2006 Audi A4 Avant SE from UK and Ireland - Comments

Picked up my car on Friday. It's the first Audi I have had since an Audi 80 back in the Eighties. I had severe backache problems with that one, but thought "they must have got it right by now!".

A short test drive was fine, but the first longer trip of an hour caused severe backache, and this morning's trip to work was the same. It seems Audi still can't make car seats - and now I am saddled with this discomfort for 3 years - shame on Audi - the rest of the car is first class.

I'm on my third Audi, and have never had a problem with the seats, may be its you with the problem and not the car.

Yeah, it's a tough one. I had extra-cost sport seats on my BMW 528i and they felt great on the test drive. But after a six hour drive from LA to San Francisco I was in pain.

With all the technology around (plus cars makers like Volvo building perfect seats) you figure an upscale maker like Audi would get it right.

Didn't they offer a test drive?

Question? Did you think to maybe, just maybe, figure out the car seat comfort issue BEFORE you signed on the dotted line?

Just a thought.

Wow, you must have some dealer group near you, one that allows hour plus test drives.

Please read the original review. The person stated things were fine on a short drive (i.e. a test drive) but after an hour things were painful.

Every Audi dealer in the UK can offer a 24 hour test drive or a weekend test drive providing you have full insurance cover on your current car.

You can argue that seat comfort is entirely subjective, depending on your build.Maybe, but if you take a long or short drive in any of the current Volvos I don't think you will find anybody who finds them other than totally impressive. Wish I had such comfortable chairs in the office or home...

I agree with that last comment. A Volvo is a great car especially the V70. I have a black one here and haven't had a single problem with it. I am surprised that an Audi was so bad.

I would have to agree here regarding the seats. This is all relative though. I used to own a Volvo S60, and I have to admit, they have the best seats in the industry. I now have the 06 A4 and it's not nearly as comfortable on long trips. But then, they are both totally different cars. The Volvo is more of a practical car, and the A4 is fun to drive. In the end, I would like volvo seats on the A4, but if I had to choose, I would take the A4 for its Quattro/responsiveness.

We had an old 1986 Audi 5000s, it scared the crap out of us! Every time we drove it something ridiculous happened. One day we were driving through our neighbourhood and all four wheels caught on fire from malfunctioning brakes that had seized! It would always make weird noises and it was like it had a mind of its own. Audi just do weird things, so I don't trust them. Audi are sketchy!

Bentley dealers in the UK are using A4s, A6s and A8s as loan cars and I've had the displeasure of experiencing all of them.

The A4 is a very firm, bouncy car, and I've yet to read a road test that doesn't criticise its glaring lack of comfort over lumps, bumps, potholes and broken tarmac. In other words, over pretty much any British road.

Tellingly, authors of RS4 reviews always write glowingly about how the car rides decently -- its suspension set-up being different from the rest of the A4 range.

The current A6 is even worse, becoming borderline awful when shod with large diameter rims. The A8 is also stiffly sprung alongside luxury rivals like the 7-Series and S-Class, and with most major reliability charts putting Audi middle to bottom, and with the A8 being almost boring/anonymous as a Lexus, I'm not sure why you'd want one.

In short, Audis are for people who don't seek out the opposition first...