The Audi A4 Allroad takes on gales, sleet and snow

Audi’s AWD estate can do it all, writes Steven Chisholm

The luxurious and well-equipped Audi A4 Allroad is the complete package,

If all-weather ability is top of your wish list, but the current fashion for jacked-up SUV styling leaves you cold, then a rugged all-wheel drive estate - such as the Audi A4 Allroad could fit the bill.

With a couple of small, tasteful badges - including the all important ‘Quattro’ a chunky black plastic bodykit defending the paintwork around the wheel arches and an ever-so-slightly raised ride height the only outward indications that this A4 offers something different from the standard Avant, the Allroad represents a more subtle take on all-weather capability than stablemate the Q5.

And capable it is. After taking delivery of our test car immediately prior to Christmas, I was able to experience the latest Quattro system as Storm Barbara and, later, Connor battered the country. The latter did more to pick up the gauntlet laid down by the Audi and howling gales, sleet and snow conspired to make the drive from Blairgowrie to Fife as daunting as possible.

But despite low temperatures, standing water and some wicked crosswinds there was a notable absence of drama in the well-appointed cabin of the A4.

The Quattro AWD system did a phenomenal job of keeping the A4 composed through the winding S-bends of the A93 and did so so seamlessly that the most notable sensation was the complete lack of sensation.

Realising the speed at which I had taken one particular stretch - within the limit, but too fast for the conditions I wondered, firstly, why we weren’t in a field and, secondly, why I had not noticed how fast we had reached as we hit the corner.

The answer is hidden in Audi’s press literature. Not only is this latest Quattro system as capable as ever, but it employs a number of electronic tricks to ensure that the switch from two-wheel, to four-wheel drive is as seamless as possible.

Audi call it ‘predictive allwheel drive’ and say the sensor package built into the Allroad analyses driving dynamics, road condition and driver behaviour, ensuring the allwheel drive system is always ready when needed.

In practical terms, that means there is no tell-tale kick in the teeth as the AWD system corrects your course through the corner by adjusting the distribution of power across the wheels. That’s not because it doesn’t do that - it does - it’s because it redistributes the power before the tyres reach the limit of their grip, so you never know it’s happened at all.

Audi say the calculation is completed roughly 0.5 seconds in advance. If the wheel approaches the limit of grip to within a defined threshold, the all-wheel drive system is activated.

With 268bhp at its disposal, thanks to the 3.0 TDI V6 engine, the Allroad has power in spades. Nought to 62mph takes just 5.5 seconds and the car tops out at 155mph.

All that power is instantly available at any speed and VW Group’s eight-speed S tronic gearbox is quick and smooth changing in either direction in both automatic mode or controlled via the steering wheelmounted paddle shifts.

The interior styling is as robust and luxurious as one would expect in a high-specced Audi, but our test car came vajazzled with ‘Aluminium Trimaran’ inlays which, rather pointlessly for a press car, aren’t available in the UK.

The sports seats - an £850 option - also aren’t normally available in the model tested. As it happened, my only complaints about the A4 were the seats (leather, but with no heating) and the aforementioned Aluminium inlays (a bit Laserquest), so neither feature is a great loss in my view.

So what else is not to like about this fantastic-driving, practical, fast, safe go-anywhere car? Well, it costs a fair whack for a start. Our test car came in at a whopping £56,763 when you factor in all the options.

There’s even a silver lining there though. Without the options, you can have this Allroad from £38,815. As the new VED tax bands are based on list price, that puts the Allroad more than a thousand pounds shy of the £40,000 threshold that will punish owners of premium cars to the tune of an additional £310 per year for the first five years from new.

Come April this year anyone considering the Allroad will only have to worry about an extra £40 premium over four years. And, if you can afford it, the Allroad is well worth considering.