Interesting photos... I saw the headline on the front-cover in a Texaco but had left before I realised what I'd read and took a look - doh!
I'm not sure I'm too struck on it (from what you can see) - and maybe, like others have said, it isn't the ideal followup for the target-audience. Still; (IMHO) most of the latest revisions of the Audi family have been 'growers' - I wasn't majorly head-over-heels with any of them at first; but now I'm a big fan; although I might've made some alterations to the A3 Sportback and possibly grafted some tail-lights more like those on the A8 or even B7 A4/A3 Sportback onto the new A6.
Maybe this 'grow' in appreciation is something deep in my subconscious though; when I was all of 14 in '96(?), Preston Audi took my dad and I to the cinema along with the rest of their recent customers to celebrate the launch of the A3. Afterwards, when we got outside to have a look around them, my first reaction was that I thought it the least attractive Audi I'd ever seen - and what turned out to be my very first car? (which I've been totally nuts about since about 6 months before I bought it!). Maybe I should get my head read?
...Having said all of that though, I can't help but wonder about the reliability of any of the photos in AutoExpress - they could always be the next in an extremely long line of photoshop efforts that have been exposed here and elsewhere on t'internet... I know a couple of the guys on some other Dennis magazines; might be worth seeing if I can get a spy in their filing cabinetsto get the full story on what they know!!!
Regards,
Rob.