Saw this beauty while browsing one of my favorite VIP forums. The owner of this new Audi A4 Avant is from Belgium under the username Ron099. This Avant isn’t the typical soccer mom whip, it’s bagged and slammed on some Mercedes Mabach 57s. It’s lookin’ super fresh! I believe the owner just got another set of wheels from a Bentley. Slapping wheels from higher end vehicles onto VWs and Audis are beginning to become more popular, maybe even a new trend.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Avant Baggage
The new Audi A8 will offer Google Earth for the first time in a production vehicle
The new Audi A8 luxury sedan will go on sale in early 2010, offering a variety of Google services and information to the luxury sedan via the internet. Its multimedia interface (MMI) navigation plus features among other innovations, a highly evolved operating concept incorporating a touchpad – known as MMI touch. Also included are an integrated hard disk for navigation, phone and audio data and a graphics processor capable of generating high-quality, three dimensional images. More
Monday, December 28, 2009
Assorted grab bag of stuff we like.
And if we know our readers, we think you’ll like it, too. No further commentary necessary, so let’s get right to it.
Plenty more after the jump.
All photos via tcl.
Friday, December 25, 2009
AUDI A5 sport back It precedence-exhibits.
Audi Japan exhibits specially the new model “A5 sport back” of 4 door coupe which is planning Japanese introduction at the beginning of 2010 to the Roppongi Hills observatory Tokyo city view prior to an announcement for three days from December 28 to the 30th. The exhibition event for introducing promptly A5 sport back who embodied “refinement” which is a brand policy of Audi. It is since the image “the art named a city” which the Roppongi Hills observatory Tokyo city view has, and A5 sport back’s stylish image agreed. Moreover, the said place is also a place which “A5″ of 2 door coupe decorated with the domestic debut. In Audi Japan, it is carrying out to an aim aiming at name recognition and an improvement in image in advertizing A5 sport back promptly in Roppongi Hills where the degree of attention is high.
Used 4WD usv cars
Friday, December 18, 2009
2010 Audi A5 Cabriolet Convertible reviews
Audi A5 2.0T Premium 2-door Convertible
Get the Latest Editor Review on the 2010 Audi A5 – The smart car buyer’s source for vehicle information and ratings on the web.
2010 Audi A5 Cabriolet Convertible reviews
… 2010 Audi A5 Cabriolet coverage includes unbiased reviews, exclusive … Compare this convertible to: 2010 Audi A5 Cabriolet Starting at $44,100.00 …
2010 Audi A5 Cabriolet
… 2010 Audi A5 Cabriolet replaces last year’s A4 as Audi’s four-seat convertible in residence. … 2010 Audi A5 Cabriolet photo gallery Lexus IS 250C test …
2010 Audi A5 Reviews
Reviews of the 2010 Audi A5 from newspapers nationwide. … The A5 Cabriolet, introduced for 2010, replaces last year’s A4 Cabriolet, which …
2010 Audi R8 vs 2010 Lamborghini Gallardo
2010 Audi R8 vs 2010 Lamborghini Gallardo
Super Cars (Update)
Believe it or not, the Audi R8 and Lamborghini Gallardo are related but you could never tell by looking at them. Most of the similarities are mechanical and underneath the sheet metal. Both are all wheel drive, powered by the same (although revised) V10 engine, and share the same manual gearbox. That’s about it as far as similarities go. The designs branch off into completely different territories.
www.autorivals.net
2010 and audi and s4 and supercharger
2010 Audi S4
Read more about the first drive of the 2010 Audi S4 from the automotive … of the new S4, it stands for an Eaton Roots-type supercharger replete with two …
2010 Audi S4 Reviews
Reviews of the 2010 Audi S4 from newspapers nationwide. Experts review cars and trucks for vehicle overview, exterior, interior, under the hood, safety and driving …
Audi S4 Premium Plus quattro 4-door Sedan AWD
Get the Latest Editor Review on the 2010 Audi S4 – The smart car buyer’s source for vehicle information and ratings on the web.
2010 Audi S4 Test Drive
An Edmunds.com Road Test Review of the 2010 Audi S4 featuring reviews of its performance, comfort, function, design and build quality.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
2011 Audi A1 Teased In New Illustration And Videos
Audi has released a new teaser image and a pair of videos to promote the upcoming Audi A1 ahead of its 2010 Geneva Motor Show unveiling.
If the illustration is any indication of the production A1’s styling, it appears the A1 Metroproject Concept of 2007, rather than 2008’s A1 Sportback, will be the car’s main inspiration.
