Power and style traditionally trickle down from a manufacturer’s top models to their more cost-effective ones. Since technology is the new power (and safety is the new style), Audi upgraded the 2017 A4 with all of the near-autonomous protection introduced on the Q7 SUV and added enough technology to run a home office, all without taking your hands off the wheel or your eyes off the road. Of course, the traditional power and style are there too; they just take a back seat to what most buyers really care about.

Let’s be clear:We're’re not saying the new, ninth-generation A4 is uncrashable. But with 21 driver-assistance systems including lane assist, adaptive cruise control with stop and go traffic assist, rear cross traffic alert, turn assist that’ll stop you from accidentally turning into traffic and exit assist, which alerts you if you’re about to open your door into traffic, it’s everything but.

On the technology side, the A4 gets the company’s new Virtual Cockpit with a 12.3-inch gauge screen, which uses Google Earth to provide the maps, terrain and upcoming traffic and navigation info. The A4 also comes with Audi connect, which packages together all the applications that connect the A4 to the Internet like weather info, Siri Eyes Free, and automatic crash notification, as well as Android Auto and Apple Car Play.

We’re not going to call it nerd heaven, but if intelligence is the new cool, the A4 is Steve McQueen.

Power is up significantly from 2016. The old A4 made do with 220 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque from its turbocharged 2.0-liter four. The new model lands with 252 hp at 5,600 rpm and 273 lb-ft at 1,600-4,500 rpm from an upgraded version of the same powerplant. Those specs eclipse the base power in both the new C-Class and BMW 3-Series, though the Audi doesn't offer an uplevel six-cylinder engine. A seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch transmission sends power to the front or all four wheels in quattro versions, which comprise the lion’s share of A4s sold.

A new five-link front suspension allows for greater steering precision, Audi says, as does moving the steering rack placement to the wheel centers. Audi also reduced unsprung weight by making more suspension parts out of aluminum. Overall the company saved 66 pounds on quattro models and 99 pounds on FWD models. There are three options for suspension including the standard setup, the adaptive continuously damping option that lowers the car about half an inch, and fixed sport suspension that drops the car almost an inch.

How does it drive?

Stomping the mid-weighted gas pedal from a stop blasts the A4 away from a green light for about 3 seconds before the first near-seamless shift -- either from the paddles or the computer -- followed by a whoosh from the turbo. We’re glad Audi didn’t tune that out or cover it up. Same with the growl -- when you’re really in the throttle, the higher revs sound good. Maybe not as good as a straight-six, but this isn’t a little sewing machine engine either. The company says the A4 can hit 60 mph in 5.7 seconds from a stop, and we have no reason to doubt it. The torque split usually runs at 40/60 front to rear, throwing up to 85 percent of the power to the back if necessary. We never see the traction control light, even when we overpush it into corners in the California grades. It runs out of breath at 130 mph, Audi says, which seems easily reachable even in the thin mountain air.

The seven-speed DCT works well most of the time, but it has the usual lurches when parking and sometimes when getting back on the gas after a significant slowdown. Still, we’ll take this and its advantages over a standard torque converter automatic.

Braking comes easy with 13.3-inch vented discs with four-piston calipers in front and 13-inch discs with single-piston calipers in back. Only a few inches of pedal travel bring the car to halt, with minimal dive from the standard suspension. We get in both the standard and Continuously Damping Control cars and find even the basic setup stiff enough for spirited driving. On the CDC cars, the comfort setting really smooths things out, absorbing all but the biggest potholes. It almost borders on floaty. Dynamic firms things up well past the standard suspension, but it never becomes punishing.

Audi uses torque vectoring to tune out almost all understeer and, as far as legal speeds on publics roads tell us, it succeeded. Steering, like we said, is adaptable but even in the heaviest settings, there isn’t a ton of “feel” except when really throwing it into corners. But, if you’re going to get it somewhere, at the limit is where the feel needs to be. It would be fun to get this car out in a full blizzard to really see what the quattro system can do.

From the driver’s seat, the A4 offers a nice, low driving position and good visibility all around if you bump it up an inch. The heated leather perch is just soft enough to keep us planted all day without complaint. Most of the central MMI functions have redundant controls on the steering wheel, including all navigation, radio and hands-free speaking options. Like the Q7, the A4 has a chunky gearshift for resting your wrist, which puts the shortcut button's rotary dial within your finger’s reach. The cupholders are conveniently out of the way ahead of the buttons and dial, as opposed to sitting aft of the gear selector, blocking the space usually reserved for an elbow.

