Audi A4 RS4 (05-08) - Review

It may be a high performance saloon, but the RS4 is also designed to be a car you can live with day to day. As a result it's surprisingly comfortable with a relatively compliant ride - helped further by the advanced 'dynamic ride control' system. The bucket seats take some getting used to but they come into their own on demanding roads. The Cabriolet version comes with a wind deflector which cuts down on wind buffeting when the roof is down, however this needs to be taken out if you want to carry rear passengers.

The boot volume on the saloon is 460 litres but the rear seats also split and fold, plus there's a through-load facility for things like skis. The big advantage the RS4 has over the M3 is that there's an estate version available in the form of the Avant. Like other estate versions of the A4 it offers 442-litres of space while if you drop the back seats this rises to 1184-litres making it a practical high-performance car. The Cabriolet has a 315-litre capacity boot but this decreases with the roof down.

The RS4 is similar in design to the standard car but with some key differences. The flat-bottomed steering wheel with its metal inserts and moulded grip is great to hold while the sporty dials remind you that you're in a performance car. The fast Audi also gets aluminium pedals and carbon fibre trim as standard, further lifting the cabin - plus there's a 'sport' button on the steering wheel, which sharpens the throttle response, gives the exhaust note a harder edge and inflates the side bolsters on the bucket seats (not on the optional electrically adjustable front seats).