Audi A4 review

Now the A4 has gone hybrid, its ownership costs are right down there with the best of ‘em. The 2.0-litre petrol 40 TFSI is good for 143g/km and 44.8mpg officially, while the base 30 TDI diesel with 134bhp gets emissions down to 124g/km, and over 60mpg combined. If you’re a high-miler, that’d be the model to wave at your fleet director.

Strong residual values mean Audi can offer a more healthy monthly repayment schedule than the Jaguar XE and Alfa Giulia model-for-model, and the much more generous new equipment levels really help Audi’s case here. In addition to the big screens as standard in front of the driver and in the middle of the cabin, you’ve got standard three-zone climate control (still with cool knurled knobs, hurrah!) heated front seats, and front and rear parking sensors with a reversing camera. That’s the base Technik model, but most UK buyers will steam past that and the Sport Edition model - which adds bigger seat bolsters, 18-inch alloys and LED interior lighting - and be tempted by S-line trim.

Lowered suspension and 19-inch wheels don’t do much for the A4’s comfort-led credentials, but in fairness the bad old days of S-line Audis riding like Fred Flintstone’s car driving down a flight of stairs are mercifully behind us. S-line A4s also get tinted glass and the finnicky LED lights with scrolling indicators, which may as well light up an ‘I’m better than you’ script every time the car makes a turn.