Suppose it's a bit of an old long-term test wrap up cliché that the writer tearfully bids his recent steed goodbye and promises how much he or she'll miss it. Fact is you get accustomed to a car - whatever it is - and like when you part company with a close family member of friend; it jerks your emotions a bit.

So whether it's an M5 or a Tazz, you'll miss it - I even miss some very small bits of the army after all these years, for goodness sake...

Luckily, this time we bid our Audi A4 2-litre TDI avant farewell, rather than goodbye. See, we enjoyed it so much as a family car, we decided to hell with it, let's rather replace this one with a brand new A4 - except it'll be a sedan version of exactly the same car.

Why a sedan, you ask? Well, that's one of our few gripes about the avant - spending our own dosh, we simply don't reckon that the bigger boot and convenience is really worth the extra. Oh, yes, we never took the sat nav either - its mapping doesn't work properly all over SA, remember...?

And why not just take over the test car? Well Carol doesn't like the blue even though I do, so what can I say about that...?

So what about our long-term A4, then? Well, it starred beyond expectation from day one. This is one versatile motorcar. OK, our personal opinion is that the wagon bit seems to cost a bit too much over the normal sedan on the price list, but it's a brilliant solution nonetheless. Its big, square load bay is very versatile - those under-floor compartments are most useful and the double load cover and gauze blind bay separator add class, while appropriately positioned chrome load lugs came in handy with sloppy loads.

A4's impeccable cabin is presently the best in class by quite some way - the equally high quality Merc looks old, while the BMW, well who knows what the hell Bangle and his boys are trying to achieve? The A4 is superbly equipped, brilliantly finished and it's a pleasure to be in.

The black leather interior of our car was particularly durable - I reckon the back bench and the rear end of the front seat were the aspects of our car most put to the test, as most family-application cars in this neck of the woods would be. Until the kids tire themselves out, there are few ordeals as extreme to a car's interior than a 5 and a 10 year old...

Fire it up and as our car got older, it seemed to battle more to get going in the morning - especially if it was cooler (which it never really was - winter went AWOL in Jo'burg this year) - spluttering and belching smelly diesel fumes for a good couple of seconds.

But from there it was silky smooth - almost invisible. Our only remaining gripe was a difficult pull-away at altitude - we had to remember to give it revs as we pulled away to prevent it from stalling. That said, when done right, there is no real lag and you won't get stranded waiting for the car to make up its mind and get moving like some others we have driven lately do.

It must be remembered though that this pull-away thing is a problem with just about all turbodiesels in hot weather at higher altitude and that the A4 certainly is among the least affected by it.

On the road is where this car really shines. Incredible fuel consumption, awesome pulling power and brilliant performance all contribute to an effortless, efficient and entertaining drive. The A4 2.0 stars on the open road, where it performs like a 3-litre petrol car (if not much better than a few) but uses less fuel than the most efficient petrol powered cars of all if driven diligently.

Add to that a superb ride, fine handling and great, contemporary looks, and this most capable family estate is probably the pick of the bunch in its class right now. We prefer to keep our long-termers for a full year, but it seems that carmakers prefer to keep it to a minimum and we only had this one for six months. So we never came anywhere near our proper service intervals and we were unable to go through the reality show of taking our Audi for a service, although we did have to go to the dealer for a couple of small problems. Those, we can report were quickly and efficiently solved at the drop of a hat.

We're in the throes of buying an A4 2.0 TDI as mentioned above, and in spite of supply problems in a record market, it seems we'll get what we want if we want to wait for it, or a good compromise if we don't. So in all, even though we never had the time to really test it, our Audi experience was rather more on the positive side. It must have been - why else would we go out and buy a replacement after we said goodbye to our long-term family friend...?