Do I want it?

The 2017 A4 quattro starts at $40,350, including $950 in destination charges. The front-wheel-drive model cuts $2,100 off that. Stepping up to the Premium Plus trim will cost $3,800. For that you get bigger wheels, the Bang and Olufsen sound system, heated seats, LED lights and the S line package, which adds cool visual cues like the bigger front intakes and honeycomb rear accents. The Prestige trim, another $4,800, adds the full-color head-up display, the interior lighting package, top view camera and the Tech package including the Virtual Cockpit, navigation and extra safety features.

For comparison, you can’t get past the Audi’s 252 hp without stepping up to the new BMW 340i, which starts at $46,795. Over in Mercedes-land the C450 AMG takes you to 362 hp, but that’ll set you back more than 50K. The base C-Class now has 241 hp, by the way. The A4 doesn’t have quite the luxurious feel inside the C-Class does, and you can’t have quite as much tail-out fun as with the 3-Series. What the A4 does instead is perfectly straddle the line for an enthusiast/luxury customer. And if horsepower numbers and curb weights don’t turn you on (what are you doing here?), the nerdy technology should. AND since nerdy is the new cool, you’ll be Steve McQueen, or maybe Steve Jobs, or whoever the kids think is cool these days.

In the mid-1990s, Audi first introduced an "RS" nomenclature vehicle. Developed together with Porsche, the 315-horsepower RS 2 Avant was a wagon-shaped ballistic missile with its five-pot turbo engine. As a follow-up five years later, Audi had to up the cylinder count to a V6 when it produced the RS4 Avant out of the B5 A4 generation. With a biturbo engine, the horsepower count rose to 375, which was an incredible number for a production wagon in the late '90s.

There have been RS4 models built since, including the naturally aspirated, V8-engined B7 generation from 2006-2008, but slightly mental turbo monster power has always been the RS4's true calling. In Frankfurt today, Audi introduced the latest addition to the bloodline — with 450 horsepower. Knowingly, the manufacturer chose a vivid blue for the new model's introductory color, harking back to nearly 20 years ago when the first RS4 was introduced; some details have been designed with the 90 IMSA GTOquattro in mind, according to Audi.



The new car's impressive power figure is achieved by a 2.9 TFSI V6 biturbo engine, with peak torque of 442 pound feet, available from 1,900 rpm to 5,000. 62 mph is hit in just 4.1 seconds; initially, the top speed is limited to 155 mph. If you're the kind of Autobahn-storming customer who cannot settle for that, an optional RS Dynamic package is available, increasing the top speed to 174 mph. But it's not all about more and more — the new model is 176 pounds lighter than the outgoing RS4 Avant, and it's 17 percent more fuel efficient, averaging 26.7 mpg.

In addition to the stock quattro all-wheel-drive setup, Audi also offers an optional sport rear differential. The transmission is a "sportily configured" eight-speed Tiptronic automatic.

What sort of fast Audi have we got here?
The all-new RS4 Avant – the quintessential all-weather, all-occasion, all-the-pace, posh, small-ish estate car.

No, I mean which fast Audi stereotype is this? One of the surprisingly brilliant ones, or one of the disappointingly aloof ones?
I’ll come back to that, promise. But if you’re arriving on the page not expecting rapturous praise, that’s fair enough. The last RS4 was a frustrating experience: blessed with a razor sharp V8 engine, cursed by a rock-hard ride, and pretty one-dimensional as a result. The new one no longer has a naturally-aspirated, 8,000rpm V8, because it’s basically the new bi-turbo V6 RS5 Coupe with a rucksack on. And that’s about as divisive as fast Audis have got lately.

Don’t the RS5’s specs suit what we want from a small super-estate, though?
Exactly. This is where the new RS4 starts to ripen. A four-door estate car with a 505-litre boot is obviously a lot more likely to be transporting valuables and irreplaceables – lifestyle equipment, pets, children – than a sleek two-door coupe. So it’s going to be used in workaday scenarios, and have to excel in a different skillset. In a coupe, you want some exuberance, some fizz, as a reward for buying the serious drivers’ car. The RS5 misses that by acres. In an estate, lots of foolproof traction, stability and easy-access performance are higher up the wishlist.

