Audi A4 Avant review

You won’t have any trouble getting comfortable in the Audi A4’s front seats – even if you’re very tall. There’s loads of head- and legroom and plenty of seat adjustment as standard, including four-way lumbar adjustment to save your lower back on long journeys.

Electric seat adjustment costs extra depending on which model you pick, but it does come with a handy memory feature so you won’t have to fiddle around with the seat’s settings each time you lend your car to someone else.

Space in the back is very nearly as generous as up front. There’s enough room for a six-foot-tall passenger to stretch out behind an equally lanky driver and more headroom than in a 3 Series Touring or C-Class Estate – even in models fitted with the optional panoramic glass roof.

Your passengers will have plenty of space to tuck their feet under the front seats too, and the Audi A4’s wide cabin means there’s more shoulder room for three adults to sit side-by-side than in the C-Class or 3 Series. Okay, the central seat’s not quite as comfortable as the outer two but it’s still reasonably soft and there’s only a slight lump in the floor to get in the way of your middle passenger’s feet.

The wide rear door openings make it pretty easy to lift in a child seat and the Isofix anchor points come with clearly marked plastic caps – just be careful not to lose them. The Audi A4’s relatively low roof means you’ll have to duck down slightly to strap in a child but it’s no more difficult than in the BMW or Mercedes.

All the Audi A4’s door bins are big enough to hold a 1.5-litre bottle and there’s space for an equally large bottle in the glovebox. 

You get a pair of large cupholders in the centre console up by the dashboard and a roomy storage bin under the flip-up front armrest that’s perfect for hiding small valuables safely out of sight.

The Audi A4 Avant’s 505-litre boot is 10 litres larger than the 3 Series Touring’s and 15 litres bigger than in C-Class Estate. You probably won’t notice this difference unless you regularly fill your boot to the brim but the Audi’s slightly wider boot opening makes it a touch easier to load bulky items than in the BMW or Mercedes.

Unfortunately, there’s a slight lip in the boot and you can’t raise the Audi A4 Avant’s floor which can make loading very heavy items slightly tricky but you get plenty of handy tethering points, shopping hooks and storage nets to stop smaller items rolling around.

Annoyingly there’s nowhere to store the load cover when you’re not using it and the remote seat latches don’t actually drop the back seats down – you’ll have to lean in and give them a shove yourself.

On the subject of folding seats, the Audi A4 Avant’s back row flips down in a three-way (40:20:40) split as standard so you can carry up to three passengers and some very long luggage at once. If you need to carry even more you can fold all three back seats out of the way to open up a 1,510-litre boot. That’s identical to the C-Class Estate’s and 10 litres more than the 3 Series Touring can manage.

With the seats folded there’s no annoying step in the boot floor and it only ramps up slightly behind the front seats so it’s pretty easy to slide in a few heavy boxes. There’s even enough space to carry a large bike with both its wheels attached.

Bear in mind that, if maximum space is paramount, a Skoda Superb Estate feels a little less plush inside, but is far bigger than the A4, 3 Series or C-Class inside.