2009 Audi A4 Avant: Lackluster Family Trip

I thought the point of LATCH was to standardize anchor points and seat installation. What specific problems did you run to with LATCH incompatibility?

I don't know this car's LATCH arrangement at all but my guess is that the anchors are designed for the left or right seat position. Putting a carseat in the middle would mean using one anchor meant for the left seat and one anchor meant for the right seat. These anchors are probably not spaced properly (probably too close together) to get a good fit with the carseat. This is probably not recommended by Audi. Cars that only have anchors for the two outboard seating positions typically recommend that you use the seatbelt to secure the carseat in the middle.

I agree with most of the points in the post. I have a wagon but with two kids and a big dog, we're still making full use of the Yakima box on the roof. Wagons give you some utility but not necessarily much more than a sedan. I have learned that you can pack up to the ceiling along the driver's side and not impair visibility at all because that tends to be a blind spot anyway.

I'm sort of happy to hear the general lack of enthusiasm for this car. My inlaws are constantly trying to get us into a premium wagon from Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Volvo or Saab. Our response has been that we don't really see what we'd be getting that we don't get out of our Legacy GT. It outperforms most versions of the above cars and a fraction of the price and we're perfectly comfortable with it despite the lack of certain luxuries and gadgetry. Yes, the A4 Avant is a nice car but if you drive the way many of us drive and you don't need other people to think you have a "nice" car, there are other options.

It's a valid set of complaints, but then that comes down to using the wrong tool for the job, as you've basically said. If you wanted more comfort you'd spec it out differently to start with, and if you were regularly taking long trips with kids and a bunch of luggage you'd get something else entirely.

On the other side of the coin, if you wanted to carve a canyon road up, you'd take the A4 Avant Sport over a Venza, no?

Almost no cars have LATCH tethers for all three rear seats. Most just have the tethers for the two side seats. Why they do this is a little beyond me--statistics show that the safest place for an infant is the rear center. Maybe it's just that there's not enough width for three-abreast LATCH tethers unless you've got a large sedan or SUV?

Here's a discussion of the issue I found online:
http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=24071

"The point about wagons is very valid, you have to block your rearward sightlines to gain cargo space relative to a car with a decent trunk."

It may be valid for a badly-designed wagon like the current Avant, but it's certainly not valid for wagons in general. The Avant actually has 10% less cargo volume than the now-much-smaller A3 5-door; it has much less than the previous Avant, the VW Passat, or the VW Jetta. Stepping outside the VW-Audi family, it also pales in comparison to the Volvo V50, the Saab 9-5 and 9-3 SportCombis, the Hyundai Elantra Touring, the Mazda6 wagon or even the Mazda6 5-door liftback (1st-gen or overseas 2nd-gen). In fact, it's roughly the same as the Mazda3 5-door.

OTOH, although there are sedans with trunks within 1 cubic foot of the Avant (including the A4 sedan and the US 2nd-gen Mazda6), to get more trunk space you really have to step up to a full-sizer, and even some of them have less cargo space (e. g., Hyundai Genesis).

The raison d'etre for the wagon body style is extra cargo space, and if Audi was going to sacrifice practicality for style, I don't see why they didn't go all the way and make the A4 a swoopier 5-door liftback which would still have similar seat up/down cargo space, instead of a pseudo-wagon.

@AYAO

The LATCH issue arose when I actually tried securing the seat to either the left or right side. Audi (as well as some other automakers) places the LATCH anchor points inside plastic housings. In theory, these housings are quite cool, as they make locating the anchors very easy (no digging underneath seat cushions).

But the housings only allow you to click in the seat's anchor buckle in the normal position, which is to say skinny part of the buckle on the bottom and thick part on top. Because my Britax child safety seat is a convertible seat (it can be installed either front facing or rear facing), installing it front-facing means the buckles are reversed, and the thick part of the buckle is on the bottom. When this is done, the buckles can't be attached to the anchor points because of interference caused by the plastic housings.

This attribute was in addition to the fact that the A4's rear head restraints couldn't be removed. I did place the seat in the middle using the seat belt to secure it, and it's OK there, but it's not the way I would have preferred to do it.

Brent

Sure, according to the EPA, the difference between the sedan & wagon is negligible, but did you ever try to load a dishwasher into a sedan? THAT's where the wagon shines-irregular objects. AND, looking at that picture, there is NO WAY IN **** that stuff would have fit in the trunk of the sedan, I'm sorry. Especially with the haphazard method of packing you employ.

Plus some wagons even look better than their sedan counterparts, as in the case of this Audi, and also my E46. My car is now 9 years old, and I STILL get complements on it.

B8 A4 Avant = FAIL
They went with style over function... in a wagon. The only reason people would opt for the wagon is function! The older A4 Avants had it right with the squared off rear and functional cargo space.

These aren't heavy haulers but to totally ignore the Avant's history is stupid.

@mitlov even my full size truck doesn't have enough room for 3 sets of Latch anchors. I'll bet you and @LegacyGT are right about his problem, RTFM FTW.

@bc1960 I hadn't checked the numbers but since the Chicago Auto Show I've been telling everyone that the A3 looked like it had as much room as the A4 Avant. Nice to know I'm not too bad a judge of space.

I have a 2009 A-4 sedan. Before that, a 2006 A-4 Avant. I'm finding the enclosed trunk spacious and with the seats flat, a huge area in which to load stuff. I imagine that except for people who want to carry large objects, this is the better choice (and less money!). As for the subject of ride stiffness and noise, I'm finding that the current car has more wind and road noise and that the ride is pretty firm even with the stock setup. So here's something I could use help with: tire pressure listings in the owner's manual say 33 front and 30 back. The tag in the door jamb says 35 front and 36 back. The later setting makes the car feel very uncomfortable while the former feels much more comfortable (though hardly soft). Readers have any thoughts about pressures? Could I go still lower without hurting the tires or the handling, say to 31/28?

