In the car market there is no prejudice. Car journalists don't immediately think a BMW will be good just because of the badge. But out of the car market, there are a few names, which stand out. Some good, some bad. Lada for instance isn't a good one. But a good name is Ferrari, BMW, Jaguar and Audi.

Audi are the newest of the 3 big German brands - BMW and Mercades-Benz - and it took them till the 90's to hit the big time. Sure the Quattro got them noticed in the 80's but as far as mainstream models went, it wasn't till the 'A' range was launched in 1995, that Audi was a household name. The A4 model hit the streets in 1995 and took the renowned BMW 3-Series to the cleaners and back. The A8 'all-aluminium' saloon came next, which was followed by the A6, 5-Series rival. The A3 hatch took on the Escort in 1997 too. In 2000 though, the TT coupe and Cabriolet made Audi huge and the clever little A2 helped that even more.

So imagine our surprise when we received the 1997 company car list. We all looked down the list. The Mondeo, (The car we had at that moment) the Vectra, the 406 and the S40 were all there but then at the bottom came a car we weren’t expecting. The Audi A4 1.6 Saloon.

This op is going to go through the ins and outs of the 1997 Audi A4 1.6 Saloon Small Executive...

How do you describe a brilliantly classy car? The A4 just emits class and opulence like a heater emits heat. The compact saloon body is smooth and all flows well together. From the front the understated but neatly designed front end makes the Mondeo seem quirky and the Vectra boring - well more than it already is! The well-moulded bumpers jut out of each end and give the A4 a curvaceous stance. The interior is also just a fabulous and simple design. The cluttered offerings from BMW and Ford cant match the A4's simplicity. Slide into the A4’s front seats and you’ll be faced with a great, solid fascia, which is very nice to touch, and it passes the Ollie ‘knock’ test. The reassuring black colours may seem dark but in the end it all adds to the A4’s strong nature.

ON THE ROAD * * * *

When we bought the Audi it was when prices were higher than they are. The Audi range is also rather renowned for it’s high prices and this £17,000 entry-level model is no exception. But kit wasn’t all that sparse, especially next to the more expensive bottom of the range Beemer. And the list is as follows…

As I just said, a few weeks later launched the better-equipped models, which included Passenger and side airbags, Air Conditioning and a CD player. On the Reliability front, the Audi rarely went wrong but there were a few snags along the way. For instance the Alarm failed when the car was broken into – only an empty briefcase was taken anyway – and the immobiliser failed, preventing the car to start for a week. Apart from that, the service at the garage was good – same can’t be said about our current car the VW Passat (read my last op).

VERSITILITY * * *

Having the Audi A4 as a car was a complete joy and we all loved having it sitting on our drive. It brought a little class to our everyday lives and my Dad loved it. However, in just 2 years we had to give it up because the company had dropped the Audi from the list. Instead we went for the Audi derivative the VW Passat estate – there’s an op about it somewhere! – and we love it nearly as much. We say nearly because it did have that 4-ringed badge. Now I’m being prejudice again and I shouldn’t. After all Skoda have made it back and rumour has it that Lada is to be launched into the UK once again in the next few years. It’s a great car and makes a great buy.