News & Reviews- Make: Audi

Audi's slick looking A4 hardly needed any improvements when it comes to design. Most critics still consider the outgoing model one of, if not the most stylish in its compact luxury D-segment, and as you can probably tell by looking around while out on the road, sales were still strong. Still, the German brand is currently undergoing a visual overhaul and therefore all models must comply, the new 2017 A4 sedan and A4 Allroad crossover sport wagon pulling many of their edgy new cues from last year's ultra-modern TT sports coupe and convertible.

The result is a thoroughly modernized A4 four-door featuring a bigger, broader, more sharply angled hexagonal grille, new scalloped headlamp clusters with standard HID projectors or as-tested rectangular LEDs surrounded by squared-off LED DRLs, a crisp lower front fascia with new corner vents, reshaped LED turn signal-infused mirror caps, a familiarly arcing rooftop, a nice upswept rear deck lid that no doubt aids the new model's unfathomably Read Full Story

Now this is my kind of ride. All the seating roominess and active-lifestyle cargo capacity of an SUV combined with the lower ride-height and better handling of a sport wagon, not to mention drop-dead gorgeous styling, the A4 Allroad has it all.

OK, Audi has raised its suspension beyond the regular A4 sedan and previous A4 Avant, this being an Allroad, which I might add was the name given to the coveted four-ringed brand's first crossover vehicle that entered the scene in '99 atop the larger A6 platform, a model that's still going strong in other markets, but the more compact D-segment A4 Allroad is better suited to Canada's small car appetite while its slightly taller ride height and four-wheel Quattro traction complements our colder climate ideally as well.

As you can probably tell the Allroad still sits lower than the Q5 that shares its MLB platform with the current A4 sedan and A4 Avant, the latter a five-door wagon that as mentioned is no longer available in our Read Full Story

The Q5 is mostly unchanged for 2016, but that certainly won't get in the way of this models popularity. It remains North America's most popular compact crossover SUV, not to mention the only four-ringed vehicle that leads its segment in sales.

That's right, the Q5's record-breaking 7,862 Canadian deliveries in calendar year 2014 beat Acura's RDX by 1,305 units, Mercedes' GLK by 2,263 sales, BMW's X3 by 2,643, Infiniti's QX50 by 5,965, and Volvo's XC60 by 6,320 (the Q5 also sold 6,156 more units than the Range Rover Evoque, but the stylish Brit is a smaller vehicle that competes more directly against the Audi Q3). It's been open season this year, however, as 2015 will be the first full year for a staggering number of new entries that have truly shaken up the compact luxury SUV market, including the Lexus NX, Lincoln MKC and Porsche Macan in order of popularity, the NX already ranked third for year-to-date 2015 sales as of October, ahead of the GLK and X3, the MKC in fifth and Read Full Story

The A6 has long been a personal favourite, even when Audi dubbed it 5000. Of course, that car wasn't an A6, but it was the genesis of this mid-size Quattro-infused four-door, and a critically important car for the four-ringed German brand.

That model was known as the 100 in other markets, an earlier version being the first car I ever bought with my own hard earned money. It was later renamed 100 here as well, the original turbocharged five-cylinder all-wheel drive S4 spinoff my personal favourite sport sedan of the era and a test drive I'll never forget, while the original Audi V8, based on the same 100 platform architecture, is probably the vehicle most responsible for pulling the Audi image up to the same premium stratosphere as fellow Teutonic brands BMW and Mercedes-Benz. The 100 line lasted until 1997 when it was replaced by the first A6, the Audi V8 melding into the A8, and so on.

Yes, I'm going way back. Fifty-plus years of indelibly stamped impressions will Read Full Story

Style is an Audi trademark, not that they can enforce it by law. We've witnessed others copy some of its design elements over the years and rather than fight back the German brand takes it in stride. Of course, buyers know the difference between an imitator and the real deal, and Audi has never been about aping the latest trend. They're an automaker that's made its mark with innovation, being the first premium brand to promote the merits of all-wheel drive en masse to the point where Quattro is a near household name. All other luxury brands have now followed Audi's AWD lead, while the Ingolstadt-based company was also one of the first to embrace turbocharged four-cylinder power, now another market mainstay.

On that note I suppose it could be said that Audi innovated the big grille era too. The A4's hexagonal singleframe grille is large for sure, but it's proportionally sized to this D-segment four-door fashion statement. S Line trim is standard kit, which means the grille gets Read Full Story