Along with the graffiti-styled illustration, Audi has released a pair of videos featuring the diminutive hatch’s lead designers Dany Garand and Stefan Sielaff discussing the various aspects of the A1’s styling requirements.
“Our goal with the A1 is a bold one: to repeat the success that we have enjoyed with the A3 in the compact segment,” Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi said.
“With the A1 we’re opening another door into the world of premium cars.”
While Audi remains mum on the A1’s specific details, it is believed the new model will maintain much of the styling elements featured in the Metroproject and A1 Sportback concepts.
According to a recent report by the UK’s evo magazine, Audi will offer only a ‘premium’ A1 line-up, avoiding ’budget’ entry-level models.
Mechnically, the A1 is expected to share much of its components with the new Volkswagen Polo 5, though specific technical details have not been revealed.
Audi is also expected to leave any reference to the A1’s engine capacity off the car’s badging (previous models have worn ‘1.8T’, ‘2.0T’ style badges).
With future models dropping in engine size, Audi reportedly believes customers will not want to advertise the fact.
The A1 is expected to debut at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, before going on sale late next year in Europe.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Top Gear 14.4
This weeks saw some messing around with big machinery, a very big SUV test and a car test that was made for “regular people.”
Although airports are slow, they could be speeded up much more by simply basing all the vehicles on the fastest one that is at the airport. Richard Hammond took seven or eight different airport vehicles and put some touring car champions into them. They then took to the track to find out which is the fastest. In the end, it turned out that the fire truck, minus the stuff that puts out fires, was the fastest. When these things were first shown on Top Gear, they were fun and exciting. Which bus was fastest or which camper van was the fastest were both very entertaining, but this test just didn’t do it for me for some reason. I don’t know what it is, but I think that Top Gear should get back to doing races or more extensive tests on actual vehicles. That’s not to say that they shouldn’t provide us with this information, but it just seems like this one was more for filler than anything else.
After the news, there was a very interesting test of vehicles actually. I have always wondered how the new X5M got on since it was introduced, and now I know. It is fast, though having a 4.4 liter V8 with twin-turbos and 550 hp is going to make anything fast, but is not that comfortable in the real world. So really… it doesn’t have any real purpose. Then Clarkson pulled out the big Audi. The Q7 V12 diesel. It has a 6.0 liter V12 that develops a gobsmacking amount of horsepower and over 700 foot pounds of torque. It leaps from 0-60 in less than 6 seconds and is a gigantic SUV! However, just like the BMW, it doesn’t really work on the road and is not economical – like a diesel should be. Clarkson then brought another SUV to the party in the form of the Range Rover. The Range Rover had the 5.0 liter V8 that was supercharged and produces around 500 hp. This was the one that makes the most sense, as it can still do the off road stuff that the others cannot, but the engine is the big problem. The one that the big Rangey should have is the diesel, as it is more economical and you still get all the same amenities. By the way, one of the coolest amenities in the Range Rover is the screen in the dashboard. I have never seen anything like it. It can show two images at the same time, overlaid onto each other. Depending on which seat you are in, you will see a different image. For instance, the driver can be watching the GPS directions while the passenger watches a DVD. It really is amazing. But the consensus on the vehicles is that they just don’t make any sense and that the ones that people should buy are the regular ones. These pumped up ones cost too much (over $100,000??!!) and are not good for off road duty for the most part. So there you go, three SUVs that were complete rubbish and took up a bunch of time. Nice.
The star in the reasonably priced car was none other than Madonna’s ex, Guy Ritchie. He has a new movie coming out called Sherlock Holmes and was there to do his lap. The main problem was the fact that he had to go out when it was raining and super wet. The lap was in the 1:52 region, but it was extremely wet, so it wasn’t all that bad.
The final test was a request from a viewer wanting to see a test of a car that a normal human being could afford. Lo and behold, Clarkson took to the city of Glasgow to run around the city streets in a very cool little Renault. The car was the Renault Twingo 133 with the Cup chassis option. This means it rides on 17 inch wheels, has stickier tires and stiffer springs. Apparently this turns the little car into something of a joy to drive, and that is good, because Clarkson really took the beans to the little thing by driving it into many objects, while having Ross Kemp in the trunk. They also did a little drag race against the competition in the form of the much better looking, in my opinion, Fiat 500 Abarth. However, the Abarth is more expensive and not as fun to drive on the road. I have heard good things of this little Renault in the past and this segment just goes to show that little cars can still be good fun to drive. Now if we could only get these things in the US.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
A Burst of News - Hyper Lamborghinis, AWD Ferraris, Electric Rolls-Royces, two new luxury sedans and one less Italian cop car...
