Hi folks... I was just about to pull the trigger on a car pre-lockdown and now whilst I'm glad I didn't, it does mean that itch has not gone away.

Having bought by vaious means over the years and having had quite a few VAG cars in my time, I'm going down the personal lease plan again as that suits my needs pefectly.

So I'm looking at an A4 Avant Black edition - the 40 TFSI looks decent, but your opinions I value so please advise/rant away!

Petrol ideally and I was originally after a manual, but that restricts to the 35 and it seems most 'premium' cars are going the DSG way these days so that's fine.

That said a 35 (either manual or s tronic) currently scrapes under the 40k tax limit with an option pack;

Comfort & Sound Pack ?
Driver Assistance Pack - Tour ?

I don't mind paying for the options, but I find the extra for road tax just plain wrong. 

The cars I have this up against are an A5 sportback (sport), or a CLA Shooting Brake

Decisions....

thanks,
Andy, Somerset

Great decision to have. On a gut feeling I'd lean to the CLA Brake,,, styling hints at the old CLS which I loved.

The key question you have to ask yourself is do you get more car for your money with the a5 or cla. I know you mentioned the engine/gearbox choice and option pack you could have for the a4 but I would say go with the car that's best value for money. Including spec, better mechanicals etc. 

Cheers

Steve

Yeah it’s also down to what those options realistically give. I wondered just how often the autonomous driving option would really get used? Sound and comfort seems a more useful option. 
 

Also the A5 sportback s Line lease pricing has just dropped a lot. Now this one is in the mix!

Drove the CLA the other day and it feels very fast. That’s not massively important to me but it drove well. The awesome dashboard doesn’t have as good a sat nav as the virtual cockpit with google maps (finally a car company has realised google and Apple have the maps thing done)

I'd agree sound and comfort make more sense. The other thing you need to work out is if you need the space from an estate bad your first two choices are estates but the a5 will have less room. 

Ended up with an A5 Sportback S-Line, it has more than enough room for us... Didn't need the room of an estate (although the CLA is quite a bit smaller than the A4 Avant) but neither did I fancy a saloon. This isnt even a compromise, it's the best of all worlds... love it so far!