{"id":4543,"date":"2014-08-26T17:16:19","date_gmt":"2014-08-26T21:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/?p=4543"},"modified":"2014-08-26T08:17:27","modified_gmt":"2014-08-26T12:17:27","slug":"behind-the-wheel-2014-audi-a4-wagon-diesel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2014\/08\/26\/behind-the-wheel-2014-audi-a4-wagon-diesel\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Wheel: 2014 Audi A4 Wagon (Diesel)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Audi<\/a>Earlier this year I found myself over in Florence, Italy, with family and I needed to rent a car to go for a day trip. Although I normally don’t splurge on rental cars, in this case we decided to go for a “luxury” rental – both as a slight treat to ourselves, and because we didn’t want to be crammed into an itty-bitty little car.<\/p>\n

So, what should pull up in front of the rental place but a 2014 Audi A4 wagon<\/strong>… with a diesel engine, no less!<\/p>\n

Right off the bat this car surprised me – the diesel was excellent – smooth and quiet, to the point where at first I didn’t realize it was a diesel! Highway driving was easy, but uninspiring. Plenty of power on tap from the diesel engine, but it isn’t overwhelming – or exciting. That said, it’s got more than enough “oomph” for near effortless passing at speed. City driving was also surprisingly nimble, though in Italy – and especially in the narrow streets of Florence – the A4 was almost too big.<\/p>\n

The interior was a very<\/em> comfortable place to be – and it carried 4 adults on a long road trip up to the Chianti region with no fuss at all. I can definitely understand why people like this sort of car as a daily driver – it’s comfortable, the in-dash navigation is great, and it has plenty of room inside.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, it’s not exactly what you’d call a “driver’s car.” Although there was plenty of power from the diesel, there wasn’t exactly an abundance of it, either. Everything about how it drives was smooth, gentle, and reassuring – not in the least bit exciting.<\/p>\n

All in all, not a bad car by any means, and one I’d happily drive again as a rental, but not one I’d want to own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year I found myself over in Florence, Italy, with family and I needed to rent a car to go for a day trip. Although I normally don’t splurge on rental cars, in this case we decided to go for a “luxury” rental – both as a slight treat to ourselves, and because we… Continue reading Behind the Wheel: 2014 Audi A4 Wagon (Diesel)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"webmentions_disabled_pings":false,"webmentions_disabled":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,199],"tags":[357,356,134,358,124],"class_list":["post-4543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cars-and-trucks","category-my-opinion","tag-a4","tag-audi","tag-behind-the-wheel","tag-diesel","tag-review","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pimUj-1bh","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4546,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2014\/09\/02\/behind-wheel-2014-fiat-500l-diesel\/","url_meta":{"origin":4543,"position":0},"title":"Behind the Wheel: 2014 Fiat 500L (Diesel)","author":"Keith Survell","date":"September 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this year while I was in Italy on vacation with some of the Australian side of the family, we rented a car to travel up to Lake Como in northern Italy. 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