Paul Tan on the Automotive Industry
Audi will be unveiling a concept version of its upcoming Audi A7 four-door coupe at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show in January to test the market’s reaction to the car’s styling. The CLS competitor has already been spotted on road tests and feature a fastback instead of a sedan bootlid.
It will slot between the Audi A6 and the Audi A8 in Ingolstadt’s product line-up and will go on sale in late 2009 or early 2010. Annual sales targets are 40,000 units worldwide.
Here we go, the Audi R8 taken to the next level, now powered by a V10 engine! Many an Audi R8 prototype cars have been sacrificed for this car to be finally unveiled today. Audi had experimented with the 580hp turbocharged V10 from the Audi RS6 in the R8′s snug engine bay and naturally the prototypes experienced overheating problems. A total of 3 prototypes have burned down to part car, part ash as of November last year.
So anyway clearly that did not work, despite Audi powertrain boss telling Autocar UK earlier this year that they’ve solved the overheating problems thanks to some innovations which also appeared on the Audi R8 V12 TDi Concept. But diesel engines usually run colder than petrol engines. Maybe it didn’t end up viable after all.
So this new more high powered you see here is powered by a normally aspirated V10. The Audi R8 5.2 FSI quattro’s engine is similiar if not the same as the 5.2 litre FSI V10 found in the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4. However it is detuned as it makes less power: 525hp at 8,000rpm and 530Nm at 6,500rpm compared to the LP560-4′s 560hp and 540Nm. But like the unit in the Gallardo, it sends power to all four wheels. 0 to 100km/h takes 3.9 seconds and the car goes on to a top speed of 316km/h.
The 5.2 litre FSI V10 long-stroke engine uses a dry sump lubrication system, which allows the engine to be mounted low in the engine bay, helping lower center of gravity. The engine itself has a low center of gravity thanks to the 90 degree cylinder angle. The crankcase is made of high-strengh aluminium alloy, the conrods of forged steel and the pistons of aluminium. The car’s weight distribution is what Audi calls an ideal 44:56. I wonder what has BMW and their 50:50 have to say about that.
Two transmissions are available, a 6-speed manual or a single clutch automated manual called the R-Tronic which I suspect is similiar to Lamborghini’s E-Gear automated manual. Both R-Tronic and the manual versions have a Launch Control feature which takes the car off the starting line as fast as possible with tire slip reined in to a minimum electronically. quattro all-wheel drive also helps out with this.
Brakes are large 380mm brakes at the front and 356mm brakes at the rear, which are all ventilated and are gripped by large 8-pot calipers at the front and 4-pot calipers at the rear. Optional is a ceramic brake system which is made of a composite material containing high-strength carbon fibers and abrasion-resistant silicon carbide. These brakes are 9kg lighter than the set of standard brakes, and cope better with racing requirements.
The Audi R8 5.2 FSI quattro suspension design uses double wishbones made of aluminium at both the front and rear. The shocks feature Audi magnetic ride as standard, which adapts the damping characteristics within milliseconds according to road conditions and driving style. Audi magnetic ride uses magnetic particles in the shock absorber’s oil which rearrange themselves to slow down the flow of oil through the valves when a voltage is applied.
Look after the jump for a gallery of the new R8 V10.
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Audi released this 2 minute long video of the Audi R8 LMS tearing up the race track. The R8 LMS is a GT3 spec car which sends over 500 horsepower to the rear wheels instead of the regular R8′s four wheels as GT3 doesn’t allow all-wheel drive. It’ll cost 262,000 Euros including VAT. Look after the jump to watch the video.
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Audi has just unveiled the cabriolet versions of the Audi A5 and its faster, more powerful S5 sibling. These convertibles based on the new MLP platform will replace the B7 Audi A4 Cabriolet, as the A5 is essentially the 2-door version of the A4. It will be launched in the US in fall 2009 as a 2010 model.
The A5 will be available with various engines including a 2.0 TFSI inline-4, a 3.2 FSI V6 and your usual plethora of TDI diesel engines, while the S5 Cabriolet will debut the 3.0 litre supercharged V6 engine which produces 333 horsepower and 440Nm of torque. This is mated to a 7-speed S-Tronic twin clutch transmission. The S5 Coupe will also get this engine and gearbox combination, but only until the end of 2009 until of which it will continue to be sold with the 4.2 litre V8 and a 6-speed manual or a 6-speed Tiptronic auto.
The Audi S5′s latest generation 40:60 split quattro all-wheel drive is improved over the S5 Coupe’s quattro as it gets a new quattroSport rear differential which is kind of like a torque vectoring device. It can vary torque distribution between the the left and right wheels on the rear axle.
Look after the jump for photo galleries of both the A5 and S5 Cabrio.
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This is the Audi R8 GT3 codenamed R16 which was unveiled at the Essen Motor Show this week. The R8 conforms to GT3 regulations, which means its V10′s 500+ horsepower is sent to the rear wheels instead of the road-going car’s all-wheel drive. Power is transmitted via a new 6-speed sequential gearbox not from the road car, but most of the suspension is from the production line. The front end and rear end has been appropriately modified (note the huge GT wing) for greater race-worthy downforce. The price tag? 262,000 Euros including VAT.
As for the Le Mans race, Audi has something new in store. The R10 TDI will be replaced in June 2009 with a new race car called the Audi R15 TDI which will use a smaller, lighter and more efficient TDI engine. Audi promises the step from the R10 to the R15 will be significantly larger than from the R8 to the R10.
Audi claims the new Audi A4L is the first long wheelbase version of a car in its segment, and they’re probably right. Long wheelbase versions are usually available for large cars such as the A8 and the 7-Series, but the Chinese market’s preferences favour more legroom, a larger interior and simply more metal for your money, so we get to see special extended cars for the Chinese market as their volume can justify the R&D.
