Though based on the same platform and sharing the same drivetrain, the new S6 sedan and S7 Sportback are distinctly different cars. We hit the winding roads of the undulating and slithering Hudson River Valley in upstate New York in order to get a taste and also to catalog the differences.
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That the grass is always greener on the other side of the pond for import car enthusiasts seems to be a universal norm. As Americans we envision Europeans blasting away on empty autobahns in obscure Audi S or RS models that we simply don’t get and shifting their manual transmissions that, more often than not nowadays, they don’t even get. And while that may be what we imagine, the reality is that the autobahn is getting more and more congested and that a tank of ‘petrol’ is exceedingly expensive on the ‘right’ side of the Atlantic. Over there small displacement tends to be the more likely euro reality and cars like the A5 Sportback may already be Euro only, but ordered as a 1.8 TFSI and without quattro is a much more likely scenario for a German Audi owner than is an RS 4 Avant. Having always lusted for the A5 Sportback, we decided to sample the car and see if even the smallest engine variant would capture our hearts.
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As impressive an engine like the 3.0 Bi-TDI is, there’s always room for improvement and Audi engineers are experimenting with one particularly intriguing new technology. Recently we had a chance to drive an A6 Bi-TDI development mule boasting a very interesting new component fitted to this motor – an electric biturbo.
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Let’s be honest. Enthusiasts tend to loathe crossovers. It’s not that those cars spanning the gap between full-on SUV and low-slung station wagon are bad vehicles… just that their very presence (looking at you Audi Q5) are likely the reason for the endangered status of the Avant here in America. With its quick rise to #2 in sales volume status for Audi of America, you can’t deny that the Q5 isn’t better suited to American tastes… but as en enthusiast I’d always thought I’d opt for an S4 Avant over a Q5. It is with that mentality and knowledge of the preference of our most ardent readers that I boarded a plane to Germany this summer in order to test Audi’s new and improved Q5 range. More…
Las Vegas, NV – “The Strip”, Las Vegas’ main street isn’t exactly the first place you’d think to test-drive a high performance concept car. Lacking a name like “Tail of the Dragon” that suggests sinewy S-curves and 180-degree switchbacks with deceptively decreasing radii, Vegas’ Strip goes more for the triple entrendre of byway, place where you can readily lose your shirt and place where women named after Disney characters readily lose much more than a shirt while in close proximity to shiny pole and even shinier glitter. No, there’s no suggestion of intense driving experience here, but several miles of stop and go traffic in virtually a straight line might just be perfect for Audi AG handlers to give us a taste of their priceless ultimate hot hatch concept without actually placing it in harm’s way… that is of course if you don’t count the throngs of tourists and drunkards on the sidewalk or the thick traffic of weekday rush hour. Oh well, at least we have a police escort. More…
Audi recently held the launch of the all-new Audi A3 in Spain and Autoblog European editor Matt Davis has filed a report. In the piece, Davis defines the context of the A3 model in general and then talks a bit more about what the US can expect. The story also includes a large photo gallery with downloadable wallpaper sizes of the new A3 – mainly a red S-line example.
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Pamplona, Spain – It’s early morning when our plane touches down on the blindingly bright tarmac at Pamplona airport. I fire up my iPhone to check in with the world – the coming alive with texts and social media updates. At the top of the list is a Facebook post from an old school roommate [...] More…
The radio crackles to life as I adjust my hand position on the carbon-fiber stemmed alloy shifter marked 000/333. A voice comes over the choppy speaker saying, “George, we’re going to do four laps where you follow Emanuele and then four more where you take the lead.” “Emanuele” would be Emanuele Pirro. He’s been hanging [...] More…
As Audi continues its experimentation in lightweight production practices, it has produced an array of lightweight experimental vehicles. And while lightweight flag wavers like the quattro Concept make all the headlines, cars like the Multi-material Space Frame (MSF) A5 2.5T known as “The Beast” and the TTS lightweight prototype you see here do more of [...] More…
Editor’s Note:We began this story yesterday with some technical background on this very special test mule built by Audi. Read the first installment of this story HERE . I’m at a small public driver training facility ten minutes drive from Audi’s Neckarsulm factory and about to sample perhaps the coolest A5/S5/RS 5 variant ever produced. [...] More…
It’s just 48 hours ahead of the Geneva Motor Show and I’m a bit punchy, having just experienced a whirlwind tour that included the Audi Lightweight Design Center (ALDC) in Neckarsulm followed by a quick trip to Lamborghini headquarters to take in one very impressive new lightweight development center with a focus on carbon composites [...] More…
There’s an open iron gate at the end of a tree-lined driveway that leads into an abandoned school in the center of an Olive Grove. It’s about half way between Sciacca and Sant’Anna on a winding road through Sicily. Yes, there is a “Proprieta Privata” sign next to the gate and yes, Sicily is the [...] More…