Tuesday, January 3, 2012

First Drive: 2013 Audi A4

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No Mid-Life Crisis Here

2013 Audi A4

We have no intention of inviting vehement vehicular debates, but they always seem to pop up when discussing this segment of the market. That's a good thing, because getting no reaction at all would be terrible when talking about cars that are so vital to driving enthusiasts. Our topic of the day is this refreshed eighth-generation Audi A4, and while few changes are readily apparent, any packet of modifications to these bread-and-butter premium cars is worth investigating.

It's been one heck of a year for the entry-level German executive class. Besides the addition of C63 trims and a coupe bodystyle to the fourth-generation Mercedes C-Class and the all-important launch of the sixth-generation BMW 3 Series, we've just driven the latest Audi A4 2.0 TFSI up, down and over various scenic Portuguese roads, and now more than ever, it is not to be ignored.

The 2013 A4 Allroad Quattro will arrive in mid-2012 at the same time as this revamped A4, and having driven the thing, we can now say that all the mid-cycle touches have been nicely presented. While we were already big fans of the eighth-gen A4, the model's reworked nose is handsome. Specifically, we note the more pronounced curvature to the hood, as well as a more planted stance. That's a bit of visual trickery, not a wider track - Audi stylists have emphasized the design's horizontal lines up front, and they've added new head- and fog-light fixtures, along with larger air intakes down low. It appears that Audi has deliberately "nastied up" the sensible A4 a little to better prepare it for the new RS4 range-topper we expect next year. (That is if the rumors of there being no RS4 this time around are just rumors.)

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2013 Audi A4 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2012/01/03/2013-audi-a4-first-drive-review/

Brian Hart Gene Hartley Masahiro Hasemi Naoki Hattori Paul Hawkins

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