Precisely Audi

By ALASTAIR SLOANE Motoring editor

Will the new Audi A4 be as big a hit as the old one? The previous model scared the pants off BMW's 3-Series when it arrived in New Zealand late in 1995.

The 3-Series was the big seller in the luxury market and had been for some years. It liked its place in the world, sitting up high and contemptuously swatting away the odd pretender.

But the front-drive Audi A4 was tough stuff. It looked better than the rear-drive 3-Series and offered better value for money. The sales figures in Europe said so. So did the sales figures in New Zealand, soon after the A4 arrived.

Audi expected the A4 to give the 3-Series a fright. But it sold better than it predicted. It quickly notched up about 100 sales as 1995 came to an end.

That was just the beginning. The first couple of months of 1996 started as the last couple of months of 1995 had ended. Audi was on a winner. The A4 wasn't dynamically as sharp as the 3-Series but it outsold it for the next two years.

"The A4 put Audi on the map in New Zealand," says Audi New Zealand division manager Glynn Tulloch. "Without this car we would be nowhere,."

BMW bounced back with the all-new 3-Series in 1998 and regained the ground it had lost. It is again the bestselling luxury car in New Zealand. But the battle lines have been redrawn, this time with the all-new Mercedes-Benz C-Class in the mix.

The appearance of the 2001 Audi A4 in New Zealand is low-key compared with the fanfare of 1995.

The new car resembles the bigger A6. It is longer, wider, taller and has more interior room - head, shoulder and leg - than the outgoing model.

It comes with eight airbags, has a classy cabin, incredibly tight shutlines, a whole new ride refinement, lighter engine, sharper rack and pinion steering and much better handling, thanks in part to front and rear suspension revisions.

Audi, like all carmakers, is reducing the weight of components in a bid to improve fuel economy and boost performance. Some key technologies to achieve fuel gains include:

* Clutchless manual transmissions: 10 to 15 per cent.

* Lighter materials like aluminium and magnesium: 25 per cent.

* Stop-start engines, like Toyota's petrol/electric Prius: 15 to 25 per cent.

* Cylinder deactivation, or the shutting down of some cylinders while cruising: 15 to 20 per cent.

* Continuously Variable Transmissions: 20 per cent.

* Aerodynamics: 5 per cent.

* Reducing air turbulence around a car: 5 per cent.

Only one A4 is available at the moment, a four-cylinder 2-litre model costing $67,900 and equipped with what Audi calls its Multitronic gearbox.

Multitronic is basically a Continuously Variable Transmission, or CVT, with a manual shift function, like Tiptronic.

But Audi says its chain-driven system can handle engine torque of up to 300Nm, not previously possible with mass-produced CVT units.

The 2-litre Multitronic engine produces 96kW at 5700 rpm and 195Nm of torque at 3300 rpm. A brief drive backed up what Audi is saying: that it gives the driver a better sense of acceleration, unlike stepless conventional CVT systems. The car itself does everything with precision, although the engine hit on a coarse note higher in the rev range.

The 2-litre Multitronic A4 will be joined by three other models: the turbocharged four-cylinder 1.8-litre all-wheel-drive quattro, the six-cylinder 2.4-litre Multitronic, and the top-range six-cylinder 3-litre quattro.

The 1.8-litre quattro is expected soon, probably priced between $75,000 and $80,000. The 2.4-litre and 3-litre sedans are due in the first half of next year. Avant, or stationwagon, variants are expected about August 2002 and the high-performance S4 will arrive in 2003. Diesel models will also be available.

The 1.8-litre quattro New Zealand will get is considerably more powerful than the outgoing 110kW model, thanks to the use of an updated engine management system from Audi's performance arm MTM, which increases power to 138kw at 5700 rpm and torque to 305Nm at 3200 rpm.

The quattro test car at the A4 launch in Australia the other day used the 110kW engine. Despite the power loss, the model is a better drive than the one it replaces. It is lighter on its feet and doesn't run wide and sit down on its suspension as much under cornering.

Audi says it has tuned the suspension in the hustling all-wheel-drive quattro towards oversteer, to encourage a tighter line for enthusiastic drivers. The front-drive stays with less demanding understeer.

The new Audi falls into the small luxury segment of which the A4 has about 26 per cent. The Audi A6 has 25 per cent of the medium luxury market and the A8 about 6 per cent of the large segment.

Audi sees the A4 gaining further ground. "It has sold well throughout its six-year life cycle," said Tulloch, "and there is a strong growth curve ahead."

Tulloch bases his confidence on the A4 on much publicised figures: the overall new-car market in New Zealand in 2001 is down by about 10 per cent - but luxury sales are up by 10 per cent and increasing.

The trend follows a pattern. In 1998, Audi sold 338 cars. In 1999, it sold 453. Last year it sold 565. This year is expects to sell 600, and next year it aims for 700 sales. The old A4 accounted for most of those pre-2001 gains.