Our drive in a pre-production version of the new Audi A4 suggests it can go toe-to-toe with BMW 3 Series, Mercedes C-Class and Jaguar XE We’ve been here before: not only does the new, fifth-generation Audi A4 look fairly similar to its predecessor, but the messages about the car coming out of Ingolstadt are familiar too.When the outgoing car was launched in 2008, Audi told us the new model was bigger, more dynamic, cleaner, more spacious inside and featured more technology than the version that it replaced.Our road test team was less convinced by the sum of those parts, awarding the car a 3.5-star rating, and bemoaning that it didn’t quite live up to the lofty claims of its maker. Mind you, that didn’t prevent the A4 from selling strongly around the globe and, to be fair, Audi improved the car in many key areas during its lifetime.Guess what? The new version is bigger (marginally) and the message coming out of Ingolstadt is that it is more dynamic, roomier, cleaner and more tech-laden than the outgoing car. So what makes Audi’s case more compelling this time around?Despite the external styling being similar, there have been some much more radical technical changes under the familiar skin, all of which have contributed to making the new A4 a more refined and sophisticated car. Read more about the changes here.The Audi A4 will make its first official appearance at September’s Frankfurt motor show and go on sale here in November, but Autocar had early access to drive pre-production versions in the Black Forest in Germany. from Autocar RSS Feed http://ift.tt/1MjIT5V
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