The word 'Avant' is Audi lingo for 'station wagon.' When I received the brand new Audi RS4 Avant, I had a feeling this was a very practical estate car with luxury all around - great for executives who like to play golf after work. I was right, but also dead wrong. This car is so much more than a station wagon. In fact, calling it a station wagon is doing an injustice to the segment. So I'll call it Avant. The RS4 Avant is all-new after 12 years and the wait has been worth it. How? Let's find out.

Style

2014 Audi RS4 Avant Front Bumper

In style stakes, this is one of the hottest looking estate cars in the market. Audi has done whatever it could to make an estate car look sporty, which is not easy considering station wagons are, at least in the Gulf region, a throwback style of the 80s and 90s. The features that contribute to the sporty look of the Avant include:

Front honeycomb grille
Beefed up wheel arches
20-inch alloys (beating BMW M3 Coupe and Mercedes-Benz CLS AMG 18-inchers)

The headlights are Xenon plus and come with LED daytime running lights. The headlights also have adaptive range control for improved visibility. The rear features a distinct RS bumper, RS rear spoiler, and LED rear lights. And yes, there are aluminum roof rails too, for that added touch of practicality.

Interior

Audi RS4 Avant Interior

Interior Finishing

Our full options RS4 Avant came with a sporty interior comfortable enough for a family of four. The sporty seats are adjustable for long drives and are comfortable on road as well as track. It almost seems Audi has designed the interior in such a way that one could drop the kids off to school and hit the race track straight away. Finishing is top class as usual; especially the steering shape and stitch. The center console, the gearbox lever, and the instrument cluster all feel premium and look premium. iLike.

Interior Features and Options

Audi RS4 Avant Steering Wheel

It's not the number of features that impresses me, it's the intuitiveness of these features. For example, the steering wheel is the most ergonomic in its class. The design is such that the bottom is flat and the sides have grooves corresponding to the driver's fingers. The center console is simple, and the most important buttons are in the right places.

Radio
Navigation
Telephone
Menu
Going BACK to the menu

All these controls are neatly placed on the console, yet it doesn't feel cluttered. It's the small things that matter most. The devil, indeed is in the details, and it seems Audi went Satanic here!

Finally, there are practical daily drive conveniences that a lot of "commuter" cars will miss out but I find them in the new RS4 Avant. These include:

A rear armrest with a storage compartment big enough for a lunchbox
Rear AC controls
An automatic luggage door closing button
Fuel filling cap on the passenger side

All these things basically send out a message that despite all its sportiness, practicality has been given serious thought as well when it comes to the RS4 Avant.

On the flip side, I feel certain standard luxury appointments, such as adaptive cruise control, rear entertainment screens, and lane departure warning systems should be standard, not optional features. I say this because the RS4 Avant is priced at 319,000 AED and for this price, these features should be an inclusion. For example, we recently reviewed the Cadillac XTS V-Sport and all these features were present in that luxury cruiser, priced at 290,000 AED. Yes, the XTS is a totally bigger model, but the prices are similar!

Interior Space

Audi RS4 Avant Rear Leg Room

Front headroom and legroom are quite adequate for the most part. Rear legroom is good but might be less for taller passengers. Having said that, it's good enough for three adults and works well for long drives as well. The boot space is a healthy 490 liters with all seats upright. Just to put that in perspective, it's 40 liters more than my Toyota Camry, so it's quite practical indeed. Plus, the rear seats are foldable and the luggage compartment is flat, making more storage possible if required.

Safety Features

Most safety checkboxes are ticked here with:

Front and rear airbags
ISOFIX child seat anchors
A very effective blind spot warning system
Rear camera
Parking sensor
Anti-theft alarm

What's missing are features such as lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, and collision alert systems, which are quite common these days in luxury sedans.

Drive Performance

Audi RS4 Avant Side View

Power and Acceleration

It's the power that makes Avant more than just a practical estate car. It generates 450 HP in a naturally aspirated 4.2-liter V8, basically making mincemeat of most luxury estate cars on the road. Acceleration from 0 to 100 is a touch under 5 seconds. To put these stats in perspective, the Cadillac XTS V Sport I reviewed recently generates 440 HP and I found THAT fast. Now take the RS4 Avant, which is half the size of an XTS, put 450 HP in the engine and feel the difference. Throttle response is super quick; it literally takes off from its starting point and I was almost glad to wear seatbelts! It's a pocket rocket which doesn't stop its throttle even at 6,000 RPM. It was almost a spiritual experience.

Suspension and Handling

Audi Drive Select

What I loved about the RS4 Avant is not just raw power but the fact that I could adjust my drive experience in several ways. The Avant comes with Sport, Comfort, and Auto modes. There is an additional mode called Individual which is the best adjustment feature I have seen on any fast car. With Individual mode, it's possible to adjust suspension, gearbox, steering, and differential independently, giving me the best of what I want.

For me personally, I loved the Comfort Suspension combined with Dynamic Steering, Dynamic gearbox, and Auto adjustment on the differential. Even the exhaust note changes with drive modes. Switch to Comfort and it purrs like a little Nissan Tiida, go to Dynamic and it gives out loud growl belches, particularly when it shifts from high to low gear. The noise turned a lot of heads as no one expects a (gasp!) station wagon to growl like that!

With a lot of power in a small car, I expected stability to be an issue on sharp turns. In my experience bursting through roundabout turns, I found it to be very well balanced. Road grip is not only top-notch, it can be felt in sharp steering with excellent feedback. I could definitely feel high levels of connectivity with the road as the car pounded the highways. This is one reason why I preferred the Comfort Suspension more than Dynamic, as the Dynamic mode made me feel every bump on the road, which is okay for light runs but painful on fast bursts.

The electronically assisted power steering is precise, with noticeable adjustments when we switch from Comfort (light, nifty) to Dynamic (heavier, better response). There is slight body roll due to the elongated body shape but it's a minor niggle which is not felt unless the car is really turned at very high speeds.

Verdict

This is a much more competitively priced car than the BMW M3 Coupe, however, 290,000 AED for an estate car seems a high price tag. For me, the drive experience is way more superior compared to even larger sized luxury sedans. The all-wheel drive, the high power, and the adjustable modes all contribute to a very lively drive experience. This is a car for people who love the process of driving and want their car to give them lots of driving pleasure. In addition, it's practical enough for small families, although rear space is a bit less. All in all, it's definitely worth considering for drive aficionados who insist on nothing but the best.