We at CCO would like to welcome you to a special Holiday Burst of News. It’s pretty much the same as any other Burst, except our hearts are filled with the unique form of adrenaline brought on by massive amounts of Thanksgiving food, Black Friday debt, and ChristmuHanuKwanzaa excitement/stress. So you’ll excuse us if we occasionally pause to scream our heads off.
Our first gift this holiday season, however, comes from the good folks at Lamborghini. According to company sources speaking to CarsUK.net, Lambo is summoning up their very own hypercar capable of competing with the Ferrari Enzo and the rest of the highest echelon of automotive performance. Rumor has it the car, which will be based off the Murcielago-replacing Jota, will be named Urus, after the enormous primordial ancestor of modern cattle. (That’s not a joke.)
They really could just cut and paste the Reventon body on the Jota chassis, and I don't think any of us would mind.
While the Jota’s suspected 700+ horsepower 6.0 liter V12 and carbon fiber/aluminum chassis mean it probably won’t be much of a slouch, the Urus should blow it away, thanks to intensive weight-reducing strategies and the introduction of an 800+ horsepower V12. Price hasn’t been announced, but if you’re hoping for less than half a million bucks, you’d be better off praying for JFK’s resurrection.
But while Lamborghini is trying to out-muscle Ferrari’s old hypercars, the folks in Maranello are working on something quite different. The company confirmed last month they are developing an electric-powered all-wheel-drive system for their future vehicles.
That’s right, folks. Not only will the Ferrari of Tomorrow have four-wheel-drive…it’ll be a hybrid.
The 458 probably won't get the hybrid system. We just wanted to look at it again.
Company insiders told AutoCar the system’s first use will be driving the front wheels of the company’s front-engined GTs, effectively giving each axle a separate powertrain – the electric motor up front, and a gasoline-powered V12 powering the rear. But the system is designed to improve handling and acceleration, not fuel economy – so we don’t have to worry about Ferrari drivers getting all smug or anything.
The system will probably first be used in the successor to the 612, which will probably be breaking cover sometime in the next year or two. Don’t expect to see any hybrid Ferraris on the streets until 2014 or so, which still sounds ridiculously futuristic whenever we think about it. When they do come, the hybrid system will probably add a hefty tithe to the Monroney – but if you can afford a four-seat Ferrari, you probably ain’t too worried about it.
Speaking of mansion-priced cars, Rolls-Royce is hoping to take the wraps off an electric version of its Phantom uber-sedan sometime in the next year or so, also according to AutoCar. The Powers That Be at Rolls want to have the car on the road by 2012, in time for the London Olympics – which, entirely coincidentally, happen to be sponsored by Rolls-Royce’s parent company, BMW!
While it appears stoic, the Phantom is silently judging you for being too poor to afford it.
Rolls employees claim they aren’t particularly concerned about the added mass of the lithium-ion batteries needed to hold the car’s juice, as the conventional Phantom already pushes three tons. And while you could certainly argue a 6,000 pound sedan decorated with twenty-seven cows’ worth of leather and more wood than a freshman class trip to the Playboy Mansion is hardly eco-friendly, don’t bother telling the electric Rolls’ owners – because while they can certainly hear you, they just don’t care.
If you’re in the market for a more modest luxury sedan, however, there’s no need to fret. BMW and Audi both have unveiled the newest members of their families in the last couple weeks – BMW brought out its new 5-series, while Audi rolled out the new A8.
First up: the 5, which continues BMW’s recent trend back towards more conventional styling. The “flame surfacing” of the Bangle years admittedly remains, but at least the front end no longer appears surprised and the rear no longer frustrated.
Here in the States, only two models will be available at launch – the 550i, powered by a 407-horsepower version of Bimmer’s blissful turbocharged 4.4-liter V8, and the 535i, which comes with the latest turbocharged, 306-horsepower version of the company’s equally sweet 3.0-liter inline six. The best-selling-yet-least-arousing 528i will arrive a couple months later; however, BMW makes up for it by boosting power to 258 horses and 228 lb-ft of torque – gains of 28 for both figures over the current models. ZF’s new eight-speed automatic comes standard on the 550i, and optional on the six-cylinder models.
After debating it over several rounds of drinks at the local bar, we here at CCO ultimately came down in favor of the new 5er’s looks. (Also, we unanimously agreed that “Livin’ On A Prayer” is, like, the greatest song in human history.) While it seems almost a tad forgettable from certain angles (at least in pictures), it certainly bears a strong resemblance to the 3- and 7-series – and given that that was presumably the idea, it’s safe to call this one a success.
