Michigan Internet Marketing Club: 2017 Audi A4 pumps up the technology quotient

2017 Audi A4 pumps up the technology quotient

Lots of everyday car owners used to aspire to the Audi A4 as their first entrée into a luxury car. But the latest model, on sale since 2009, has fallen behind competitors from Acura, BMW, Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz, and even its own baby brother, the A3.

Enter the 2017 A4, which Audi just revealed in European spec. The new car looks almost the same, with an updated grille, headlights, and taillights. It’s an inch longer and almost an inch wider, but the redesigned sedan weighs 265 pounds less. Shoppers will find the model-year changeover is most dramatic inside.

The new A4 has an entirely new dashboard, with air vents all the way across. They can heat or cool the cabin more quickly at lower fan speeds than conventional systems, Audi says. A4s also offer a new fully digital instrument panel, a new center infotainment display, and a new MMI controller, set in front of the shifter, with an integrated touch pad. Its natural language voice recognition can perform searches on the Internet, in the navigation system, and in your phone contacts and playlists. The MMI screen gets new logic that Audi says is simpler.

A new smartphone interface integrates Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with Audi’s MMI controller. Passengers can surf the web and get any data they want on their smartphones over the car’s 4G wireless connection, while drivers’ access is restricted to services needed for driving, such as Google Maps, playlists, and phone contacts. A “phone box” gives drivers a place to put their phone that includes Qi wireless charging. A portable tablet from Audi can be used as a flexible rear entertainment display.

A new top-of-the-line instrument cluster, which Audi calls the Virtual Cockpit, puts all the usual center-screen information right in front of the driver where the gauges usually go. You never even have to turn your head. This 12.3-inch screen in the instrument cluster can show everything from a Rand-McNally sized map of where you’re going, turn-by-turn directions, or playlists and contacts from your phone, all controlled from the steering wheel. The speedometer and tachometer appear as dials on the edges of the screen.

The interface also allows drivers to control the car remotely, to unlock the doors, for example, or activate the auxiliary heating system from a smartphone app when they’re away from the car.

The car will launch in the United States with a turbocharged, 2.0-liter gasoline-powered four-cylinder, followed by a 2.0-liter turbodiesel Four. The TFSI gasoline engine will use new valve timing technology to dramatically improve fuel economy by shortening the intake stroke. Audi claims this engine can get 40 mpg, presumably on the highway. Transmission choices will include a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic “S-tronic” and an eight-speed Tiptronic automatic. Front-wheel drive A4s will get the dual-clutch automatic in place of their old continuously variable unit. Both gearboxes will come with automatic stop-start to save gas at stoplights. And both have a new freewheeling feature that Audi says will save gas when coasting downhill. Even without a route planned, the transmissions will take topography into account when selecting gears.

This iteration finally brings the A4 a full suite of active safety equipment, including active cruise control, pre-collision braking, lane-keeping assist, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, and attention warning to jolt distracted or drowsy drivers to pay attention.

Lane-keeping assistance and active cruise control work up to 40 mph, and the active cruise control will start and stop the car automatically in traffic up to that speed. Exceed that threshold, or approach a turn tighter than the active steering can negotiate, and the car will warn you to retake control. If you don’t, it will bring the A4 to a complete stop in traffic. So pay attention!

Pre-collision warning will sound the alarm if you approach another car too fast; if you still don’t slow down it will jab the brakes to try to wake you up. If nothing else, that will get your passengers’ attention!

It also works with the car’s navigation system to warn you of upcoming obstacles, intersections, or speed limits where you may need to slow down. It will automatically apply the brakes at speeds up to 52 mph.

The blind-spot monitoring system will warn you of cars approaching fast from the rear, even if you’re parked on the side of the road, so you don’t open your door into them before climbing out.

Audi showed both sedan and wagon versions of the A4 for Europe. But since the company discontinued the A4 wagon in the United States in 2013, it seems unlikely they’ll bring it back here. What’s more likely is that this new A4 will spin off a new Allroad wagon for the U.S.

The 2017 A4 will make its way to the U.S. next spring. In the meantime, the A4 desperately needs some of these technical advances to catch up to its luxury competition.

—Eric Evarts