I saw a couple of new A4's at the dealer today. Couldn't get up close to the cars, but they looked to be 'stripped' versions, with the smallest wheels. The styling, to me, looked a bit odd. The upward sloping character line and the downward sloping side window edge made the back end look very skinny. The small wheels allowed way too much gap between the tires & body. I had high hopes for this design, but after seeing it in the flesh i was not impressed, at least not with the lesser version. Anyone else agree?

move to put these stripped down cars in the show rooms.

With $45K A4s sitting on the lot. I think they want the base car to stand on its own merits. The no heated seats thing is a huge bummer in our market.

Exactly the same thoughts

It looks great with the sport or S-Line suspension and 19" wheels. When those start hitting the dealers, it will be a hit.

Audi's prime competitors, the C-class and 3-series do not look as stripped in their base models. Even the base A3 doesn't suffer as much as the base A4 in the looks department. Just my opinion.

You want people to think a car is a good value and then add things that they need.

But as far as demos go, you probably want them loaded to show off the technology.

Heated seats aren't even an option anymore. Wow had them in my B6 and front and rear in my B7. Like them a lot.

I too feel disappointed after looking at a base A4 at dealership today. I remember even the base models of the B5 and B6 looked fresh, crisp, and tasteful when they came out. And through the years, I always thought A4s look better than those generally soft, uninspiring A6s, unfortunately, now they look more alike for the worse. And if that is the case---hope not, then the new A4 would be just like the current A6, a S line upgrade would not be enough, and it will take a RS upgrade to make the car looks real purposeful.

Again, I hope I am totally wrong. I am counting on replacing my current B6 S4 with a new B8 S4.

There are people out there that just want an Audi and the cheapest possible price and they're more than happy with the basics.

If you want better looks, factory sports suspension at least and better rims improves the looks big time. Even on the B7, the 17" double-spoke rims did nothing for the car.

It's not like Audi isn't going to sell a lot of the B8s globally.

Just the additional wheel gap caused by the shipping blocks can cause some odd (negative) visual effects.

and I told them to take them off, those idiots.

hopefully the base B8 will look significantly less compromised.

The Euro-spec A4 3.2's at the Audi Driving Experience had ADS but probably not the sport package (no sport front seats), and the ride height was just right on them with 18" wheels. Then again Euro cars may have a different height setting or perhaps ADS automatically lowers the ride height to Sport package/S-line levels.

Otherwise it seems like they are charging you twice for some of the same hardware.

It's the least they could do.

So even the modest offerings were nicely appointed. They've had to scale the entry level back quite a bit to avoid scaring the **** out of people when they first walk on the lot.