The New King...

The luxury car market is still dominated by the small executive sedan. For decades, the BMW 3-Series has been the king, but now the all new 2017 Audi A4 is here to take the crown.

For starters, this year’s A4 is stunning on the outside. There is the hexagonal front grille and the infamous LED headlights that jut outwards which create a menacing persona. Lines all over the body extend outwards to create haunches and muscular broad shoulders. Instead of just making a baby A8 like Mercedes did when they shrunk their S-Class to create the C-Class, Audi culminated all of their design cues from the range. This car looks like it could eat a C-Class and a 3-Series for lunch!

Inside, the boys at Audi know what they are doing. There are beautiful expanses of leather and trim that make this car feel like its $100,000. I would option in the red and black leather to make the A4 as sporty as possible.

There is also Audi’s world famous MMI screen and like most of the higher end Audis, the A4’s screen pops up when summoned to do so and also retreats into the the top of the dashboard.

Better yet, Audi’s Virtual Cockpit, first only seen on the R8 and cars over $100,000, is now standard in the Prestige trim for the A4. It basically allows for crisp electronic gauges along with your GPS directions, music selections, and even your phone controls all in easily read dials. A biggy is that this will cut down on distracted driving.

Power is not an issue also as all A4s come with a turbocharged four cylinder with a mighty 252 HP and 273 lb-ft of torque. This allows for peppy accelerations and great handling around the corners, especially with Audi’s Quattro all wheel drive. The A4 beats all of its competitors in performance and this isn’t even the performance centered model (wait for the S4)!

Pricing isn’t that bad for this jam-packed car. It starts at $37,300 for a basic Premium trim which features the basic needs. Then there is the Premium Plus which starts at $41,400 and gets the good stuff like a Bang and Olufsen sound system and keyless entry. Finally, the Prestige trim has all of the bells and whistles such as the Virtual Cockpit and MMI. My advice would be to get Prestige and option in both the Driver’s Assistance and Cold Weather packages. This would bring the price to $50,300-still high but the tech inside makes it so worth it.