Arrival: 2009 Audi A4 Avant 2.0T quattro

You’ve got to give it up to the Germans. No matter how out of fashion the wagon has become in this crossover-crazy land of ours, they keep bringing them over. So we figured,what the heck, instead of testing out Audi’s new A4 in sedan form, we’d add the 2009 Audi A4 Avant 2.0T quattro Tiptronic (say that five times fast) to our long-term fleet. Is it hip to be square? We’re going to find out.

Looking at the numbers, it’s a virtual dead heat at the dragstrip between the Avant and a similarly equipped 2009 A4 sedan we tested last year. Audi’s 211-horse, 2.0-liter turbo is as stout a four-banger as they come and boogies the Avant to 60 in 6.4 seconds and on to a 14.9-second quarter mile at 90.8 mph (the sedan hit 60 in 6.5 seconds and the quarter in 15 flat at 92 mph). Ah, but the wagon has way more cargo room, you say? Not exactly. The A4 sedan’s trunk holds 16.9 cubic feet, just 0.4 less than the Avant with the rear seats up. As you’d expect, the Avant wins hands down with the seats folded (50.5 versus 34.0), and of course, its hatch makes loading cargo easier.

You’ll pay more for the added room though, as the Avant’s base price is roughly four grand more than the sedan’s. Our tester, which started at $35,675, got the kitchen-sink treatment, with the $7850 Prestige package featuring an assortment of upscale touches including Bluetooth, a Bang & Olufsen sound system, power tailgate, and Xenon headlamps. For $2500 we also checked off the navigation option with backup camera that integrates with Audi’s slick Multimedia Interface system.

Bringing both bling and grip to the Avant is the S Line package, which for $2450 adds a sport tuned suspension, 19-inch rims shod with high-performance summer rubber, steering-wheel-mounted shift paddles, and several interior and exterior trim bits-including some sweet, black Alcantara-leather-swathed buckets. We also opted for the Audi Drive Select feature ($2500), which allows the driver to choose several vehicle setups from comfort to sport. The upgrades helped the Avant pull a very respectable 0.93 g on the skidpad and buzz through our figure-eight course in 26.3 seconds at 0.66 g.So the Avant can carry the mail and canyon carve all the way home-it’s a formula all those cool crossovers aspire to, but only unhip wagons can really pull off. Yep, we’re looking forward to our year of being square.

Sourced via motortrend.com