Move over SUVs: Time to look back
Audi’s newest A4 Allroad model is a fine-handling, refined station wagon by any other name
Investing, at least as espoused by value investors, is all about finding property “with prices that are unjustifiably low, based on their intrinsic worth.” For those of us not named Warren Buffett, what that means is finding something cheap before the rest of the rest of the world does. Anyone who bought Florida real estate in 2009 knows what I am talking about. So does anyone who had the foresight to buy Apple stock just before Steve Jobs came back.
The trick, of course, is to find some stock, service or product while it is still unpopular, and then have the temerity to bet heavily on its appreciation. It helps if you have a clue as to what the future portends and then wager that said inkling will become a full-on trend.
If I have channelled the Oracle of Omaha correctly, I think it might be time to start buying up Ford Country Squires. Yes, those big, square (in more ways than just the literal) mom-mobiles that were once so uncool. What’s the basis for this seemingly unlikely premonition? Audi’s new-for-2017 Allroad.
Here’s my theory: Where previous crossovers hinted at their station wagon-ness, they still retained at least a soupçon of sport utility brutishness. But the Allroad makes no such pretence. It isn’t just like a station wagon, it is a station wagon. Indeed, the Allroad is nothing but an Audi A4 Avant — sold as, and acknowledged to be, a station wagon everywhere it is distributed — with 23 millimetres more ground clearance and some semi-butch body cladding on the wheel arches. And, oh yes, some roof rails.
Now, here’s the kicker. By quite some margin, the new Allroad was the most interest-generating four-wheeler I’ve tested in the past couple of years, save for, of course, the occasional Ferrari or Lamborghini. Its popularity transcended demographics. My fellow motorcycle-riding geriatric, Chris, wants one. His ever-suffering wife even more. Ditto for the pimply-faced 23-year-old valet parker to whom I gave the keys, the not-quite-40 media agency mogul I took to a lunch meeting and even a few hipsters were fawning in their adulation. My theory is that the station wagon, long the most denigrated of motor vehicles, seems to be making a comeback.
The best part of this for one who is stylistically challenged — all I see is another station wagon, but who am I to judge fashion? — is that, with the new-found hipness of the shagging wagon comes attributes not available on SUVs. For instance, though it is powered by essentially the same engine and transmission, the Allroad boasts about 10 per cent better fuel economy than the heavier Audi Q5.
It’s also worth noting how notoriously corrupt are the NEDC driving cycle fuel economy estimates; in Europe, the Allroad is rated at 6.6 L/100 km. In Canada, the very same car is rated at 9.3 L/100 km.
Handling has none of the tippiness of higher SUVs, nor any of the super-stiff suspension that the sportier of sport-brutes use to compensate for their higher centres of gravity. The additional 23 millimetres — actually, 32 mm because the taller-profile tires add another nine — adds just enough ground clearance to plow through snowdrifts with greater ease than a typical sedan. And there are a few extra millimetres of suspension travel and an off-road notch on the Drive Mode selector so that, yes, you can verily claim a few extra offroad bona fides than a garden variety A4 Avant.
The rest of the time, the Allroad handles like, well, an Audi. Which is to say, not quite as well as older BMWs, but just as well as current Bimmers. I left the Drive Mode selector in Auto for the vast majority of my driving, the suspension and the new “ultra” version of Audi’s Quattro system way smarter than I could ever be.
As for the propulsion, the Allroad is powered by the latest iteration of Volkswagen’s 2.0-litre turbocharged in-line four, this time boasting 252 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque. Not only is this the best four-cylinder engine in the world, I rank it — along with BMW’s iconic in-line six — as the best internal combustion engine not sporting 12 pistons. Smooth, torquey and relatively frugal (if you don’t challenge the turbocharger too much), this 2.0-L turbo-four is simply the auto industry’s promise of downsizing without compromise made real. It’s a gem.
Inside, there’s more of Audi’s trademark interior goodness. The leather, stitching and fake chrome bits are all top notch. The seats are comfortable and, being a wagon — oops, crossover — there’s cargo space aplenty.
My one complaint is the infotainment system. No, not the dreaded endless submenu complaint — Audi’s MMI system isn’t bad in this regard — but the screen itself, namely that rather than the retracting screens of yore, it’s now affixed permanently like an added-on iPad to the centre of the dashboard. Mercedes-Benz started this trend in its entry-level cars because, well, they’re cheap.
Insiders at Audi tell me they followed suit because consumers prefer this system because it saves them about two seconds of waiting for connectivity when they fire up the car. Now, the adage about the consumer always being right still holds; if consumers are demanding connectivity without even a two-second delay, then automakers do indeed have to follow suit. That doesn’t, however, mean that said consumers aren’t stupid. Seriously, folks. If what you want is an infotainment that makes the inside of your car less attractive and sophisticated, then congratulations on your choice.
That said, none of those longing for the Allroad will care. It is — again in a huge surprise to me — the most coveted “normal” car I’ve driven in quite some time. I may not see the allure myself, but I know a hit when I see one.