Archive for Audi

Here is an initial batch of 6 photos of the latest variant of the B8 Audi A4, the allroad quattro. Much like its larger sibling the A6 allroad quattro, the A4 allroad quattro is essentially an A4 avant that gets offroader styling, two tone flared wheel arches, underbody guards and a raised suspension.

The engine offering will be similiar to the rest of the A4 range, a varied bunch of excellent motors that range from the 211hp EA888 2.0 TFSI to a diesel V6 with 3.0 liters of displacement, putting out 240hp and a massive 500Nm of torque. All allroad models will have permanent quattro all-wheel drive to justify its offroader looks, but unlike Volkswagen who sticks with a 6-speed auto for its SUVs for better offroading capabilities, the A4 allroad quattro uses an S-Tronic dual clutch transmission.

More shots will likely be released before or during the car’s Geneva debut, so stay tuned!

Click here to read the rest of Audi A4 allroad quattro ready for Geneva 2009!

The UK market Audi A4 2.0 TFSI quattro and A5 2.0 TFSI quattro are now available with the new 7-speed S-Tronic twin clutch transmission, something previously only available in the S4 models in that range.

The transmission was first used in an Audi with the Q5 and the S4 Saloon and Avant. This improves fuel economy and reduces CO2 output for the automatic models to values that are equivalent or below the respective manual transmission models.

The S-Tronic transmission is a premium of £1,420 over manual transmission models, which translates to £27,170 OTR for the A4 2.0 TFSI quattro S tronic, £28,295 OTR for the A4 Avant 2.0 TFSI quattro S tronic and £31,065 OTR for the A5 2.0 TFSI quattro S tronic. The B8 A4 is available here in Malaysia but with a 1.8 TFSI engine and a CVT transmission with the option to use 8 virtual gear ratios.

Audi says the success of the Audi Sportback started with the Audi A3 Sportback. Sales of the 5-door wagonish model outperformed the 3-door hatchback version. They consider this a market trend so Audi wants to expand this Sportback brand with both a larger and a smaller model. We’ve previously seen the smaller model, the Audi A1 Sportback showed in concept form sometime last year. Now it’s time to take a look at the bigger car, the new Audi Sportback Concept which previews the future Audi A7 four-door.

Most of the styling elements have been derived from the A5 coupe, but the wavy shoulderline that made the A5 unique is missing. The front end has a new interpretation of Audi’s single frame grille which eliminates the vertical struts, leaving only the horizontal lines which like their counterparts on shirts make the car look wider. The outer countour of the single-frame grille is also an evolution of the one shown on the Audi A1 Sportback concept car.

The new Audi Sportback measures 4,950mm long, 1,930mm wide and 1,400mm tall, compared to the Audi A6 sedan’s 4,916mm length, 2,012mm width and 1,461mm height. So this vehicle is longer, wider but sits lower. It’s so long that it even exceeds the Audi A6 Avant’s 4,933mm length. But it is shorter than the Audi A8 SWB’s 5,051mm length. It’s quite a porker too, but understandable based on its size, weighing in at a massive 1,800kg.

Under the hood, and pretty unusual for an American debut until recently is the use of a 3.0 liter TDI V6 engine that is equipped with an AdBlue catalytic converter. AdBlue is an additive thats added to the exhaust stream to reduce harmful content in emissions. This engine makes 225 horsepower and 550Nm of torque, mated to a 7-speed S-Tronic transmission. The car also has quattro all-wheel drive to channel all that torque to four wheels effectively. The S-Tronic gearbox has a new feature in this concept car, it has transmission oil heating which helps it reach the optimum internal operating tempreature earlier for a lower level of internal friction.

More features that help it sip fuel include brake energy regeneration, low roll resistance tyres, an automatic start-stop system, and an electric power steering that only uses energy when cornering and not when the car is driven in a straight line. This helps it achieve an ECE fuel economy of 5.9 liters per 100km and 156g/km of emissions.

Look after the jump for a hi-res gallery.

Click here to read the rest of 2009 Audi Sportback Concept: official details

Click for enlarged image

First hi-res images of the Audi A7 Sportback Concept (the nameplate on the car seems to say Audi Sportback Concept) set to be displayed at the Detroit Auto Show tomorrow have been unveiled on the internet. The front-end looks alot like the ones shown on the Audi metroproject quattro and its evolution, the Audi A1 Sportback Concept, except the front grille loses the vertical slats, leaving only the horizontal ones.

It has a fastback roofline, more like the Porsche Panamera rather than the Aston Martin Rapide, which might lead some to think its going to have a hatchback boot, but a look an image of the rear after the jump and you can see the bootlid’s lines do not really meet the rear glass in a way that a hatch would, but then again Audi could also be doing a hatchback-sedan dual bootlid combo much like Skoda’s new Superb.

The Audi A7 is said to be larger than the Audi A6 and built on the new Audi MLP platform, which is modular in terms of length and width to suit different sizes of cars while retaining many components in the interests of economies of scale.

4 more images after the jump!

Click here to read the rest of Audi Sportback Concept pre-Detroit leaked images preview upcoming Audi A7 four-door coupe

First of all, I’m pretty sure this has nothing to do with Barack Obama becoming the US President. The new Audi A3 Black Edition is available in all three Audi A3 bodytypes, namely the 3-door, the 5-door Spotback and the Audi A3 Cabriolet. Available powertrain options are the 1.8 liter and 2.0 liter TFSI engines, and two different 2.0 TDI engines.

The A3 Black Edition is based on the S-Line trim level and features a de-chromed front grille, black surrounds for the roll bars and shoulderline for the Cabriolet, 18 inch S-line alloy wheels with a dark titanium finish, privacy glass from the B-pillar to the back, and also Brilliant Black paint. If you want, Phantom Black is also available at extra cost. Audi is even allowing you to choose a non-black premium colour if you pay more – Misano Red and Monza Silver. But what’s the point of a Black Edition car when it’s no black?

Even on the inside, the black theme carries on. The interior features high gloss Piano black inlays, and the Cabriolet version is specced with a black acoustic hood.

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 liter 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 liter 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.

Click here to read the rest of V10-power: Audi R8 5.2 FSI quattro finally unveiled!

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 liter 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 liter 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.

Click here to read the rest of Audi unveils new A5 and S5 Convertible duo

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.