Avant v saloon

[Adam]

Just curious as to what people thought of pros and cons. I went for a saloon as, unlike previous versions, the B7 saloon looks as good to me as the Avant and the Saloon had other advantages.

So leaving aside subjective styling opinions, am I missing anything?

Saloon pros - £1k+ cheaper, bit lighter, bit quicker.

Avant pros - easier to load boot, extra boot capacity in additional glass area, less production so might hold a bit more value.

The additional space of the Avant seems to be only from waist to roofline at the rear and as the saloon boot is huge and as I never really need to carry furniture or high bulky items it would be redundant for me.

Reckon the Avant may continue to command a small second hand premium which may be equal to the £1k extra cost so guess these cancel out.

So for me it came down to the extra weight of the Avant being a negative especially as the weight is at the worst possible place ie high up. Saloon may feel a little more planted / handle a little tauter. The performance gap is nice to know but is probably only significant for pub statistics.

Would be interested in other peoples tought processes when considering saloon v avant or whether I have missed any other differences.

[wheep0RS4]

Totally subjective I feel, for me however the RS4 Avant wins as I feel it has more road presence.
Saloon does seem to far outnumber the Avant from what I have seen which is going to reflect at resale.
Is the miniscle difference in power/weight ratio that noticable on our roads at reasonable speeds? Any slight performance difference for me cannot compete with driving the best looking and one of the most powerful estates on the road which will always be more sought after at resale + the looks you get from rep man when an estate goes wizzing by him howling like a banshee is rather amusing.
My views anyway... The saloon is equally awesome and dont think there would be many people that could have negative views about either.

[PetrolDave]

I went for the Avant for two reasons.

1) I use the longer interior loadspace for carrying things like fluorescent tubes and other long packages.

2) "Joe Public" seems far more surprised by a fast estate than a fast saloon, and chavs in their slammed bangers who rev their engines at the lights just don't know what to do when "Grandad" (me) in his "boring estate" leaves them for dead when the lights change. Makes me smile!!!

[peebo]

Agree with Petrol Dave. I went for the Avant - the difference in performance is irrelevant, unless you drive with a stopwatch.

The Avant surprises them all. Grandads estate car, with old grey haired me smiling at them disappearing in the rear-view mirror.

...and it carries my fishing rods.

[sykotoy]

Nah the sedan has a huge boot space, i think it looks a lot better, prolly get you laid more too!!

[Daz]

i think it looks a lot better, prolly get you laid more too!!

Nah, the Cab will trump you there

[alex_123_fra]

I think this is obviously personal preference. I personally much prefer the RS4 saloon in terms of looks. If it had only been made in avant version, I wouldn't be interested in buying one. I just don't need that much space. Regardless of the performance similarities between avant and saloon, the saloon will be the better on the track. If I needed an estate car I would certainly not put my money on an RS4 avant.

Similarly with the cab. I'm a bit of a purist from this perspective and not a fan of cabriolets to begin with. The only cabriolets I'd ever consider are ones that were designed to be so from the outset (e.g. S2000, boxster)...not half-arsed attempts to chop the roof later, which usually results in a car considerably poorer than the hard-top original (i.e. DB9 volante and dare I say it, RS4 cab).

[PetrolDave]

I think this is obviously personal preference. ... If it had only been made in avant version, I wouldn't be interested in buying one.

I'm the opposite ... if it had only been made as a saloon I wouldn't be interested in buying one. Said as much to the dealer when I collected my S4 Avant in February 2005 - "don't bother phoning me until I can order an RS4 Avant, and when I can I WILL place an order", and that's exactly what happened.

I'm a purist, and for me ALL RS models have to be an Avant, anything else is just not "true to type".

[gw007]

The saloon looks better (in my opinion), but if I were ordering my RS4 again I would definitely go for the Avant.... why? Purely because the access to the boot space in the saloon is crap!

Yes the boot space is pretty big, but you cant actually fit anything of any decent size in there... went to buy a new lawnmower the other week, wouldnt fit in... had to come back with my old Ford Focus to get it home.

Bought some new B&W 803 speakers (big boxes!) a few months ago... again had to take my Focus to collect them, purely because the boxes wouldnt fit through the access space.

£56k spent on a car and I cant fit anything in it... still the saloon is good fun though!

[Golich]

Avant for me. I like the do it all capability of this car. I can load up the boot, attach my mountain bike racks SOLID to the roof bars and when there is nothing in or on it, it handles way above my abilities on the queen's highway.

Something quirky in me likes the fcat that this is a rediculously fast ESTATE! I think they look fantastic better than the saloon - clearly this is personal thing.

[SteveH]

RS4 - Avant; RS6 - Saloon.

Personal Choice

[Adam]

i think it looks a lot better, prolly get you laid more too!!

Nah, the Cab will trump you there

Daz - I think sykotoy meant by women though

Interesting comments thanks.

So in summary I don't regret my choice, I don't need to carry long tubes and I don't fish! Also (no offence) but I have never understood people who buy a car because of they way they use it twice a year, especially if they have an alternative car. The saloon has what I consider a huge boot. On the handful of occasions I may need to carry something tall wide AND long I can hire a car or get a cab or use a mate's car. The avant would be better on a few days but not for me for the other 360 days a year.

The stealth and surprise of driving a grandad's estate would be fun but I don't race everyone so from that most non-enthusiasts would think I drive a grandad's estate

The one thing I do agree with is the heritage of RS cars being avants but I guess that will continue to lose impact as RS4s and RS6s continue in different body types.