Audi A4 Avant 1.9 TDI > Reviews (10)

First impressions were of its awkwardness to get into without banging ones head on the door frame, but once inside the cabin is very good, though space for small bits and pieces is poor. After owning it for 4 years I'm well used to getting in and out. One niggle of cabin detail is the poor legibilty of the numbers on the main instruments on gloomy days, long before it gets dark enough to switch on any lights. Even on bright days the secondary KMh markings on the speedo are almost invisible, a real pain when driving outside the UK.

The diesel engine has bags of torque and never disappoints, though it can be a bit noisy. The gearbox is sometimes a bit notchy and the clutch a tad heavy: the one place where the clutch really has problems is if one ever needs to reverse back up a slope: I've only needed to do it twice in 4 years, but both times it was impossible to do without large clouds of very pungent white smoke.

The headlights aren't adequate for what is a fairly fast car: I didn't go for the (very expensive) xenon option, and the standard halogens are pathetic.

My main grouse about the car is its dire ride over the inadequate crumbling roads that are typical today - fine on a motorway, but in a typical potholey urban environment you jolt over every imperfection. The handling is poor too: very easliy deflected by road imperfections, very sensitive to cross-winds, I never have full confidence in it - even though grip is actually very good.

Load space isn't completely flat when you fold the seats down, nevertheless the overall space is pretty good - I've carried large fridges and other awkward items of furniture very readily.

Standard equipment is a bit sparse, particularly given the high basic purchase price.