Audi is adding another body variant to it’s Audi A3 hatchback. The new Audi A3 cabriolet will join it’s 3-door and 5-door hatchback brothers. Other manufacturers have been coming up with C-segment hatchback convertibles like the Peugeot 307CC and even the Kia ex_cee’d, though that’s still at a concept stage now.
Abt Sportsline has tuned up the Audi S3 both in terms of looks as well as under the hood. The car also rides on a specially tuned Abt suspension. On the outside you have a subtle Abt bodykit as well as 19″ Abt AR 5-spoke alloy wheels, but what will send your heart racing is what’s under the hood.
The 2.0 liter TFSI engine has had it’s boost upped resulting in a 45 horsepower and 70Nm increase - it now makes a total of 310 horsepower and 350Nm of torque, which reduces 0-100km/h acceleration time down to 5.4 seconds. You get to hear all 310 horses through a special Abt sports exhaust system.
One more rear shot of the car after the jump. Click here to read the rest of Abt Sportsline tunes up the Audi S3
The baseline Audi A3 has had it’s 1.6 liter FSI engine replaced with a 1.4 liter TSI turbocharged engine, mirroring the steps that parent Volkswagen took with the A3’s platform-mate, the Volkswagen Golf.
This engine is the 1.4 TSI model with only a single turbocharger instead of the TSI super-turbo which uses both a supercharger and a turbocharger. It makes 122 horsepower in total and 200Nm of torque which is the equivalent of what a modern 2.0 liter normally aspirated engine puts out.
0-100km/h acceleration is improved over the previous 1.6 normally aspirated FSI by over a second down to 9.6 seconds, CO2 output drops to 154g/km from 158g/km and fuel economy goes up to 43.5mpg.
Related Posts:
New 122hp turbocharged 1.4 liter and 7-speed DSG from Volkswagen
Volkswagen’s TSI engine
While we are still arguing over whether xenon headlamps should be legal or not, the whole world has moved on with the latest in automotive lighting technology - LEDs. Some cars already have LED tail lamps - the most affordable one locally bein the Perodua Myvi. But Audi has been pioneering the use of LEDs for frontal lighting.
Audi has already made LED lighting a daytime running light option for some of it’s cars - the R8, A5, S5, S6 and the A8. LEDs can also be used as turn signals, but something new is clusters of LED lights used for low beam and high beam lights.
An LED headlamp from Audi uses a cluster of 54 LED light sources grouped together as a single light source. A single LED head lamp assembly consists of a few modules. The low-beam headlight module uses an array of four LEDs for each of the upper and lower reflector shells with range and light/dark boundary via the plastic lens from three arrays of two LEDs.
The high-beam headlight reflectors use one array of four LEDs per reflector shell, the turn signals use 8 yellow high-performance LEDs, and finally the daytime running light strips: 24 white Advanced Power TopLEDs with optical fibers for homogeneous illumination. The headlamps also have two cooling fans built into them, but they are not to cool the LEDs, instead they push the heat from the LED forwards to melt ice or snow stuck onto the lense.
Advantages that LED technology has over halogen or xenon bulbs are smaller size, increased durability, increased lifespan and low energy consumption. LEDs are also more flexible in the sense that the arrays can be configured in such a way that the classic headlamp shape is no longer necessary, thus giving the designers abit more room for creativity. Audi is confident that LED lighting will take over as the primary light source in vehicles in the future.
Audi has slotted it’s recently announced 2.8 liter FSI V6 into it’s flagship Audi A8 sedan, giving it a relatively good fuel consumption of 8.3 liters per 100km - not bad at all for a huge limo. The new Audi Valvelift-equipped FSI V6 puts out 210 horsepower and 280Nm of torque between 3,000rpm and 5,000rpm.
This new variant also gets facelifted on the inside and outside together with the new engine option. Audi engineers have made the steering more direct, and running gear has been reengineered to provide better handling. The adaptive air suspension has also been tweaked, and noise insulation has been improved.
The new facelifted Audi A8 also has new active safety features added to the car 0 these include Audi Lane Assist and Audi Side Assist. Audi Side Assist uses radar to warn the driver of dangerous lane-changing maneuvers. A yellow LED in the wing mirror housing lights up if there is another vehicle in the next lane, and this LED gets progressively brighter and flashes more quickly as the situation gets more critical.
Audi Lane Assist uses a small camera positioned above the rear view mirror to warn the driver of unintentional departure from the lane, thanks to a sensor connected to the camera that detects the lane marking lines on the road.
Audi has sold over 100,000 units of the Audi A8 so far.
Related Posts:
Audi debuts new 2.8 FSI V6, 1.8 TFSI and 2.0 TFSI
Car Magazine has some exclusive juicy details on the new Audi A1. The upcoming Audi A1 will not be a premium 2008 Volkswagen Polo with a new body as some of you might be expecting. Why not, considering the Volkswagen group’s ability to cost-effectively share platforms across all of the marques under it’s umbrella. Mainly because of quattro - Audi’s new B-segment hatchback will offer Audi’s trademark all-wheel drive.
