Safe sex with Audi

By DAVID LINKLATER

Audi has announced open season on the A4 with the launch of a svelte new cabriolet version. The drop-top goes on sale in New Zealand this month in 2.4-litre form with Multitronic constantly variable transmission.

And as always in the convertible market, less costs a lot more - at $92,900 the two-door soft-top enters the Audi price list at $14,400 more than the equivalent four-door A4 tin-top sedan.

This is the first cabriolet in the relatively short history of the A4 line, but the cabriolet is still following in famous tyre tracks. The previous 80-based cabriolet, produced between 1991 and 2000, was one of the longest-running, yet most desirable cars in its class.

So it's not surprising that you can see strong styling echoes of the old car in the new A4 cabriolet. Consider the newcomer's brushed aluminium windscreen frame, high waistline, flat and elegantly rounded rear section.

Much of the car's appeal will rest on its mixture of premium equipment and relative practicality. Standard are a powered soft-top with heated-glass rear window that lowers in 24 seconds, leather seats, climate-control air conditioning and CD player.

But Audi also claims that the A4 cabriolet is a practical vehicle for four adults, with full-size rear seats and 315 litres of bootspace, or 246 litres when the roof is lowered.

The German carmaker also says that safety has been a priority in the design of the new car. Equipment includes traction control, Electronic Stability Program (ESP), anti-lock/automatic assist braking and front, side and head airbags. In terms of crash safety, Audi claims that the cabriolet is equal in every way to the A4 sedan.

The cabriolet is fitted with an active rollover protection system, incorporating two protective bars that deploy behind the rear passengers within milliseconds should the car turn over. They combine with the high-strength windshield frame to provide survival space for all four occupants.

The powertrain and suspension systems are derived from the A4 sedan and Avant models.

The 2.4-litre V6 engine serves up 125kW and 230Nm, driving the front wheels through Audi's acclaimed Multitronic transmission - a powertrain that makes the A4 unique not only in the executive sedan market but also among cabriolets. Multitronic functions as a conventional continuously variable transmission (CVT), but a manual mode also allows the driver to switch between six pre-set ratios, via the gear lever or steering-wheel-mounted buttons.

Roofless vehicles don't generally possess the same structural rigidity as their tin-top siblings, but the cabriolet's aluminium four-link front and trapezoidal-link rear suspension systems should ensure that it retains a good deal of the sedan's sporty driving characteristics.

Classy convertibles have been a long-running - if not exactly consistent - feature of Audi model lines.

The very first DKW appeared as a cabriolet in 1928. The Horch cabriolets were considered to be dream cars of their time and the NSU Wankel Spider caused a sensation in the 1960s.

However, it took the company another quarter of a century to produce its next open-top model - the sexy-looking 1991 Audi cabriolet.