Some say the Audi TT is fine—for the male hairdresser—but argue that it’s just not a real sports car. So here’s the more powerful, 265-hp Audi TTS, and we say who cares what those guys say. Sports car, gran turismo, sports coupe—the distinctions are slippery. What matters are capabilities, and the TTS has capabilities galore: speed, agility, grip, brakes—not to mention good looks and an interior that’s an unfailing treat to the eyes as well as the tactile senses.
You like the contemporary urban styling of Audi’s A4 Avant wagon. You’re concerned, however, that you might get stuck for lack of ground clearance, scratch your bumper on a steep incline, or even tear off your oil pan as you climb over rocks and boulders during off-road excursions. Nope, can’t risk it—time to shop for a burly off-roader.
When gas prices spiked last summer, carmakers started talking about downsizing. They would fast-track the production of lighter cars with lower-displacement engines, and we’d use less gas and have smaller carbon footprints. World peace would follow shortly thereafter. Less than a year later, downsizing is here: The Audi S5 cabriolet will be among the first vehicles to hit the market with significantly reduced engine displacement and fuel consumption compared with the model it replaces. (In this case, that’s the 4.2-liter V-8–powered 2009 S4 cabriolet, since this is the first-ever S5 droptop.)
Try splitting a market segment. That is, encapsulate the positives of both ends with none of the negatives. The Audi A6 does it deftly, bridging the space between the midsize A4 and full-size A8. Naturally, it shares engines with both, a 3.2L V-6 and a 4.2L V-8. But for 2009, it receives something in between: Audi's new supercharged 3.0L V-6.
On final approach to Malaga, Spain, the view from the 737's porthole is of countryside lately rained on. Getting closer to the ground, roads can be discerned as half-dry with damp patches. A 518-hp, mid-engined Audi R8 5.2 FSI quattro supercar awaits outside the terminal building. Now normally, the prospect of piloting such a machine in these conditions would cause more apprehension than anticipation. Not with this Audi though. The R8 has always been such a delightfully trustworthy machine -- an inanimate object that displays the animate characteristic of appearing to be on your side. So it seems reasonable today to put faith in it once again, even as its power scales more breathtaking heights than ever.
The revised 2009 Audi A4 sedan and wagon have been around for several months now, but there has been no word on the convertible receiving the same treatment. There's a reason for that: After 2009, the A4 Cabriolet is dead. In its place will be the new 2010 Audi A5 Cabriolet, a logical move given that it's easier to convert a coupe into a drop-top than a sedan.
Some folks are writing off the diesel. The future, they say, lies in electric vehicles, with hybrids as the transitional technology. Diesel fuel is expensive, they continue, and there is the further popular conception that diesels are not “clean.” In reality, a diesel typically shaves 30 percent off fuel consumption, and diesel fuel savings are even more substantial at high speeds. New technologies make burning diesel as clean as—if not cleaner than—gasoline combustion.
The day of Top Gears test drive of the £96,290 V12 diesel Audi Q7 just so happened to coincide with the collapse of Lehman Brothers and forecast of an economic depression in the US unseen since 1929. And all this while, that same country is waging bitter and ruinous war on various fronts and imploding over the prospect of a liberal black man getting the keys to the White House. There might have been a better moment for Audi GmbH to launch the world’s most powerful diesel SUV.
Audi will unveil the new S4 at the Paris show next week. Now, we know what you're thinking. It'll be exactly the same as the new S5 but with two more doors, right? Same 4.2-litre V8 putting out 350-odd bhp? Well it won't. The S4, which is set to go on sale in the UK in the spring of next year, actually gets a sparkling new version of Audi's three-litre V6.
More news on that distinctly orangey special edition Spyker C8 that we got wind of a couple of weeks ago. Called the C8 Laviolette LM85, the new car is a road version of its, erm, less-than successful GT2 Le Mans racer. Still, it looks pretty cool (underneath the war paint) and it's got an all-aluminium Audi 4.2-litre V8 pumping out 400bhp. Other features include a six-speed 'box, LSD and AP Racing six-pot calipers.
The defining look of the late Nineties, now refined in the new car. More importantly, the new Audi TT drives even better. Will be cool until estate agents and WAGs buy them. The Brand new Audi TT takes over where the last one left off. A cool, calm performer styled to captivate.
Owning the R8, Audi’s fastest and most exclusive car ever, has its advantages.
