• Not the most spacious car of its type
• But clever touches aid practicality
• Lots of standard safety features

How much space is there?

The Audi A4 Avant is pretty generously spacious, certainly enough for the average family of four to feel well accommodated. Even our tallest testers found ample front seat head, leg and shoulder room. The doors open wide, as well, which can be helpful if you have mobility issues.

It’s a similar picture in the back. Again, our six-foot testers could sit perfectly comfortably behind someone of similar height, with a bit of extra room to spread out. There are three seatbelts in the back, but the middle seat passenger will feel decidedly squeezed. And the roof line is quite low, which can be an issue if you need to lift children in and out of the car.

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We could say all this about most other midsize estate cars except the latest Skoda Superb and Volkswagen Passat, both of which have limousine-like back seat legroom and more easily accommodate five. They’re better for using bulky child seats as well.

Boot space and storage

Raising the A4 Avant’s powered tailgate reveals 495 litres of beautifully trimmed boot space – we found watching the load cover slide automatically out of the way is oddly compelling. The space is a good square shape the floor is completely flat, which makes loading easier.

And it’s right between the car’s main rivals for space – the Mercedes C-Class has 490 litres, the BMW 3 Series has 500 litres. But there’s the ever-present spectre of the Skoda Superb and Volkswagen Passat estates, both of which have a whopping 690 litres of boot space.

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Back in the A4 Avant, the rear seats fold down in a 40:20:40 split, creating 1,510 litres of capacity. The space is quite long and wide but not very tall, somewhat limiting the size of load you can get in. Again, there’s pretty much the same space as the BMW and Mercedes have, nowhere near as much at the Skoda and Volkswagen.

Is it easy to park?

At 4.7 metres long, the A4 Avant isn’t exactly a small car; it’s quite wide, too. Still, it should fit into most UK parking spaces easily enough. Visibility all-round is also pretty good – the windows may be fairly slim but so are the roof pillars. Every model at least has rear parking sensors to help out, some have front sensors and a reversing camera.

Safety

• Five-star Euro NCAP rating
• Array of driver assistance systems available
• Security of Quattro remains a significant draw

Car safety body Euro NCAP awarded a full five-star rating to the current Audi A4 range when it was assessed in 2015. The assessment criteria have changed several times since then, and NCAP stresses the rating can’t be directly compared with those of newer cars. Nevertheless, the A4 remains a very safe car.

All models have automatic emergency braking and a speed limiter; other features such as blind spot monitoring, lane keeping assist and adaptive cruise control are available, depending on model. Two sets of Isofix child seats mounts are found on the outer rear seats.