Audi S4 Avant unveiled: Behold a faster, lighter and better estate car

You can choose the virtual cockpit with its 12.3in screen, if you wish and if you pay

Following on from the saloon version, here is the new S4 estate in all its glory. The S4 Avant gets the holeshot with a new engine that is noticeably lighter than the outgoing one. That instantly means better fuel consumption and easier handling. That’s helped by the 3.0-litre V6 now putting out 349bhp and 369lb ft of torque. You should be able to get all your rubbish into the car, with its 505-litre boot capacity and then get it to the tip in record time.

The turbocharged V6 should be able to manage 37.6mpg and 175g/km of CO2 emissions according to Audi. This is fractionally worse than for the saloon, but the final figures have yet to be finalised.

Whatever it does, it will be feeding through an eight-speed tiptronic box with a self-locking diff. In standard trim, the power goes 40/60 front/rear, but this can be 15/85 if occasion demands.

Helping to handle all this is the new five-link suspension that we’ve seen on the saloon version already which should sharpen handling some more.

The exterior hardly shouts about the changes, and inside it’s fairly restrained too, with Nappa leather with diamond stitching. You can choose the virtual cockpit with its 12.3in screen, if you wish and if you pay.

Audi have yet to set prices, but we’d assume there will be a premium over the saloon model of around £1.5k.