The RS4’s drivetrain is bang on the money here. The 2.9-litre bi-turbo V6 develops not one more horsepower than the old V8, delivering 444bhp. It’s all about torque though, the RS4. The quantity (443lb ft, up from 317lb ft) and the availability (er, permanent). In fact, you never even need use the full 1,900rpm-5,000rpm band of punch. Honestly, short-shifting at 4,000rpm keeps the RS4 pummeling along at a phenomenal rate, and keeps the V6 in the woofliest sound sweet spot.

Noise can’t be a patch on the V8 though, right?
Right. What else is? The RS4’s burble reverberates harder through the estate bodyshell echochamber than it does in the restrained RS5, at least. But it’s lacking the crispness of the (saloon-only) Alfa Giulia Quadrifoglio’s bi-turbo V6, and nothing else for this size and £60k gives an AMG C63 singing lessons.

Audi Sport says that’s because its recent newcomers (RS4, RS5, RS3 facelift) already meet an upcoming EU noise regulation that’s clamping down on cheeky valved exhausts. Apparently, AMG, Alfa and BMW will have to calm down their rivals within a few years too, so Audi’s simply getting a dull job done ahead of time.

Still, nothing wrong with a subtle super-estate.
Quite. This generation of RS4 wears its poker face smugly. Yes, you get square-topped wheelarches for a stance the flabby RS5 can only dream of, but it’s an under-the-radar overall shape, especially if you spec the various grilles and skirts in gloss black (or carbon weave, as part of the fully kitted out Carbon Edition on the gorgeous, 8kg-saving machined wheels). That’ll set you back £71,625.

A standard 1,715kg RS4 is £62,025 (or a grand cheaper if you order by the end of 2017), popped competitively between the AMG C63 and C63 S. And that’s your lot, so far as rivals go. Two-horse race.

But if you’re talking spec, it’s what you can’t see that’ll really change how your RS4 behaves.

Why? Is this a German options list moan?
Not a moan, but the RS4’s an option-dependent bit of kit. Procurement of extras is a tightrope that makes or ruins it.

You get the sport differential that’ll shuffle torque between the rear wheels and vary the standard 40:60 drive split as standard, but multi-speed Dynamic Steering (boo), Dynamic Ride Control (hmm) and a Sport Exhaust (yay) are all optional.

As usual, the best compliment about Dynamic Steering is to stop noticing it’s on board. It’s miles improved versus the early versions in, say, the S8 Plus, but does the RS4 have sublime steering? No. It likes being poured into corners with a mild trailbrake, settled steady-state, awaiting a two-footed jump onto the throttle. And bye-bye C63.

Yeah, this is a fast car. Claims of 0-62mph in 4.1sec and top speeds of 155mph or 174mph depending on the boxes you tick and money spent don’t do it justice, as ever. Partly because they’re blatant lies, obviously. We clocked an RS5 from 0-60mph in 3.2 seconds in the UK. How crackers is that? And the RS4’s extra weight over the rear should aid a cleaner getaway…

The old V8-powered RS4 cracked 0-62mph in 4.7 seconds, by the way. It was rapid. The new car is a rocketsled.

Point-to-point, it’s a teleportation pod with ambient lighting and diamond-stitching, and though you’ll occasionally catch it napping off-boost on part-throttle mid-corner, there’s no doubt it’s the quickest, most effective wagon for this money. It demolishes the old V8 on pace and a C63 can’t deal with the purchase the ruthless RS4 claws from the surface. But the C63 driver will have more inappropriate, antisocial, ineffcient fun…

It’s the DRC suspension that’s going to be the tricky one to decipher, I reckon.

Why’s that? It says ‘Dynamic’ in the title. That’s Audi shorthand for ‘buy me’…
Similar to a McLaren Super Series car, DRC adds three-mode dampers to the RS4, which are then diagonally linked with hydraulic fluid. Accelerate hard and it pumps up the rear to stop the car rearing up like a startled racehorse. Jump on the carbon-ceramic brakes and it keeps that V6-laden nose off the deck.

Change direction like you’re avoiding missile lock and each side gains instant support to stay level (handy when the massaging seats lack some torso support) and it’ll work the tyres as effectively as Newtonian laws allow.

