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Audi and Subaru have one thing in common: they're both
relatively upstart brands battling it out with the big boys: Mercedes &
BMW and Toyota & Nissan. Okay,
two: each has in its stable an understated compact car that packs a wallop:
the A4 and the Impreza. In
all-wheel-drive turbocharged form, this pair joins the best not just in their
class but also among all cars great and small.
The A4 was the first Audi of the modern (mid-90s) era
that made people sit up and take notice of the marque once again.
It didn't look as sporty as the 3-series, yet not as conservative as
the then C-class—the A4 opted to go for a classy, discreet look with taut,
compact lines. It worked, pulling
in a lot of Audi converts worldwide.
Recently, Audi has recently been touting its styling more than anything
else, and indeed they've already hit it big with the mid-size A6 and the
unfortunately-named TT coupe. Now they're set to hit a design home run with the A4.
The 2001 A4 is just as understatedly classy as before,
but with a good helping of styling cues borrowed from the A6.
The front retains the traditional Audi rectangular grille flanked by
trapezoidal headlamp protectors with round lenses underneath.
The clear headlamp protector sweeps into the side, where it meets the
vertical plane of the side doors: impressive!
If you’re the type who can appreciate abstract metal sculpture, you
can spend hours staring at the A4’s exterior details.
The roofline sweeps from nose to tail in a fluid arc, giving the 4-door
sedan a coupe appearance. The
rear quarter view is the best view of the car, with the upswept taillamps and
the flowing sequence of backlight-trunk-bumper.
Of course the only problem with this design is that we've seen it all
before. It is something of a pity
that Audi's designers couldn't come up with anything more original that a
shrunk-down A6, but then the A6 looks so good anyway that we can forgive them.
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| From the back, the new Audi A4 is
clearly a reduced A6. Is that so bad? Not so, since the A6 is great
looking thanks to its clean and uncluttered lines. However, for those
who are wanting a bit more of visual flare may have to look somewhere
else. |
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| The story is quite the same inside. The
new car promises high quality plastics and wood inside, but its clearly
an evolution rather than an revolution in design. It seems that Audi
designers didn't want to tamper with proven design and ergonomics. |
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