Press photos of the new sexy Audi A5 Coupe have been leaked way ahead of its official unveiling to the public at the 2007 Geneva International Motor Show. We’ve seen a photo of the top of the coupe previously in an Audi teaser microsite - these press phtoos have revealed that it is a 2-door coupe as expected. A classic coupe body. The Audi A5 is the coupe equivalent to the Audi A4, putting it against the likes of the E92 BMW 3 Coupe and any possible future 2-door Mercedes Benz C-Class equivalent, if any.

There is alot of Audi TT design elements in it, it’s very modern Audi. We’ve seen too many of the modern Audi design language lately with the flurry of newly launched cars - the TT and the R8, so some might find this abit less radical than they’d expect, since we’re used to outrageous designs from all car manufacturers these days thanks to the trend set by Mr. Chris Bangle. It’s alot less angular than the Audi Nuvolari Concept though, and there’s an Aston Martin-like curve to the shoulderline of the car. There’s also that really lovely Audi interior, which is available for viewing after the jump.

Notice that the Audi A5 departs from the usual long front overhang look of modern Audis, instead having a short overhang and a longer are between the tyres and the B pillar instead - this is because of Audi’s new flexible MLP platform. Click here for more details on MLP (Modular Platform for longtitudinally mounted engines).

The badge on the rear says TDI, so perhaps the flagship model for this new Audi A5 Coupe shall be a turbodiesel, shows that Audi takes it’s turbodiesel very seriously. The Audi A5 is expected to debut with a 3.0 liter TDI V6 turbodiesel. Photos of the Audi S5 have also been leaked, a performance top of the line version of the Audi A5 - but most likely an even more powerful performance-oriented Audi RS5 is in the works.

Check out more photos of the Audi A5 Coupe after the jump!

Click here to read the rest of Audi A5 Coupe Press Photos Leaked

Happy Chinese New Year of the Boar to everyone. Hope you had a good time. Me? For personal reasons, there’s not much celebrations going on except for the exchanging of ang pows, plus my internet chose to be down the entire festive season. The last time my internet died was during Hari Raya. I see a pattern here.

Every Chinese New Year, I am unable to rest without fidgeting around and worrying about my cars. You see, I happen to live in a neighbourhood where most of my neighbours are young parents with little kids. They play lots of firecrackers. While I am not against this, there has been an occasion in the past where fire crackers hit my Nissan Sunny. No compensation was given, and when advised to go play their fire crackers in a playground just down the road, the advice was ignored. Now I am constantly reparking my Proton Perdana and a press car BMW 130i M Sport, especially the latter, further down the road and inside my house whenever I hear firecrackers.

Has any of you had this problem? Has fireworks and firecrackers damaged your car? Do you have the same fears that I do, or am I just weird? I think my paranoia is justified, as it HAS happened before. What do you do with these kind of neighbours?

One disturbing trend for those concerned with both performance and fuel economy is that cars have gotten more and more heavier over the years. Compare the original Mk1 Golf GTI to the latest Mk5 version, the original was only 810kg in stock form, while the latest TFSI Mk5 weighs in at 1,340kg - thats more than 500kg heavier!

Rather than see 2,000kg hot hatches sometime in the future, someone has decided to do something about this and hopefully force everyone to follow suit - Thomas Weber, board member in charge of R&D over at DaimlerChrysler.

Weber admits that the weight of cars have been growing alarmingly over the past few years. DaimlerChrysler has moved weight reduction into the middle term concerns, together with improving drivetrain efficiency and energy management. Special project teams devoted to lightweight construction were formed in late 2006. DaimlerChrysler is now using ultra high performance steels in highly stressed structural parts and aluminum at chassis locations that are under less strain. Every parts designer is given goals for weight reduction in his area.

According to surveys, vehicle weight increases every year from about 1% to 1.5%, plus vehicle length grows about 5 to 10cm from one model generation to another. Weight increases because of increase in vehicle size as well as increase safety, amongst many reasons. In this age of fuel efficiency concerns, will we see this trend reversed?

The second production variant of Kia’s new cee’d range for the European market will be launched at Geneva 2007 on the 6th March 2007. The 4.5 meter long wagon has a long wheelbase, helping with a large and comfy passenger cell.

The wagon is 235mm longer than the 5-door Kia cee’d hatch, and luggage capacity is 534 liters, which enlarges to an even larger amount when the split rear bench is folder down. The top hinges have been moved forwards by 225 mm (compared to the ceed hatchback), so the tailgate has reduced outswing and upswing. This allows users to stand closer to the car and allows for the tailgate to be fully opened in restricted parking spaces.

More photos after the jump.

Related Posts:
Kia cee’d Sport Wagon

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This monster is the creation of Greg Dunham in California, and it is in the Guinness Book of World Records holding the record for the world’s tallest bike standing at 11 feet, 3 inches tall. Costing US$300,000 to build, the monster bike is powered by an 8.2 liter, 500 horsepower engine mated to a 2-speed transmission. It actually moves, but from the looks of the thing, I have no idea how you’re supposed to steer it.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of 2,950kg Monster Bike

One of the first of the exciting new car launches this year is coming soon. Honda Malaysia has started running a teaser campaign on it’s website for the new 2007 Honda CR-V. It states the new SUV will be unveiled to the public on the 8th of March 2007, 3 weeks more on a Thursday!