"They went with style over function... in a wagon. The only reason people would opt for the wagon is function! "

Only reason? I would buy the Avant over the Sedan A4 even if I didn't need a wagon. Much better looking car.

+1 Cartester16 - cargo versatility is the name of the wagon game.

Why the Venza reference? Do I sense an impending long-term intro?

It would be nice if you would add a Saab 9-3 Sportcombi to your fleet. It would at least give you something to compare the Audi to, in terms of long term testing.

@bromans -

Thanks for the detailed info. That makes sense now although I'm surprised ... that the Audi LATCH housings would only allow the Britax anchors to fit one way. It has never occurred to me that it could even be a problem. Britax is UK-based so it's not an American-centric thing, either.

I jammed our Britax into the middle position of our RAV4 until I noticed in the manual that it's expressly discouraged -- only the rear side-passenger spots are ok, as legacygt alluded to. It might be worth checking the Audi manual to verify, too.

I'm glad that someone else is pointing out that wagons aren't as practical as they seem. The cargo area seems to shrink when you lose the ability to fold down the rear seats, like when a car seat (or two) is installed. Throw a stroller in the back and you're totally hosed. That's why I was always puzzled by why my "practical" WRX wagon seemed way more cramped than my wife's beater Camry when it came to managing kid-paraphernalia. That's what I get for telling her (when I bought it) that the WRX was a family car ...

Sorry to inject domestic talk in the conversation.

26.6 mpg seems quite reasonable. I have never done better than 26 in my non-turbo Forester 2.5, which makes about 25% less power than the Audi (although the Audi's extra gears should help with highway mileage).

1487;
i dont know if you missed the part where the entry mentioned OVERALL mpg, but for the size of car and what it was carrying, that is actually quite good. better than its direct competitors from Lexus, Mercedes, and BMW anyway. Also, OVERALL mpg is based on an average of highway mpg and city mpg. My guess would be that on the trip he was able to get far over 30 mpg.

I hope a Venza isn't added to the LT fleet. That would be boring. A Saab wagon would be interesting, as there hasn't been anything Saab around here in a while. Maybe even Volvo...

FWIW, I find it easier to load stuff into wagons vs sedans. Even if the stuff could fit into a sedan, it is easier to put it in and arrange it when you're not leaning into a cave.

I've had my 2009 A4 Avant (premium version) for about a month now and so far it's meeting or bettering my expectations. For me, and I know its just a personal decision, I love the Avant style over the Sedan. The fact that the Avant offers more odd size cargo carrying is just icing on the cake. I don't think I'm alone in this opinion, a scan of the various forum (Audizine is a good example) indicates the Avant is the leading style among the modders. Must be a reason over 50% of european sales are Avants vs the 10% here in the States

jm,

I read the intro. If you take a 500mi road trip the majority of the miles are highway miles. 26.6 is OK, but lets not forget this car has a 2L four cylinder engine, not some big V6. Part of the problem is the A4's heft.

1487, if it were a Saturn I'm sure it would be a-okay with you, right?

1vwgroup - the success of wagons in euro is related more to the tax system and the parking. A car with poorer fuel economy (say SUVs) gets taxed more heavily, so there's a financial incentive to go with a smaller, more fuel efficient, more space efficient vehicle as a family car. The A3 and GTI/Golf are huge sellers in Europe as they get great mileage, can seat most european families in comfort and the tax is far lower than a comparable SUV or even cute-ute.

1487 - agree the mileage isn't impressive for a 2.0T. I'd expect closer to ~30 mpg with a 2.0T/6 speed on long drives. Then again, this car has quattro and he had it loaded.

msh1:

Yes, thats exactly right. Because 26mpg is impressive for a car with a 211hp four cylinder engine. My real issue is that its not a Saturn. Part of the point of using smaller turbo engines vs larger V6s is efficiency.

One of the reasons I bought an '09 Avant with the sport package is that Audi did emphasize style over function. It's just so much more interesting visually than the sedate sedan. Wouldn't have even considered this car without the sports pack.

I don't believe that the primary intention of this car was for hauling the fruit of one's loins around.

And Audi does call it an Avant, not Station Wagon... thinking of the Avant as a four-door hot hatch is perhaps a more useful reference.

As for fuel efficiency, I do agree that the mileage is sub par. I'm guessing that part of the reason is the ZF transmission. It might shift quick but it sucks some fuel. We'll have to see how the A4's with sticks do.

Before buying this car I was cross-shopping for a Subie STi... now that car gets some really rotten mpg for a four-banger (but love the six speed manual).

I find the comments about the sport package interesting as I struggled whether to get this on my Avant. I did not. I have the Prestige with 18" wheels and find the handling very good. I'm not a huge fan of the seats, but find the supsension just right.

The Avant is not a a great family car. It is the same size as the sedan, but is more of a hatchback than a traditional station wagon. I can comfortably fit my labrador in the back which is why I bought it. I have a minivan for long family trips

I do think this is a very nice car which balances a lot of competing items. Reasonable performance and handling with good mileage. Has a sporty feel with ability to hold 4 people. Room for the dog in the back and a great, great stereo.

Also, iPod interface is seemless.

Brent,

I don't know what model Britax seat you have, but we have a Marathon model that is probably 4 years old. The Latch belts on our seat are only meant to be installed one way - plastic top up, & opening on bottom. The belts can be swapped from side to side to maintain this arrangement when flipping the seat around backwards/frontwards. If I remember correctly, one connector even has a label that says it must be on the driver side of the vehicle. Does your seat do this? Check the manual - it should be attached to the car seat with a tether under the seat pad.