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My 2024 Audi A4 40 TFSI: Ownership review after driving for 3,700km

24th March 2025, 17:30 by R Patil

I was craving for a sedan ever since my BIL got Slavia in 2022. After multiple test drives over a week, A4 was finalised. Buying experience was butter smooth

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MY2024 Audi A4 40 TFSI
Variant - Premium Plus
Colour - Navarra Blue with Okapi Brown interiors
Purchased in November 2024
Total driven till date - 3700 Kms
Overall Mileage - 14.8 Kmpl
Fuel - 95 RON
Dealer- Audi Delhi South

Why Audi A4?

I was craving for a sedan ever since my BIL got Slavia in 2022. After driving SUV and C-SUV from past few years, driving a sedan felt different. Good different. Enjoyed driving the Slavia over various trips and made up my mind to get a ICE sedan in near future.

Initially set a 20L budget, liked the Virtus for its exterior looks and the Verna for it interiors and refinement. But there was a big compromise for me with interior quality of Virtus and exterior looks of the Verna. Plans to buy the sedan were halted since there is literally no D-segment or 30-lac rupee sedan out there and putting 60-70L on entry level premium sedans felt like a bad decision. I would have made up my mind anyway if regular 330i was still available. Also, liked the A4 since my teenage days as we used to see them frequently during 2010s around our campus. Fast forward to October 2024, read on Team-bhp about good discounts on BMW and Audi and paid both a visit.

Went to see the BMW 330i LWB first and yeah, I was right, 330i felt wider and longer to throw around in the tight city traffic, the GC is less and considering rear seat will mostly be empty, ruled it out and went straight to the Audi showroom and after multiple test drives over a week, A4 was finalised. Buying experience was butter smooth. Essentially, I wanted to replace my EcoSport with the new sedan, but I retained my Ecosport and use it for errands.

Initial impression for fence sitters.

Engine

2.0 TFSI with "just" 201hp and 320 Nm of torque may not be the most powerful in the segment, but it makes a strong case for itself. The engine is mounted longitudinally. NVH is fantastically controlled.

Delivers diesel like mileage even at 100 kmph. I constantly get 18+ KMPL on my long rides. 12+kmpl inside city.

Tractable, picks up cleanly from low rpms without any drama. The acceleration is linear. Doesn't feel stressed throughout the rev range. Sounds nice as the revs fly.

Gearbox

7 Speed DQ-381 Wet Clutch is a well calibrated unit. Compliments the engine very well by masking the turbo lag. Low speed city drives are breeze thanks to this.

Upshits quickly in 'D' mode with driving mode set on comfort. Best setting for urban usage. Shifts to fifth at 45 Kmph. 100 comes at 1.5K in 7th. "Airplane Style" gear lever design is classy. Shifts are electronic. Drops two gears when in a hurry for that quick overtake! Upshifts and Downshifts both are smooth and not felt at all.

Paddle shifters are available for manual mode. For our traffic and road conditions, I rarely use paddle shifters. But good to have nonetheless.

Suspension and Tyres

Audi has done some wizardry with the suspension setup on A4. It's a Five link independent setup all. Plush at low speeds, even on "no-roads". Rides nearly flat at high speeds. At low speeds it may feel like this car is very softly sprung but that's not the case. Overall, makes for a supremely comfortable ride both at front and backseat.

For enthusiastic driving, the suspension holds up well on corners, and car holds the line, with a hint of body roll. However, it's apparent that the suspension is tuned for "Comfort". The ride is very hushed at city speeds, I have started to appreciate the silence inside cabin by turning off the music.

Audi A4 comes with 17 inch wheels shod with 225/50 Hankook Ventus tyres from factory. I suppose they are soft compound tires and prone to punctures. Rear right has developed 1 puncture even before hitting 1k on ODO. There is minimal tire noise till 80 kmph. Grip is good on dry surface, yet to test them out on wet.

There is no spare tire! Hate this trend. Although I have used the spare only once in last 17 years, thanks to tubeless tires, but a major sidewall puncture can leave one stranded in middle of nowhere.

Steering

Feel nice to hold. Not the best steering out there. It weighs up well with speed but feels artificial. Not very engaging, especially due to car being FWD and front heavy. Both my Fords especially Endeavour has fantastic steering feedback.

