I remember the first Audi A4 I saw, it was on a billboard in Earls Court, and it looked stunning. Compared with its tub-sided predecessor, the Audi 80, it was a real beauty. With its muscular haunches, high waistline and impeccable build, it also signalled the start of a new era for Audi.

The same cannot be said of my first encounter with its replacement, which quietly appeared on our streets in December 2000. Six months after its launch I was struggling to recall if I’d seen one. When, at last, I had the opportunity to look closely at one I felt disappointed. The superb Audi build quality was still present but everything else seemed a little flat.

On turning the ignition key the familiar 1.8 litre turbocharged unit fired into life but while it had seemed a revelation five years earlier it now felt a little aged and the performance I had remembered seemed absent.

Admittedly, specifications across the range had been improved, with all models now benefiting from electronic climate control, alloy wheels and Electronic Brakeforce Distribution with brake assist. Audi had even managed to eke a little more interior space out of a car whose dimensions remained unchanged and noise levels and refinement had also been improved.

The manual gearbox was still slick, the auto box pretty good and the newly introduced continuously variable multitronic transmission auto gearbox was excellent. I was still impressed by the multilink front suspension that virtually eliminates torque steer.

But none of that really excited me. While in almost every respect the second generation Audi A4 was better than its predecessor, somehow Audi had succeeded in making what had been a great car into just a very good car. Perhaps time had just moved on and the competition was stiffer.

Audi appeared to have designed out much of the car’s character. It’s a bit like having a daughter who always gets a good school report, goes to bed on time and never argues with her sister. She won’t give you sleepless nights but she won’t go on to form a rock band either.

But while the A4 probably wouldn’t fit into my family, it does fit into plenty of others. As a result, second-hand values have traditionally remained strong, with high demand for diesels in particular.

All that could be about to change, with the recent launch of the third generation of A4. One look at the car tells you that major changes have taken place. From the front it looks fantastic with a huge grille that appears to suck up the tarmac and slab sides that accentuate the flared wheelarches. The back looks great, too, and the interior is gorgeous. Which brings me back to the second generation car. Sitting on forecourts next to its pretty young sister has done nothing for its desirability and buyers appear to be going cool on it. In the past few weeks I’ve noticed that used values are starting to dip. Just over 10 grand will buy you a four-year-old A4 2.4 Sport with a decent engine, bags of kit and years of life left in it. If prices continue to soften then by July that car could cost you around nine grand.

So if, like me, you like buying used cars that say “shrewd buy” rather than “reckless purchase” then that second generation A4 might just be the perfect buy.

Stereo Optional upgraded Bose system is one of the car's highlights

Climate control Simple to use with digital readout standard on all models

Suspension Multilink front suspension virtually eliminates torque steer