However, we aren’t particularly fond of the look of Audi’s new A8. From the front, the car seems oddly reminiscent of the current Hyundai Sonata, and the LED running lights – which lend the A4/A5 family a futuristic strength, like the glowing eyes of Iron Man – angle down in just the wrong place, giving the A8 a strange resemblance to Droopy Dog. Audi is trumpeting the new A8 as the front line of its new designed theme, dubbed “Vorsprung durch Technik;” while our German is a little rusty, we can only assume said phrase translates to, “Let’s just make the A4 bigger and go pound a beer.”
"I always come to mope in front of the Brooklyn Bridge, because I'm artsy."
Thankfully, though, the interior looks like all you’d expect and more from Audi’s most luxurious model. The design is beautiful, and while we’ve heard some mixed opinions on the Interwebs about the A8’s handlebar shifter, we rather like it. And considering that shifter connects to the same eight-speed automatic as in the 5-series – and that the transmission connects all four wheels to a 372-horsepower 4.2 liter V8 – the A8 ought to be a pretty sweet drive for such a large car.
Of course, if you’re not thrilled with the A8’s styling and are willing to sacrifice a bit of space for it, Audi will be more than willing to take a deposit on their upcoming A7 four-door-coupe. According to AutoCar, the long-rumored A6-based pseudo-coupe will be unveiled at the Moscow Auto Show in August 2010.
When the A7 hits the U.S. streets sometime in late 2010 or early 2011 to engage the Mercedes-Benz CLS and BMW X6 in a Teutonic battle of “Bizarro-world coupes,” expect it to come equipped with similar engines to the A6 – naturally aspirated and supercharged V-6s, and if Audi’s feeling generous and gas is still cheap, the 372-hp V8 from the A8. According to Audi design director Stefan Sielaff, there will even be an S7 – likely featuring a turbo/supercharged V8 – for those of you who like testing the patience of law enforcement.
This is Audi's Sportback Concept. Expect the A7 to look like this, except with more Orange Country trophy wives behind the wheel.
Rumor has it U.S. prices should start somewhere around $46,000, but since the A6 starts at $45,200, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the A7 on the painful side of $50K when it hits our shores. Mercedes and BMW both charge significantly more for their faux coupes than the sedans/SUVs they’re based on, so Audi will probably follow the same logic – even if AutoCar claims there will only be a “small price premium.”
But while Audi is chopping up the higher end of the luxury car market into ever-smaller slices, BMW wants to slot yet another model into its rapidly burgeoning M line. According to AutoCar (who seem to have more anonymous sources than Seymour Hersh), someone in BMW’s high-performance division claims creating a more affordable model to slot in under the M3 is a top priority.
Details are few and far between at this point, but since the car would be based on the next-gen 1-series, there’s plenty of time for info to leak out. However, we do know two things: the car will (hopefully) be priced in the mid-$40K range, and BMW may dust off the old M1 badge for it. We’ve got our fingers crossed for a 365+ horsepower version of the company’s turbo I6 under the hood…
Of course, if Audi and BMW are hard at work crafting fun new toys for us to play with, the good folks at Mercedes-Benz can’t be far behind. In this case, rumor has it the company is working on whipping up a smaller sports car based on the new SLS.
At least from this angle, we don't have to look at its ass.
According to PistonHeads, the new model would be designed to compete against the Porsche 911. The ‘Heads claim the follow-up to the SLS – can we call it the SaLT? – will use a V8 of somewhere between 5.8 and 6.2 liters, complete with cylinder cut-off. Given that AMG spent a shit-ton of cash developing its current 6.2 liter engine and said engine has proven suitable in everything from C-class compacts to R-class megawagons, it’s probably safe to assume the Salt will just use a revised version of that engine. Expect to see the finished product in about five years.
Finally, we have another piece of tragic supercar news to round out this update. After a year of service, the Italian State Police’s Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 was totaled a couple weeks ago near the northern city of Cremona. Thankfully, neither of the officers inside were injured when the Lambo swerved to avoid a car and slammed into a group of parked vehicles.
NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
(Photo courtesy autoblog.it)
Before the accident, the Gallardo was primarily used to provide rapid response to accidents and for high-speed organ transport – because while a helicopter might be faster, the doctors wouldn’t be able to say, “They’re driving your new heart here in a Lamborghini.” No word yet on whether Lamborghini will replace the vehicle, but here’s hoping they will. In fact, here’s hoping automakers here in the States decide to follow suit and donate some choice vehicles to our local police forces. How ’bout a couple Corvette ZR1s for the Michigan State Troopers?
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