Meet the first of four Audi A4s coming to our long-term fleet

Yes, you read that right, this is the first of a quartet of A4s we’ll be looking at over the course of the year. We’re kicking things off with an

Audi A4

Premium Plus sedan, and we’ll be looking at other iterations of the A4 line later on: the A4 Platinum,

Allroad

, and

S4

. What we hope to do is provide you with a thorough examination of each variation, and hopefully give you some guidance on what’s worthwhile and what isn’t.

But first, let’s introduce you to the A4 Premium Plus.

What we got

The A4 Premium Plus is the middle child of the standard A4 line, fitting between the entry-level Premium and the top level Prestige. Stepping up to the Premium Plus adds 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, an S Line body kit, Bang & Olufsen sound system, parking sensors, aluminum window trim, and heated power seats with memory.

The model we received from Audi has a number of upgrades that bring it quite close to the Prestige trim level. Most notable is the Technology package, which adds the Audi

Virtual Cockpit

instrument panel, which replaces the physical gauges with a big LCD screen. It also comes with rear cross traffic alert. A First Edition package was added, too, which adds cooled sport seats, a three-spoke steering wheel, and unique wheels and aluminum interior trim. Our favorite part, is the sport package, which adds sportier suspension, a black headliner, and the aforementioned sport seats.

What we skipped

Really, we didn’t skip much here – this particular A4 Premium Plus is pretty loaded. The only packages not included were the Cold Weather package, which includes heated rear seats and steering wheel, and wheel and tire options. The heated steering wheel isn’t necessary since winter is almost over (at least we hope).

The cost of these packages added up fast, too. Moving up to the Premium Plus trim over the standard Premium added $3,800. The Technology package was $3,250, the First Edition package was $1,100, and the Sport package tacked on $750. Along with the white paint at $575, our Audi has over $9,000 in options. That brought our tester up to $49,825 from a base MSRP of $40,350.

We like everything that’s been added. If we were to pick packages we could live without, though, we’d probably pick the Technology and the First Edition packages. As slick as the LCD instrument panel is, there’s nothing wrong with physical needles and dials. The silver and black wheels with the First Edition package look sharp, too, but don’t justify the $1,100 price tag, and the Sport seats already come with the Sport package, albeit without the cooling ventilation.

Why we got it

The A4 is a model line with quite a bit of variety, being offered as a sedan, wagon, and high-performance machine. Driving them back-to-back will help us tell you whether the S4 provides enough of a performance increase to merit its $16,000 price premium. We’ll be able to tell you if the Allroad’s wagon package truly is the better choice, and whether its increased ride height is helpful or harmful to the way it drives. Basically, we hope to be able to find the ideal version of the A4, and relay our findings to you.

We’ll have this A4 Premium for three months, and we have some opinions about it that you’ll see in the coming weeks. Editor-in-Chief Mike Austin has already shared

some thoughts about the car on our podcast

. But stay tuned, because there’s more coming.