I was also looking at A4. Problem 1 is that I want the Sport Plus package, and that only comes with 6MT. I am happy to drive 6MT, that's not the issue, it's that I'll need to order and therein lies the problem.
The sales guy is indicating I'll get only a couple % off MSRP for an order, thus driving the lease price up into 340i territory (Audi residuals are a bit lower, too). Plus, it would be nice to do a test drive. But, there are no manual A4's within 300 miles of me, and even even harder to find one with Sport Plus package. To aggravate matters, the sales dude didn't even know the difference between Sport & Sport Plus.
Problem 2, and probably most important, I did drive an automatic Quattro with the regular Sport package (essentially lower ride height), and found it to be boring. Got back into my 335i and went, "oohhh yeahhh".
I do think the A4 is quieter, but believe that it's at the expense of feeling connected to the road. Personally, I'll take the "connected-ness" with bit more road noise.
My 2 cents...