There is even such as a long wheelbase E60 BMW 5-Series in China, and while the Audi A8 naturally has its A8L counterpart, Audi has also offered a long wheelbase Audi A6L in China since the year 2000. The addition of the A4L means there are now extended versions of all of Audi’s sedans, even though they aren’t offered in all markets.
The Audi A4L has a full 60mm longer wheelbase at 2868mm compared to the normal A4′s 2808mm wheelbase. This is even longer than the short wheelbase A6 which only has a 2843mm wheelbase! It’s naturally longer at 4760mm compared to the A4′s 4705mm length, but the SWB A6 is still longer than the A4L at 4927mm. This benefits the rear seat passengers, allowing easier ingress and egress into the rear bench and greater legroom.
Two engine choices are available – a 180 horsepower 2.0 TFSI engine or a 3.2 litre FSI V6 engine producing 265 horsepower.
I think this is still perfectly acceptable and it makes sense. Things will only start to get silly when we see car manufacturers attempt to stretch something that is generally meant to look a certain way to most people, like a long wheelbase Audi TT or something. Oh wait, that’s already been done. It’s called the MINI Clubman.
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Audi is bringing the whole four-door coupe thing to the premium C-segment market with the Audi A5 Sportback. From the official preview sketches released above, the Audi A5 Sportback is essentially a four-door version of the Audi A5, which technically should be the Audi A4, but these days nearly everyone knows you can apparently create totally new cars just by reshaping the roofline, heh. The other A5 variant to be released in the near future is a cabriolet, which should be largely based on the 2-door coupe’s design but with the roof chopped off.
Audi’s A1 Sportback Concept displayed at the 2008 Paris Motor Show picks up where the Audi metroproject quattro concept left off last year at Tokyo 2008. This time the preview to the upcoming A1 is in a 5-door guise instead of the Tokyo concept’s 3-door body.
Inside the engine bay is a 150 PS version of VW’s 1.4 litre TSI petrol engine with a nice 240Nm of torque between 1,600rpm and 4,000rpm. There is also a 27hp electric motor that can provide an additional 150Nm of twisting power whenever needed.
This motor seems to be smaller than the metroproject quattro’s unit which was capable of 40hp and 200Nm of torque. Also, in the previous concept car, the motor was positioned at the rear axle giving the car all-wheel drive but in this concept the motor is integrated into the drivetrain powering the front wheels together with the combustion engine.
When the Audi drive select is set to the default efficiency mode, the electric motor will be run selectively as the sole power source to minimize the use of the combustion engine. The brain that controls this also communicates with the onboard satnav system. For example, when you key in a journey that will take a distance of less than 50km, only the electric motor will be used.
The lithium-ion batteries that the motor draws its power from can provide enough power for up to a maximum of 100km on a full charge. The car is also a plug-in hybrid – the batteries can be recharged via plugging the car into a regular power outlet. Whenever maximum power is needed, both powerplants can function at once delivering maximum propulsion.
This is also one of the few hybrids which do not use a CVT transmission, instead sending power to the wheels via an S-Tronic dual clutch transmission with a new ESP-controlled active front differential lock.
Something else interesting is the Audi mobile device which has evolved from the mobile control unit that was found in the metroproject quattro. This time, such functionality will be available with any mobile phone that supports a special software you can download from the internet – I assume any J2ME phone would work. The phone would also need wifi support as it communicates with the car through an access point in the car.
The software will allow you to pre-plan your onboard satnav route from the phone while you are still in your home or office. But it won’t work if your office is very far away from the car park though as wifi range is not that far. You can also constantly monitor the status of your car such as whether all windows and doors are closed or not.
Look after the jump for more hi-res shots of the Audi A1 Sportback Concept.
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The 2.0 litre TFSI engine in the Audi S3 producing 265 PS at 6,000rpm and 350Nm of torque between 2,500 to 5,000rpm finally gets the 7-speed version of the S-Tronic dual clutch transmission. This means there is now a 7-speed version of the DSG that can take this levels of torque, so it should appear on a Volkswagen (Golf GTI?) soon enough.
The Audi S3 equipped with the S-Tronic gearbox goes from 0 to 100km/h faster than the manual transmission version, and has lower emissions and better fuel economy too. The acceleration time drops by 0.2 seconds to 5.5 seconds, while the combined fuel economy goes from 33.2mpg to 34mpg. CO2 output falls by 5g/km from 198g/km to 183g.km. The S-Tronic gearbox is a £1,450 option over the base S3.
Other upgrades to the new Audi S3 S-Tronic include a quattro all-wheel drive system which responds faster to different traction and front-rear torque bias requirements.
Audi has unveiled initial details and a set of photos of the new B8 Audi S4 in both sedan and Avant bodystyles. As expected, the new S4 loses its V8 power to a 3.0 litre supercharged direct injection V6 engine producing 333 horsepower and 440Nm of torque.
The S4 sedan goes from 0 to 100km/h in 5.1 seconds while the Avant does the same in 5.2 seconds. Fuel consumption is expected to be at about 9.7 litres per 100km for the sedan and 9.9 litres per 100km for the Avant. The 3.0 litre V6 engine is mated to either a 6-speed manual transmission or a 7-speed S-Tronic (DSG) twin clutch gearbox and sends power to all four wheels via a Quattro system with a 40:60 front-rear bias by default.
Styling changes are not excessive, that is perhaps reserved for the B8 RS4. The S4 features a front bumper with a slightly different design and a grille with vertically opposed bars. There are also nice sports seats in the black interior.
Look after the jump for a hi-res gallery of the B8 S4.
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