Archive for Audi

Audi has set up a teaser microsite for the upcoming Audi A5 Coupe, the latest car to join the Audi family. As previously posted, the A5 is an exciting car to be waiting for, as it will be the first car to debut with Audi’s new flexible MLP platform, short for Modular Platform for longtitudinally mounted engines. Read the related posts links below to find out more about this MLP platform.

Anyway, from the official teaser image above on the A5 Microsite, you can clearly see the top profile, and a little bit of the side profile, it is clear that there is only one door on each side of the car, making this a classic two-door coupe, none of that 4-door crossover coupe-sedan stuff. However, there is talk that a larger A7 Coupe will be a 4-door coupe.

The Audi A5 will be shown at the Geneva Motor Show 2007, but in the meanwhile, check out the microsite: Audi A5 Microsite

Related Posts:
Audi A5 to feature new MLP platform
2008 Audi A5 Artists Impression

A report by UK’s Autocar magazine says Audi’s A5 will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show this year. Despite talk that the A5 will be a 4-door coupe competitor to the Mercedes Benz CLS, spy shots have suggested the Audi A5 will most likely a classic 2-door coupe, very sleek, very nice, very similiar to the previously exhibited Audi Nuvolari Concept pictured above. The Audi Nuvolari quattro Concept made it’s debut at the 2003 Geneva Motor Show, so you can say 4 years later it will be reincarnated as the Audi A5!

Debuting for the first time is the usage of Audi’s new MLP platform, which stands for Modular Platform for longtitudinally mounted engines. Current Audis like the Audi A4 I tested last year has it’s engine positioned longtitudinally ahead of the front axle, hence the long front overhang and a very nose-heavy weight balance. Audi’s new MLP chassis has the engine mounted longtitudinally behind the axle, allowing for better weight balance. Combined with quattro, Audi has the ability to tune cars using the new MLP chassis to either understeer or oversteer or have neutral handling.

More photos of the Audi Nuvolari Concept after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Audi A5 to be shown at Geneva 2007, to feature new flexible MLP platform

Other than our delight in a new MINI-killer Audi, the announcement that the new Audi A1 will be produced at Volkswagen’s Forest plant in Brussels, Belgium offers hope to the 5,300 employees there who risk ending up jobless, though full time production of the car will only require 3,000 employees. So the 2,300 others still have something to worry about. Volkswagen had originally planned to shut down the Brussels plant in early July this year, and had announced late last month that it would be cutting down it’s Brussels plant staff down to 1,500 workers, because it was transferring Golf production to two plants in Germany. Feeling a combination of fear and anger, the workers went on strike.

Back to the matter of the little car, artist’s impressions by Autobild of Germany have been around since mid 2006. Volkswagen group head Bernd Pischetsrieder expressed his concern that the price of the A1, set to be based on the Volkswagen Fox platform and will be the smallest Audi ever, might be too close to the Audi A3 if priced at a premium in relative to it’s size. But if priced cheaper, it might damage Audi’s prestige.

The little Audi A1 is set to be released as a 2009 model. I have doubts about Audi’s large trapezoidal shield grille design working well on a small car, but imagine one with a high output version of a 1.4 TFSI. Yum.

Related Posts:
Audi A1 artist’s impression

Source

Along with the recently launched TT Coupe comes it’s open top brother - the 2007 Audi TT Roadster! Using the same advanced Audi Space Frame (ASF) comprising of 58 percent aluminium and 42 percent steel to minimize weight, the new TT Roadster is 100 percent more rigid than it’s predecessor, and there are a choice of two engines to propel it’s 1,295kg of weight forward.

Despite most manufacturers steering towards hard top convertibles, the Audi TT Roadster retains a cloth top built around a steel and aluminium support framework, which opens and closes in 12 seconds using a Z-fold system and can be operated at speeds up to 50km/h. The soft top hood also incorporates a heated glass rear window.

Engine options are the same as it’s hard top brother - a 2.0 liter Turbo FSI engine making 200PS put down through the front wheels, or a 3.2 liter V6 normally aspirated engine putting out 250PS with Quattro all wheel drive. Both variants come stock with a 6-speed manual transmission, but can be upgraded to a 6-speed S-Tronic gearbox, which is what Audi calls it’s DSG transmission.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of 2007 Audi TT Roadster unveiled

Euromobil Sdn Bhd has revised the pricelist for Audi cars in Malaysia once again. After the NAP was announced earlier this year, prices for Audi cars generally went up, as listed in my previous post. This is the latest revision, the second time this year, effective from October 2006 onwards. As you can see, after prices going up abit in September, it has dropped again for the Audi A4, perhaps to stay competitive against it’s CKD German competitors. A pity for those who bought the A4 in September then, you’ll be losing some money. The prices for the A6 remain the same, while the A8 has gone up abit since the post-NAP prices. New on this pricelist are prices for the Audi Q7 SUV, launched recently in Malaysia.

Click here to read the rest of New Audi CBU Pricelist, 2nd revision

German specialist automaker Funke & Will has updated their Yes! roadster, a hand-built Lotus Elise competitor with a new engine - Audi’s 3.2 liter V6 engine.

There are 2 options for the 3.2 liter V6 - in normally aspirated form or turbocharged form. In normally aspirated form, you get stock figures of 250hp, but when forced induction is added to the mix, power goes up to 355hp and 488Nm of torque! This power together with the roadster’s light weight of 997kg results in a 0-100km/h acceleration time of 3.6 seconds. For those hungry for more power, there is an additional boost kit upgrade which brings power up to 385hp.