It will do so through it’s new MQB underpinnings, which is Audi’s new platform for cars with transverse engines, as opposed to the longtitudinal-engined MLP that you all are now familiar with thanks to the Audi A5. This same platform will also be the underlying mechanicals for the next generation Audi A3 as well as the next generation Golf GTI.
The top of the range Audi S1 gets a 200 horsepower turbo engine and Audi’s quattro system. The petrol Audi A1 will use a series of 1.4 liter TSI engines that come either in normally aspirated, turbocharged, or twincharged form with engine output ranging from 65hp, 85hp, 105hp, 140hp and 170hp. You can probably guess the last two engines are likely similiar to the two engines available in the Golf GT Sport.
Oil burner versions of the Audi A1 will use a 1.6 liter 4-cylinder TDI turbodiesel in 75, 90, 105 and 130bhp power ratings. Both the petrol and the diesel cars will have the option to be equipped with the new DG250 7-speed dry clutch DSG.
Audi wants to build 100,000 units of the A1 and S1 in 2010, and a CrossPolo-ish version called the Q1 will also come later. It will go against BMW’s MINI, but is expected to undercut the MINI’s pricing. These sketches remind me of the Audi Shooting Brake Concept shown back in 2005.
One more rear sketch after the jump. Click here to read the rest of Audi A1 sketches leaked!
The new second generation Audi TT Coupe is now available for purchase through Audi’s local distributors Euromobil Sdn Bhd.
Interested parties can go check it out at the Audi Hangar in Glenmerie, but try not to be distracted by the A3 and the Golf GTI, as despite having the same engine the TT Coupe is a totally different animal altogether. 
The 2+2 coupe is priced at RM368,000.00 and the roadster model will be launched here at an unspecified later date. Euromobil previously offered the first generation Audi TT 1.8T for RM315,000.
Related Posts:
Abt Sportsline Audi TT
Abt Sportsline says it found kitting up the Audi A5 a real challenge as the car was already uniquely beautiful to begin with. You’re looking at the result here in this post - a bodykit and a quad-tailpipe rear muffler.
Forget about it’s looks - what’s important is under it’s hood. Audi’s 3.0 liter TDI turbodiesel has been tuned up from 240 horsepower to 272 horsepower via an engine management upgrade, and there is an option for an upgraded Abt turbocharger to boost power up to 300 horses. Click here to read the rest of Abt AS5 - tuned up Audi A5
Automotive graphic artist and photographer Matt Daniels has created these really good looking renders of how the 2009 Audi A4 might look like for Audi World. The upcoming B8-series Audi A4 will be based on Audi’s new MLP platform which made it’s world debut in the Audi A5/S5 coupe. Daniels’ rendering of the 2009 A4 is more evolutionary than revolutionary, which is what Audi has been doing with it’s A4’s design cues anyway. This latest A4 gets Audi’s curvy wave shoulder line that is found on the A5.
The new MLP platform promises better handling due to a more balanced positioning of the engine, which might be what it takes to turn the Audi A4/S4/Rs4 into a proper big power sports saloon instead of just a normal sedan with a huge engine. Because of the different positioning, front and rear overhangs will be reduced, although this is not really very apparent on recent spyshots of the new A4 on test. Perhaps they have a longer overhang bumper slapped on for disguise purposes. The new B8 A4 will be only one inch longer than the current B7 A4, however wheelbase will increase a full 6 inches. That’s 5 inches of reduced overhang.
Related Posts:
2009 Audi A4 Spyshots
Audi A4 (B7) 1.8T Short Test Drive
Audi A4 (B7) 2.0T FSI Multitronic Test Drive
The Audi Q7 has been available in Malaysia since November 2006, with prices pegged at RM580,000 for the 3.0 liter TDI turbodiesel variant, and RM750,000 for the V8-powered Audi Q7 4.2 FSI Tiptronic. But as for it’s official launch, that just happened recently in the previous week. Prices are not exactly the same - the 3.0 TDI is now RM580,200, while the 4.2 TSI V8 is now pegged at RM750,200.
The Audi Q7 3.0 TDI is powered by a V6 turbodiesel that puts out 233 horsepower at 4,000rpm, and 500Nm of torque from between 1,750rpm to 2,750rpm. The V8 petrol variant makes 350 horsepower at 6,800rpm and 440Nm of torque at 3,500rpm. Yeah, this is not the same 4.2 V8 as the one in the Audi RS4, but a detuned, lower revving version. Check out more on the Audi Q7 through the links below.
Related Posts:
Audi Q7 SUV
Audi Q7 Hybrid Concept
Audi Q7 6.0 V12 TDI at Paris Motor Show