Teaser images on the site have confirmed that our Malaysian market third generation 2007 Honda CR-V will use the new R-series 2.0 liter SOHC i-VTEC engine - the R20A. The single cam engine’s torque curve is more suitable to lugging around the Honda CR-V’s weight than the K-series motor from the second generation Honda CR-V. In the worldwide market, the 2.0 liter models use the R-series engines, while the 2.4 liter with bigger low end grant due to it’s larger displacement still uses the K-series engine, as it’s not very likely to see R-series engines with higher displacements than 2.0 liters due to it’s already very long stroke design.

With the imminent move to Euro II standards for fuel in Malaysia, resulting in lower sulphur in diesel, could we possibly see a turbodiesel variant featuring the award winning 2.2 liter i-CTDi turbodiesel variant? Could be a smart move by Honda if done, look at the amount of people purchasing diesel pick-ups and Ssangyong Rextons.

Click here to check out the teaser site by Honda Malaysia! To refresh your memory on how the 2007 Honda CR-V looks like as well as it’s specifications, check out all the links in the related posts below.

Related Posts:
New 2007 Honda CR-V Revealed!
2007 Honda CR-V Crash Test Results
Sport Concept CR-V by Honda at SEMA 2006
2006 Paris Motor Show: 2007 Honda CR-V

Remember the Suzuki SX4-based sedan that was posted in this blog back in September 2006? Suzuki will be unveiling it to the world at the 2007 Geneva Motor Show next month. Despite the Suzuki SX4’s all-wheel drive capability, the SX4 Sedan will be a front wheel drive vehicle, featuring the same 109hp 1.6 liter engine in the Suzuki SX4. Read the related post to view all 4 photos of the new sedan based on the Suzuki SX4.

Related Posts:
Suzuki SX4 Sedan Spotted!

Click to enlarge: Volkswagen Passat BlueMotion Estate

Volkswagen’s new Passat BlueMotion will make it’s debut at the 2007 Geneva Motor Show on the 6th of March 2007 - wish I could be there. Following the footsteps of the first BlueMotion vehicle, the Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion, the new Passat BlueMotion offers outstanding fuel efficiency statistics. It’s possibly the most fuel efficient vehicle in it’s segment: using only 5.1 liters per 100km and producing only 136 g/km of CO2.

This means a full tank will get you 1,350km of driving range, and based on an average yearly mileage of 15,000km, this means you only have to refuel the Volkswagen Passat BlueMotion 11 times a year, or about once a month! The 70 liter fuel tank would cost RM110.60 to fill up at current diesel prices of RM1.58 per liter - that’s RM1216 a year!

These impressive stats are thanks to an aerodynamic body with a drag coefficienct of 0.27cD, lower than some sports cars, and a finely tuned 105hp TDI turbodiesel engine with a diesel particulate filter. Despite all the frugality, the Volkswagen Passat BlueMotion’s top speed is not too bad at 193km/h for the sedan and 190km/h for the estate variant.

The photo above kind of looks like some kind of junior BMW 6 Convertible doesn’t it? BMW UK has unveiled the top of the line trim level for both the BMW 3-Series Coupe and BMW 3-Series Convertible - the M-Sport variant. M-Sport cars have been tricked out by BMW’s M division, but not so much as to earn themselves the iconic M-Series badge. Those are reserved for the M3, M5 and M6.

The BMW 3-Series Coupe and BMW 3-Series Convertible gets a new M Aerodynamic bodykit, Sport suspension which is stiffer and lowers the car by 15mm, 18 inch M star-spoke light alloy wheels and a 19-inch M Double-spoke light alloy wheel as an option. Window surrounds have high-gloss Shadow line exterior finishes. Moving on to the interior, the E92/E93 M Sport features sports seats wrapped with Blue Shadow cloth Alcantara. The M designation badge is everywhere, on doorsills, gearlevers, M leather steering wheel, etc.

The M-Sport trimmed E92 and E93 are only available in a choice of four metallic colors: Titanium Silver, Black Sapphire, Le Mans Blue, Sparkling Graphite; and two non-metallic colours: Alpine White, Crimson Red.

One more photo after the jump, and click any of the two photos in this post for a larger, clearer version.

Click here to read the rest of BMW 3 Convertible M-Sport

Click to enlarge

Dodge will be showcasing it’s new 2-seater rear wheel drive roadster concept at the 2007 Geneva International Motor Show next month. The concept aims to create an affordable sports car focusing on driving fun, open air driving, as well as powerful performance. Sounds alot like the Mazda MX-5 doesn’t it?

The Dodge Demon has Dodge’s trademark muscular look and cross grille, 19 inch wheels, and a 2.4 liter engine (likely the same 2.4 liter unit in the Dodge Caliber 2.4), making 172hp at 6,000rpm and 224Nm of torque at 4,400rpm.

Video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Dodge Demon to be unveiled at Geneva