Audi S4 Avant: driven

23 April 2009

Fast in a straight line
Not so good in corners
On sale now at £35,570

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Price: £35,570
On sale: Now
You'll like: It's pretty quick…
You won't: …in a straight line

There you sit at the lights, derestriction sign just ahead – this seems like a pretty good time to be in an Audi S4 Avant.

Lights change, foot down, whoomph in the back – although perhaps not quite as hard as you might have expected – it somehow feels that a few of the 328 horses under the bonnet have wandered off. Still, you'll get up to speed indecently quickly, and the S4 is a reasonably refined companion, road noise excepted.

The problems arise at the first corner; the steering, although sharp, offers virtually no information about what kind of a fight the front tyres are putting up.

The nose certainly turns into corners quickly enough, but the rest of the body takes a second to decide how it's going to follow – so you feel like there's a slight delay before it leans over and the rear tyres grip properly.

Still, you get a stylish cabin and great seats (albeit with the A4's traditionally offset driving position), while the optional S tronic gearbox is smooth, responsive, and a great addition.

These aren't enough to make up for the disappointing road manners though – there were better cars to be in at those lights after all.