The number at the bottom of the window sticker, $44,370, is higher than most people’s comfort range, especially for a station wagon. Even the number at the top, $36,400, isn’t easy to swallow. The nearly $8,000 difference includes a Premium Package ($2,050), Audi Navigation Plus ($1,950), an Audio Package ($1,000 for a Bose premium sound system with Sirius satellite radio – XM is offered as well), a Cold Weather Package ($900-worth of heated front and rear seats and headlight washers), a Lighting Package ($800 for bi-Xenon adaptive headlamps and a light sensor), Dark Walnut Trim ($400), and Rear Side Window Shades ($150 for the joy of manually raising and lowering nets that will keep the kids from getting sun in their eyes). Personally, I can do without the side shades, walnut trim, and navigation system, which drops $2,500 from the bottom line. The rest is tougher to do without.

Still, this seems to be the price rage for vehicles of this type. Optioning BMW’s 325xi sports wagon similarly puts you within tens of dollars of the same price. The real question then becomes, “Do you place the same premium on the four-ring Audi badge as you do the blue and white spinning propeller logo found on a BMW?” For nearly the same price, the Audi gives its owner a larger, 3.2-lite V6 direct-injection engine with 255 hp, 71 hp more than the BMW, and a whopping 68 lb-ft more than the BMW’s 175 lb-ft of torque. Even Audi’s turbocharged 2.0-liter four cylinder puts out more horsepower and torque than BMW’s 2.5-liter inline six. One more thing, the Audi’s automatic transmission has one more speed than the automatic found in BMW’s 3 Series.

The BMW is lighter and feels livelier than the Audi, due – in no small part – to a weight difference of approximately 260 lb, a 50:50 versus 59:41 weight distribution, and a decidedly rear-biased all-wheel-drive system. It also feels slightly slower due to the Audi V6’s ability to deliver grunt from just off idle in a near-linear fashion. The A4 Avant feels quick, even fast, and makes easy duty of the daily cut-and-thrust – especially entering freeways.

The A4 interior – like its exterior – is new for 2005, and is a step above the previous edition. The layout is logical, well-tailored, and more convenient (it now has cup holders you can use). It’s also larger and more comfortable without losing the intimacy one expects from a sporting vehicle. One area that may disappoint is luggage space for those expecting commodious cargo area from so wagon-like a shape. You can find room for 27.8 ft³, 14.4 ft³ more than that found in the A4 sedan.

Expensive? Yes. Powerful? You bet. Sporting? Yep. The only place the A4 Avant can be said to fall short is in snob appeal. Then again, its comparative rarity versus the near-ubiquitous 3 Series is more of an asset than a drawback in the neighborhood snobbery sweepstakes.