre four-cylinder diesel engine comes with a healthy 175hp and more toys than Santa’s grotto because this will be the Titanium X model.

Parked side by side, the Mondeo certainly has the edge over the Audi on size. It is the bigger car and it certainly looks it; the Ford is six inches longer and 2 inches wider. Size isn’t everything though, and it must be said that the cool contemporary look of the A4 would sit more comfortably than the chrome-laden Ford outside the Shelbourne. It’s not that the Ford is a bad-looking car but, when viewed from the front, there is quite a bit of heavy detailing on the grille of this upper spec model, which lends it a fussy look. Oddly, basic spec versions look better because they lack this Mk2 Granada Ghia detailing. The Ford makes more of an effort to carve out its own styling language than the previous, Passat-cogging version, which is a good thing. The Audi keeps fuss to a minimum. The carefully judged curve down the flank, the neat simplicity of the rear lights and the less striking use of Audi’s corporate grille suggest that the company is conscious of stealing sales from BMW customers taken aback by the relatively radical 3-series. Both are smart looking, contemporary cars, although neither really breaks any new ground.

It’s the same inside. Ford has worked hard to make sure its posher Mondeos work with the clarity of the basic versions and it shows. It’s a great interior too. Bags of space, great seats and a spot-on driving position. The feeling of well-being is enhanced by an attractive four-spoke wheel and carefully chosen materials. Even so, the Ford must doff its cap to the Audi. Rummage around inside the Ford long enough and you will find the odd rough edge and cheap-feeling bit of trim such as the fuse box cover or the glovebox lid. The Audi feels hewn from solid granite right down to the smallest details. The Audi’s dash is a model of clarity too and attractive to boot. It has a spacious front and rear, although the German car’s interior is less airy than the Mondeo’s and, while it feels like a solid quality product, it seems quite austere against the commendably opulent Ford. The boot is large in the Audi but it is shaded by the massive load area of the Mondeo, which is 55 litres larger.

Enough with the tyre kicking, how do they compare on the road? Well, here it is less clear cut because Ford has a reputation for making cars that are really nice to drive. It is a reputation that few other manufacturers, including Audi, can boast. The third-generation Mondeo might lack the nimbleness of its predecessor but it remains the driver’s choice amongst mainstream saloons and Opel’s Vectra replacement is going to have to be some machine to beat it. The 2.2-litre diesel engine is a cracker. The Mondeo is a big, heavy car and it needs quite a bit of power to pull it along effectively. No problems here because not only does the engine have 175hp but also a fairly massive 400Nm of torque. The result is a hot-hatch harassing 8.4 seconds to 100km/h and an impressive 224km/h top speed. Aside from the sheer power, the engine is a peach to use. At low speeds it pulls cleanly, revs smoothly and is never intrusive. The engine puts out 165g/km of CO2, so it is not especially dirty for the performance either, although it suffers against the Audi here. The A4 only puts out 139g/km of CO2, which makes it a Category B car with €150 a year in road tax, as against the Mondeo’s Category D rating and €430 a year road tax bill.

The Ford is blessed with a six-speed manual gearbox that would not feel out of place on a sports-car, with slickness and a precision that belies its humble, rep-mobile origins. Finally, Mondeo-man has an engine to exploit that chassis. When you bounce across one of Ireland’s more colourfully contoured roads,  the ride quality is sublime. The springs and dampers shrug off minor imperfections with ease and larger bumps are heard rather than felt. No untoward shocks are transmitted through the cabin. Throw this motorway hogger into a corner though and the steering comes alive. It is blessed with perfectly judged weight, great feel and precision. It rolls a bit (not much but more than the previous Mondeo and certainly more than the Audi), but it is fluid in its movements. The Mondeo feels ultimately less sporty now but the ability to entertain the driver is still there. It grips strongly, communicates constantly and takes sheer hooliganism to upset in corners. When the limit is reached it merely manifests itself as mild, controllable understeer. If there is a criticism to be had here, it is that the new Mondeo never sheds its weight like the old car and never really feels as fleet of foot either.

This is a criticism you could not levy at the Audi. Turn into a corner and it is only too willing to change direction. The steering feels almost alarmingly quick and it grips well too. On initial acquaintance it feels more consciously sporting than the Mondeo. The 143hp engine of the Audi lacks the Ford’s power. The Mondeo trounces it in a straight line; the Audi is a full second slower to 100km/h, and the 215km/h top speed, while quite respectable, trails the Ford by some margin. The ride quality on the A4 is also excellent, although perhaps more firmly damped and ultimately not as cosseting as its mainstream rival here. That said, it is splitting hairs; the A4 is not an uncomfortable car and I would even argue that it is quieter at motorway speeds and the firm seats are more supportive over long distances. It is more prone to understeer in cornering, but on the other hand it is less inclined towards body roll and it feels smaller and easier to drive at speed along tighter, twister roads. Audi has clearly been paying attention to what critics have said because the A4’s body control is first class and it shades the more comfort-orientated Ford in that regard. Like the Ford, the Audi has well judged great ratios and a slick shift action and, again like the Ford, it is controllable at the limits of adhesion. If there is one problem with the A4 dynamically, it is that the steering, while a marked improvement on the old A4, still lacks feel and never really lets the driver in on what the front wheels are actually doing. It’s a dreadful pity because the chassis is talented enough to worry, if not quite trump, the Ford.

The Ford is slightly cheaper and ultimately better equipped. In reality, it is mainly in the details though. The Ford’s Sony stereo is a CD-changer item, as opposed to the Audi’s single slot unit. Both cars have cruise control and the full complement of air bags and air conditioning, although again the Ford’s system is more sophisticated with two zones and rear outlets. Audis are no long scantily equipped, although the Ford feels plusher in the details.

You could be forgiven for thinking that this would have been an Audi walkover; a great executive saloon puts a hum-drum mass-market consumer durable in its place. Not so, but nor is it a victory for the common man either. The old Mondeo made the old A4 look like an overpriced irrelevance but the new A4 much more together now and, while the Mondeo is a fine car, a class leader, in Titanium X guise it is taking on a talented rival with prestige behind it. The Ford stands up to the challenge but the cleaner Audi is cheaper to run and less likely to lose money come resale time. It is a close run thing, but the Audi ultimately prevails.