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2006 Audi A4 2.0T Avant Road Test

Miles of Style

Sometimes a car just fits. Maybe you can see the one you want from a mile away, or maybe it comes as a complete surprise. Maybe you end up test driving all competitors and analyze all the factors before finding that perfect fit. Whichever way, there is always one car that just feels right.

For one person, it might be a compact sports coupe with good handling and a peppy little motor. For another, it might be an SUV with a commanding seating position and the perfect height to easily install that child safety seat in the back without having to contort your body awkwardly day in and day out. It could even be a modest little subcompact that zips in and out of traffic and can make any tiny space into a parking

Sometimes a car just fits, and Audis A4 Avant seemed as if it was made specifically for my body type. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

spot. To each his or her own.

As soon as I sat down inside the 2006 Audi A4 Avant, I got that feeling. Within seconds I had the seat adjusted for perfect support of my legs and back - I swear Audi must have used a dummy that was the same height and proportions as me when they designed their seats.

Within minutes I was on the road, driving away from VW headquarters,

The A4 Avant is so logically laid out I was barely conscious of the movements necessary to get the desired results out of the drivetrain. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

programming the radio and singing along with some of the latest hits, adjusting the climate control, barely conscious of the movements necessary to get the desired results out of the drivetrain, seamlessly moving along with traffic without any of the usual frenetic activity that accompanies the trip to work. Of course, it helps when its an automatic.
But its also the little things, like the font of the little

At night, all the little numbers on the LED screens and letters glow red on a black background, as do all the symbols for the climate control and stereo system. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

white numbers on the gauges, which happens to be one of my favorites (Im a graphic designer, so excuse the obsession with geeky design details). At night, all the little numbers on the LED screens and letters glow red on a black background, as do all the symbols for the climate control and stereo system (an optional Bose system is available for you brand snobs, but the standard 10-speaker system is good, very good) arranged in a logical linear fashion on the center stack, making

The A4 Avant that I was driving was motivated by Audis new 2.0T turbocharged powerplant with FSI. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

for a fabulous peripheral lightshow as I sped down the highway with the city lights streaking by.

And, boy, do those city lights streak by. The A4 Avant that I was driving was motivated by Audis new 2.0T turbocharged powerplant with FSI (Fuel Straight Injection), which means the spray of gasoline goes directly into the cylinder. Its an engine I drove to great effect in VWs latest Jetta. In the A4, the 2.0T makes the same 200-horsepower and 207 lb-ft of torque, but with Audis vastly superior wheel and tire package and sportier suspension calibration, the difference was almost everything

After a morning caught up in traffic, I kind of dreaded the fact that I would have to leave my throne of contentment for the chair, monitor and cubicle walls that are my daily cell. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

I could have asked for from the automotive gods.

Surprisingly there was no DSG, just Audis 6-speed automatic with Tiptronic manual shifting available. Its responsive to a degree, but I generally wasnt in the mood for any "do it yourself" shifting, so I kept it in the Sport setting most often, which delays upshifts to keep the revs higher in the range and works with braking by downshifting as youre rolling to a stop at an intersection. Unless you give me paddle shifters, Im usually content to exert whatever control I can through my right foot alone.

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