Result? First off, the RS4 is superb at going slowly. It’s so agreeable at town speed. It mooches pleasantly in Comfort mode. The Real Housewives of South-East London will be delighted.

Go a little quicker and it softens the edges off nasty roads. The ride is busy in Dynamic mode, so you just opt back into long-travel Comfort. Body control is ace, and you have to attack a gnarly mid-corner compression before the RS4 thinks about dropping its composure. An RS5 with a loft conversion shouldn’t be anything like this accurate.

Why do I feel like there’s a ‘but’ hurtling in my immediate direction?
Because this would traditionally be the point where the fast Audi falls apart for having the handling depth of a Scalextric car. But (there it is), after fifteen minutes of pasting an RS4 up some very senior Spanish hillside roads, I was awash with an uneasy feeling that the car was much more preferable to the RS5. Problem is, I couldn’t put my finger on why. More driving needed. And lots of mode-swapping.

What you have to do is learn to trust the slightly uncanny abilities of the DRC, erasing the old-school body roll and pitch movements that betray a car’s close to its ragged edge. The RS4 is mega composed, but much better balanced than the RS5. Less nose-heavy. More all-wheel drive, really, like it’s working all four tyres equally.

Sounds unusual for a fast Audi…
Maybe it’s the taller, heavier body shifting the weight bias. Maybe it makes improvements to the stock A4 more oblique than the RS5 does to the A5. Audi says it’s improved the DRC system since RS5 too, but it’s got the same hardware, so it can only be a software map to thank.

Either way, once you’ve got the car flowing down a twisty road, it’s bloody impressive. It’s not nape-prickling or scintillating, but if you live for estate cars that marmalise tyres on the front page of Instagram, you want a C63 anyway. The RS4 thrives on usability, like a big hot hatch. It’s a step on from the old V8, as a tool.

The RS4 does all the standard Audi traction-weapon tricks, but with proper agility. Unlike the RS5, you can feel it’s 80kg lighter than the predecessor, too. The more I drove it, the more I liked it, and fell under its merciless road-conquering spell. The opposite to the RS5, then. But it’s not an addictive thriller. Speccing one ought to be interesting when UK sales kick off on New Year’s Day 2018.

You promised me you’d sum up what sort of fast Audi this is, remember…
I do. And it’s simple. There’s no situation when you couldn’t extract almost 100 per cent performance from the comfortable, refined, tightly finished and rather clinical new RS4. It’s not just a good fast Audi. Right now, it’s the definitive one.

Fast Audi estates have always been cool. Now we want you to choose one of these

The new Audi RS4 is here, and the TG verdict is clear: “It’s not just a good fast Audi. Right now, it’s the definitive one”.

It’s the latest in a short but fine line of fast, usable Audi estates, each of which have demonstrated a particular and desirable asset. They’re cool. Fast, usable estates generally are. We don’t need to explain this.

So, here we have a picture of every single generation of Audi RS4, including the ‘first’ one which wasn’t even called RS4. That’ll be the RS2 Avant, which Audi developed in co-operation with Porsche (they did the brakes and wheels).

It arrived in 1992, and featured a 2.2-litre turbocharged five-cylinder engine developing 310bhp. It could achieve 0-62mph in 5.4secs and a top speed of 162.8mph, which in 1992 was rapid. Hell, in 2017, it’s not shabby by any stretch. Looks fantastic, too.

Then came the first RS4-badged, um, RS4. In 1999, Audi teamed up with Cosworth, who helped that 2.7-litre twin-turbo V6 pump out 375bhp, dropping the 0-62mph sprint down to just 4.9secs. Apparently, Audi had to double the production numbers, such was the demand.

The second RS4-badged estate arrived in 2005, and this one broke the mould by slotting in a massive 4.2-litre V8. With 414bhp. And noise. Together with Quattro, it’d do 0-62mph in 4.8secs, and was by all accounts rather handy.

Then we get to the 2012 RS4: same 4.2-litre V8, but more power, at 444bhp. The new, 2017 RS4 ditches the big V8 lump for a turbo’d 2.9-litre V6, but still pumps out the same 444bhp. And is less a rapid daily driver, more a point-to-point “teleportation device”. It’s good.

We now want to enlist your opinion in telling us just which generation of small, fast Audi estate you’d pick. And you’ve only got one choice, so use it wisely…