Back in the savage winter of 2010 and 2011,
I was a salesman at a BMW main dealer and I took a 2002 A4 2.0FSI in part
exchange against a 318Ci Coupé, some three years newer. The week after the
customer battled his way from Cardiff to Chesterfield to do the deal, I drove
the BMW down to a dealership in Cardiff to do the handover – the snow had all
but gone by then. Setting off from Cardiff at just after 12.00 pm, I drove the
A4 down to Seaton in Devon before heading all the way back up north, taking the
scenic route back through Somerset and finally the M5 and various other
motorways
2004
Audi A4
It was then that it struck me that this
second generation A4 was a really nice car, and I certainly bonded with it,
thinking that I would gladly buy one myself. Everything about it was right,
despite most cars having at least one annoying feature. the snow returned with
a vengeance shortly after, but even without the benefit of quattro assistance,
the front-drive A4, on a set of well treaded Continentals, became my ‘company
car’ for a month (much to the hilarity of my colleagues!) because anything BMW
and rear-drive was just useless. It was certainly a sad day when the A4 was
loaded onto a transporter and sent to auction, as I had formed a deep respect
for this solidly built and utterly competent car.
The
Audi B6 A4 dashboard
The original A4 had been a huge hit for
Audi, and the second generation was even better – I rate it as one of the best
used car buys around. The B6 Audi A4 began production in late 2000. Perfected
by Peter Schreyer, the B6’s styling had been finalised in 1997 and was heavily
influenced by the A6. Volkswagen and Audi love numbers: the B6 model A4 was
internally coded 8E, and was built on the all-new PL46 platform.
From its launch in December 2000, the new
A4 was available as a 1.6 until 2004 and a 1.8t, and the B6 engines were
broadly similar to what went before. A 136 PS normally-aspirated 2.0 was
introduced into the UK in December 2000, and was being sold alongside the last
of the previous B5 models. It was replaced by the 150 PS FSI version in July
2002.
V6 models were also available but, as with
the previous generation A4, they were always slow sellers. The 170 PS 2.4 and
220 PS 3.0 versions certainly had plenty of performance and the 3.0 was only
available as a quattro, while the 1.8, 2.0 and 2.4 were available with the
Multi tronic CVT auto box. Trim levels were SE, Sport and, from 2003, S line. The
quattro technology had improved somewhat, and the cars now featured the Bosch
ESP 5.7 Electronic Stability Programme (ESP) as well as Brake Assist and
Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD).
The
Audi B6 A4 features back seats
Of more interest to most buyers were the
diesels. Audi has done more to introduce diesels into the prestige market than
anyone else, and the 1.9 TDI had become something of a legend, now featuring PD
technology. This was introduced in December 2000 as a 130 PS model, but Audi
added lower-powered models later on, the 100 PS in May 2001, and the 115 PS in
April 2004. All three are great cars, and some prefer the lower- powered
versions which give slightly better fuel economy. Six-speed gearboxes were
fitted from June 2002 on the 130 PS cars and, from January 2002, a 130 PS
quattro version was launched in both SE and Sport trim levels.
December 2000 had seen the introduction of
the 2.5 TDI quattro with 180 PS and with six-ratio manual gearbox – possibly
the ultimate all-round A4. This was joined in 2001 by a 163 PS version.