Prices for the Yes! Roadster start at US$72,000, which is actually far from the Elise price range - the base Elise only costs US$42,990. While the car is already light, there is an even more stripped down version called the Yes! Cup/R for track enthusiasts.

Click here to read the rest of Funke & Will Yes! Roadster

Here are more photos of the Audi R8, straight from the 2006 Paris Motor Show, thanks to paultan.org correspondent Ben Corley. As with the previous post with details of the 2007 Audi R8, click each photo for an enlarged version. For all the photos, check out the full post after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of 2006 Paris Motor Show Gallery: Audi R8

Rumours about the Audi R8 can now finally be put to rest, with Audi revealing the car at the Paris Motor Show 2006 along with official specifications.

While originally there was talk about a variation of Lamborghini’s 5.0 liter V10 being used in the car, now we know the Audi R8 will come with a single engine option - a 4.2 liter normally aspirated V8 similiar to the unit in the Audi RS4, and two transmission options - a 6-speed manual and an R-tronic sequential shift. 0-100km/h takes 4.6 seconds, and the car has a top speed of 300km/h.

The 1,560kg Audi Space Frame aluminium-body Audi R8 is a mid-engined, all-wheel drive coupe, powered by a 4.2 liter V8 producing 420PS at 7,800rpm, revving all the way up to a 8,250rpm redline.

Torque peaks at 430Nm constant between 4,500rpm and 6,000rpm. The all-wheel drive system is of course Audi’s acclaimed quattro system, and the car has a pretty good weight balance of 44:56, not a perfect 50:50 but close. Wheels are either 5 or 6-spoke 19 inch wheels fitted with 235/50/R19 tyres at front and wider 295/50/R19 at the rear.

The Audi R8 has a rather busy exterior look, there are no blank areas of sheet metal here - the opposite of Skoda’s design cues I would say. A little too busy for me though, it looses some of it’s sleekness. There’s no flow of lines. I love Audis, but sad to say I don’t like the R8’s exterior design.

The front headlamps are the first in the world in a production car to use LEDs - the LEDs provide four functions - dipped beam, main beam, daytime running lights and turn indicators. The headlamps are inspired by the Sydney Opera house. While the first few batches of Audi R8 cars will only be available with conventional bulb lights, the LED headlamps will be available from end-2007 onwards.

You will be able to order the new Audi R8 by the end of this year. The 6-speed manual is expected to go for £77,000, while the R tronic sequential-shift gearbox is estimated to go for £82,000. The car is available in 4 colours - Jet Blue Metallic, Ice Silver Metallic, Daytona Grey Pearl, and Phantom Black Pearl. The sideblade area is available in different colours according to which body colour you pick.

More photos and an engine torque/power graph after the jump. Enlarged versions are available by just clicking the image.

Click here to read the rest of 2007 Audi R8 Specifications and Photos Revealed

Audi launched three new engines at the 2006 Paris Motor Show - one being a new 2.8 liter V6 FSI engine with Audi’s new valvelift system, a new 1.8 liter Turbo FSI engine and a new more powerful variant of the venerable 2.0 liter Turbo FSI engine that will find it’s way into the new Audi S3 hot hatch.

The new 2.8 liter V6 FSI engine which will debut in the Audi A6 makes 210hp at 5,500rpm as well as a constant peak torque wave of 280Nm between 3,000rpm and 5,000rpm. The new engine is a shorter stroke version of it’s 3.2 liter big brother, 82.4mm instead of 92.8mm, and retains the same bore of 84.5mm, making it a slightly oversquare configuration. The engine uses an alloy crankcase which gives it a weight of only 165kg. Precise 100 bar pressure FSI direct injection allows a high compression ratio of 12.0:1.

New to the engine is Audi’s valvelift system which gives the engine two valve lift profiles on the intake cam. The higher cam profile opens valve through 11mm, while the other cam opens the intake valves at two different lifts - one at 5.7mm and the other at 2mm. This is deliberately done for a swirl and tumble flow effect for intake air. The transition between the two cam profiles is smoothened out via a combination of tricks like temporary retardation of ignition, adjustment of camshafts and closing of throttle valves.

A slightly different style of how an engine is built is shown in the form of the new 1.8 Turbo FSI engine. The new 1.8 TFSI engine has higher pressure six-hole injectors - up to 150 bar. A watercooled Borg Warner K03 turbocharger gives the 1.8 TFSI engine a good torque figure of 165Nm at just 1,000rpm, and this peaks at 250Nm slightly further up in the rev range at 1,500rpm - this figure stretches all the way up to 4,200rpm. Peak horsepower is 160hp from 5,000rpm to 6,200rpm. Compression ratio is lower than the 2.0 TFSI though, at only 9.6:1 compression.

The final engine is the new motor that goes into the Audi S3 hot hatch, an updated 2.0 TFSI with a higher power of 265bhp at 6,000rpm and a stronger peak torque of 320Nm constant up to 5,000rpm. To keep up with the stronger boost, the engine features pistons with stronger pins, stronger conrods and a reinforced cylinder block made of a new highly heat-resistant alloy.

Click here to read the rest of Audi debuts new 2.8 FSI V6, 1.8 TFSI and 2.0 TFSI

After a nice experience with the Audi A4 2.0 TFSI, I had a short encounter with the new Audi A4 1.8T which was launched just recently by Euromobil Sdn Bhd, slotted between the Audi A4 2.0 and the Audi A4 2.0 TFSI. Check out my report after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Audi A4 1.8T Short Test Drive Review