Has physical buttons for music, multimedia screen and cruise control with limiter along with paddle shifters.

Headlights and Taillights -

Projector LEDs at the front with all-weather lights(cornering lamps). Fantastic illumination on DRY surface, cornering lamps can be switched on with a button and they stay illuminated. Also, can trigger with steering input as well.

Taillights are LEDs with sequential turn signals and include rear fog lamps.

Touch Screen And FATC

High resolutions 10.1" screen with Android Auto and Apple Carplay - both wired. The screen is responsive with haptic feedback. Both Android Auto and Apple carplay work well with high quality graphics.

FATC is 3 zone A/C unit with physical buttons. Surprisingly good cooling for a European car, let's see how it performs in peak summers. Low fan noise adds up to the premium experience. The high quality buttons are joy to use, that "click" is very satisfactory. Rear AC vents make a useful case for our extreme summers.

Interior space, Seats and Boot

Interiors are typical European affair, high quality with exceptional fit and finish. For a car that's nearly 4.8m long, the interior space isn't much to write home about, a six footer sitting behind another six footer will make things very tight. It is essentially a 4 seater due to massive central hump. Okapi brown shade doesn't make it feel roomy either. The Glove box is smallish and is not cooled.

12-way adjustable electric seats, lumbar support adjustment range is quite good. The seat compound is hard, however I develop pain in my right thigh after few hours of continuous driving which is new for me. Organ type A-pedal could have made things better. It's a low slung "sedan" and perhaps I am not used the seating position yet. That being said, the view from driver seat is quite good. Bonnet is visible.

Rear seats are fixed with 40-20-40 split. The recline angle could have been slightly better. The thigh support is adequate for adults under 5'10". Can access the trunk from the rear seats. There is a key-locking mechanism for the rear seats which I find a bit weird.

480L of boot space. It's a mediocre sized trunk which houses the battery(mild-hybrid) and tools underneath with neat arrangement. Has a puncture repair kit, inflator and safety jacket as well. It also has the removable net to hold loose items. The subwoofer mounted on the parcel tray may reduce practicality.

Safety

The car is rated 5 star by Euro NCAP and comes 8 airbags, ESC, TC, 3-point seatbelts, ISOFIX and Auto-door lock.

Few noteworthy remarks

All four windows are one touch up and down. Sunroof is decently sized. I am not a fan of sunroofs anyway.

10-speaker "Audi" music system has tight bass, may not cut it for audiophiles but will suffice for majority out there. Works well for me. On par with Endeavour's 10-speaker system.

The speed alarms are very irritating and hog the multimedia screen for few seconds.

No Wireless Android Auto and Apple Carplay is a bummer, since it also has wireless charging, you still end up using the cable.

Ambient lights are present on the doors, front cupholders and footwell in 30 colours.

Bonnet is very heavy and is supported by hydraulic struts.

Passive TPMS is a let down. My 12 lac Ecosport has the active one along with passive keyless entry. I believe passive keyless entry should be standard on a premium car.

Start-Stop system is ON by default. I always switch it off. Auto-hold is god sent.

MID has neat layout and is very easy to read. The analogue dials are a treat to look at.

Alloy wheels are plain-jane and boring. Plan to change them after 5 years. I want to keep things as stock as possible in the warranty period.

The car has very good underbody protection coupled with 165mm GC, it took care of my concern of driving a "sedan" on unknown roads. Now I take it everywhere.

My first choice was BMW 330i(discontinued), not the LWB, since I already have a large SUV, Audi A4 emerged as the next best premium yet compact option.

Slidable front armrest with wireless charger and storage underneath.

Didn't opt for Technology variant as the upgrade was mostly cosmetic, if it had ADAS, Ventilated Seats and 360 degree cam or any two, would have surely upgraded. I am not a fan of Virtual Cockpit. Less screens the better. Yes, 20L rupee sedans have more bells and whistles than A4.

Got extended warranty(5yrs), Audi logo puddle lamp(4 Nos) accessory, full tank 97 Octane fuel a sapling and a cake as complimentary.

Closing statement

Had multiple test drives over various road conditions before finalising the deal. Dealership wasn't pushy at any point, had a premium experience all throughout. I was part of the PDI and the tech guy explained the PDI process in detail, no complaints there. VFM factor was hard to beat post discounts.

Few pictures clicked from mobile phone, please excuse the quality