Story: RALPH MORTON

AS much as I liked the Audi A6 saloon – it ‘s a fine and spacious business car – I really wanted something a little more practical.

Time to move on.

That meant an estate. Or Avant, in Audi-speak.

You can see why in the main picture (above).

Estate cars – Avant or otherwise – make fine business cars, simply because they look so smart these days.

So they’re great for business during the week – and adept at providing the sort of practicality you might require at the weekend. Like I do.

A bit like our recent car boot sale (pictured), where an estate helps for the simple reason you can take more!

I’ve stayed with the 2.0-litre Audi diesel, but this time gone for the 163PS 2.0 TDIe model. List price is £28,870 while for company car drivers,company car tax is just 18% thanks to 120g/km CO2 emissions.

There are plenty of power options in the A4 Avant range from 136PS to 177PS. However, you really notice the additional power of this particular engine, with its lovely, progressive low down torque (380Nm) that provides all that push you forward shove as you accelerate. It’s really helpful when you join motorways, or need to dodge past slower A-road traffic.

But not on your way to a car boot sale – there’s little point in hearing everything that’s been carefully stacked up cascade into a heap.

Not that there’s any chance of the contents in the rear reaching you at the front: a clever cargo net rolls out from the folded rear seats and attaches to lugs in the roof provides a ‘bulkhead’ that catches content before they reach you.

It’s just another aspect that makes the Audi Avant so practical as a business car. In Audi’s very stylish way.