I’ve taken the time to clarify that I am an ardent Audi fan by previously posting articles about my love for Audi and everything that they represent.

Last year I purchased a 2007 Audi A4 and at the time, it was the most amazing car available for its price range and its class. Both its major competitors, BMW 3-Series and Mercedes C-Class, certainly didn’t make it easy though, but Audi has certainly raised the bar with their newest A4 offering!

The 2008 Audi A4 has just hit our streets as version 8 of the A4 and many of you have already seen the brilliant advert on TV, with the engineers building a car out of rope, if you haven’t heres it is:

The new car is outright sexy, with a line of 14 LED daytime running lights bracing each eyelash of the car, a much wider and longer stance gives it a sportier look, bigger wheel arches highlight the sportiness and a new refined all-in-one chromed grill smiles at you through your rear-view mirror as this beast of a car drives behind you with a graceful finesse only found in synchronized swimmers!

Considering the current South African economic climate, one would be quick to write-off the launch of the A4 during these times as a bad move on Audi’s part, but a quick glance at the pricing line of some of the models, it is no surprise that the German confidence/arrogance of launching the new model now is makes all the sense in the world.

The car is almost as big is the A6, clearly outsizing its predecessor. An increased feature list to include a lane migration warning system, LCD control centre that controls every setting in the car, button-type handbrake, variable distance cruise control that paces the car ahead and side radar systems to account for blind spots.

These prices are as found on a popular motoring website owned and managed by IOL.

PETROL ENGINES
1.8T FSI
Attraction (118kW) R269 000 – June 2008
Ambition (118kW) R285 000 – June 2008
Attraction a/t (118kW) R284 000 – June 2008
Ambition a/t (118kW) R300 000 – June 2008
2.0T FSI
Ambition (132kW) n/a – October 2008
Ambiente (155kW) n/a – October 2008
3.2 FSI
Ambiente quattro Tiptronic (195kW) TBC – August 2008

DIESEL ENGINES
2.0 TDI
Attraction (105kW) R289 000 – June 2008
Ambition (105kW) R305 000 – June 2008
Attraction a/t (105kW) R304 000 – June 2008
Ambition a/t (105kW) R320 000 – June 2008
Ambition (125kW) n/a – October 2008
3.0 TDI
Ambiente quattro Tiptronic (176kW) n/a – October 2008