Archive for Audi

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.

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Audi A1 artist’s impression

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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

I previously mentioned that the Audi TT S-line was as far as you’re going to get with a TT that looks fast as well as goes fast, if Audi does not release an Audi TT RS. I was wrong. This is Abt Sportsline’s take on the Audi TT – tuned up to 3 different variants – the Audi TT-R, the Audi TT-Sport and the Audi TT-iS. More details after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Abt Sportsline Audi TT

The Audi Q7 is built on a stretched version of the Touareg platform and has a new model in it’s line-up – the Audi Q7 6.0 liter V12 turbodiesel.

This massive oil burner is based on the Audi R10 Le Mans turbodiesel engine and makes a nice 500 horses and ONE THOUSAND newton meters of torque at a low 1,750rpm. Can you imagine that? 1000Nm at 1,750rpm? The Audi A4’s 280Nm at 1,800rpm was already impressive to me, I cannot possibly imagine how much push this engine has, and I would love to try it out one day. Simply COLOSSAL!

0 to 100km/h takes only 5.5 seconds, and top speed is electronically limited at 250km/h. The engine uses an advanced common rail direct injection system – a Bosch 29,000 psi pressure system which is a first in the world! Power delivery is channeled through a 6-speed slushbox that drives all four wheels – Audi’s trademark quattro system.

Click here to read the rest of Audi Q7 6.0 V12 TDI at Paris Motor Show

AutoExpress has some insider news on the new rumoured Audi TT RS, or rather the lack of such a model. AutoExpress says the S line upgrade for the Audi TT is as good as it gets for the new TT, and no Audi TT RS will be developed because it would clash with the upcoming Audi R8.

So if you want the TT to look fast as well as go fast, get the 3.2 V6 version and slap on the S line bodykit, but if that isn’t hot enough for you, better be prepared to fork out more cash for the Audi R8!

You have the Audi A4, the Audi S4 and then the top of the range Audi RS4, so naturally the new 2007 Audi TT needs to have an RS edition after the baseline model and S-line model (shown above) debut. Rumours are that the powerplant for the new TT RS will be a higher powered version of the current 2.0 liter TFSI, but there have also been talks of half a Gallardo 5.0 V10 engine, which would be an 2.5 liter inline-5.

The inline-5 is a pretty odd option which seems to be picked from out the air, so most people agree that a 2.0 liter TFSI is more likely, with an extra turbo thrown into the mix arranged in a sequential fashion. Power output is expected to be in the range of 300 to 350 horsepower. Another possible engine option would be a force inducted version of Volkswagen/Audi’s 3.2 liter or 3.6 liter FSI engine.

Speculated features of the Audi TT RS are Quattro all-wheel drive and either a six-speed manual gearbox or S-Tronic, Audi’s word for BorgWarner’s excellent DSG gearbox.

In a perfect world, I would own an Audi A4 2.0T Multitronic and it would be sitting in my parking lot everyday, just like the picture above. But the world is not perfect, but a good compromise would be a test drive so I can bring to you my thoughts on the latest B7 Audi A4 2.0T Multitronic, powered by the 2.0 liter TFSI engine of the Volkswagen Golf GTI fame. I managed to do quite a comprehensive test drive, covering traffic jams, parking lots, dry straights, dry bends, wet straights, wet windy roads, day and night. Check out the test drive report after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Audi A4 2.0T FSI Multitronic Test Drive Review

UPDATE: This is news of the B7 A4 1.8T launched in 2006. Read the latest news on the launching of the B8 Audi A4 1.8 TFSI in Malaysia.

Audi has introduced a new A4 into it’s current line-up, the Audi A4 1.8T. The Audi A4 1.8T comes with a 1.8 liter turbocharged engine making 163hp, with 225Nm of torque. The car goes from 0-100km/h in 8.6 seconds and has a top speed of 228km/h.

This model slots in between the Audi A4 2.0 Multitronic and the Audi A4 2.0 Turbo Multitronic in terms of both power and price. The new Audi A4 1.8T will cost you RM235,000 to park in your garage. Click here for other Audi car prices.

Most of you know and love the Volkswagen Golf GTI, so here’s it’s more luxurious sibling based on the same chassis. Euromobil Sdn Bhd launched the new 2006 Audi A3 Sportback in Malaysia at the Audi Roadshow at KLCC on the 18th of August 2006. We get the normally aspirated 2.0 FSI and the turbocharged 2.0 TFSI variants of this hot hatch, somehow missing the 3.2 V6. Let’s check out what this luxury hot hatch has.

Click here to read the rest of 2006 Audi A3 Sportback in Malaysia