First Drive Review
“Hey,” you ask between bites of sympathetically foraged nettle burger, “isn’t this Audi thing just, like, a more-expensive version of my Subaru Outback?” Well, yeah, sorta.
Like the Subaru, this Audi is based on a no-longer-sold-in-the-U.S. station wagon (the Legacy five-door and the dead-for-2013 A4 Avant, respectively.) Like the Subaru, the Allroad is jacked up and plastic-plated. And like the Subaru, it’s mainly an advertisement for how green and holistic your lifestyle is.
Audi freely admits the Allroad is not intended for off-road use. It has no available low-range gearing or height-adjustable suspension, as did the first Allroad, which was based on the A6. It doesn’t have hill-descent control or a freaking winch or a tranquilizer gun or anything. What it does have are stainless-steel skid plates that would look pretty shitty if they got scratched up.
But in contrast to Subaru’s Montpelier shuttle bus, this Audi is a far more luxurious and better-fettled machine, like its A4 Avant forebear. The cabin is as well turned out as you’d expect, a veritable festival of high-buck materials screwed together with the precision of, well, an Audi. Leather upholstery is standard, as is trim supposedly woven from individual strips of stainless steel. Upgrade linings include open-pore matte walnut and layered oak.
The Allroad plies paved roads and gravel driveways at the behest of Audi’s 2.0-liter turbocharged four. With the engine frothing up 211 hp and spinning all four wheels through an eight-speed automatic, acceleration doesn’t exhilarate. Instead, the going is peaceful and easy, like the feeling target buyers get from their favorite band. That said, with all 258 lb-ft of torque available from 1500 rpm, off-the-line grunt is decent, and we predict a fairly quick 0-to-60 run of 6.3 seconds. That’s the same as for the last A4 Avant we tested, which had a six-speed auto. Weight should hold at about 3900 pounds. (It wouldn’t help top-end acceleration, but we’re thinking the 170-hp version of the VW Group’s 2.0-liter diesel would suit the car; look for compression ignition in a next-gen Allroad, if we get a next-gen Allroad.)
Handling is very competent, albeit a few notches below sporty. Compared with the A4 Avant, the Allroad—0.7 inch longer, 1.5 inches taller, slightly wider tracks, and 7.1 inches of ground clearance—leans more heavily on its outside front wheel during cornering, and there’s more body roll. The steering is light and fairly tactile, but it’s now electrically boosted and a bit more distant than before. The ride is firm but not punishing over mostly smooth roads like those we drove in Colorado, but the 18-inch rolling stock feels heavy, and we wonder if it might clomp over the craggier surfaces near our Michigan base. There are optional 19-inch wheels with available summer rubber.
