Ah, the Audi R8. Honestly, one of the reason why I enjoyed watching Iron Man was because I got to glimpse at the R8 in various parts of the movie. The digital surround does give justice to its lovely roar. But who knew that given a new twist, the R8 can even make a lovelier noise with a new V10 under its hood. Will it be dubbed as the R10? Maybe. But at least we get a great car made even better.

Source: Audi World

Prepare yourself folks. Here’s another badge beef issue. Porsche is taking issue with Audi’s use of the RS badge. Mind you that Porsche and Audi are “siblings” under the Volkswagen group. (Porsche holds a 20% stake in W.)

In the last Detroit Auto Show last January, we saw a tuned Audi TT-S and that S meant that you should be expecting something with it that makes it better than just a TT. Now that Audi is preparing something more powerful with a decision to slap on a RS designation, Porsche raises a red flag.

According to Porsche, the use of the RS badge is for their exclusive use only until the end of whatever runs they have say, the Porsche 911 GT3 RS. They argue that Audi can only use the RS if used as a prefix with a numeric designation as with the case of RS.

Pretty petty or some marketing and branding honchos in both companies having some real issues. A bit of sibling rivalry? Perhaps. That Audi R8 should be giving the 911 a good run for its money. Just a thought.

Source: Winding Road

The Audi Q5 is a compact crossover with which Audi hopes to claim a stake in the very mucky crossover market. The Q5 is slotted as the next vehicle with the Q designation in Audi fleet next to its hulking of a bully big brother - the Q7. It is tamed down compared to the Q7 with a choice of powertrains ranging from a 2.0L and 3.2L gas engines and 2.0L and 3.0 TDI engines which are mated to Audi’s all-wheel drive system. Check out the Q5 in this video:

Many gearheads love summer driving and it’s probably one of the best reasons to get a soft-top. So that when the sun’s high and there’s open road to cover, you can simply get the top down and enjoy the breeze. Audi seems to be beefing up its fleet recently and they seem to be doing a pretty good job dishing out cars to hit every conceivable market. The Audi A3 Cabriolet is their offering for those looking for a soft-top compact.

The new Cabriolet gets the same engine line of the A3 and A3 Sportback which includes the 157.81hp 1.8 TFSI gasoline, the 197.26 2.0 TFSI gasoline, the 103.56 1.9 TDI and the 138.08 hp 2.0 TDI with common rail piezo fuel injection. To make the choices more interesting, Audi can mate the engine to either a five- or six-speed manual (depending on the trim) and for all models (save for the 1.9 TDI), the S-tronic twin-clutch tranny.

Standard are 16-inch alloy wheels, power windows and mirrors, a Chorus radio with single CD drive, climate control and semi-automatic hood operation. Other options for upgrades (like 17-inch rims) depend on trim levels and extras.

Granted that Audi isn’t exactly your common person daily drive, there is some premium to the badge. The A3 Cabrio comes in 2 trim levels (Sport and S) with MSRPs ranging from £20,750 to £27,060.

Source: Audi

It seems like Audi is too proud of its V12 TDI engine that they decided to fit the massive engine to a lot of concept cars. We’ve seen the Q7 before - a real hulk of an SUV that drinks its fuel with sips. If you think Audi is gone bonkers with that move, well here’s what they did to the already great Audi R8 - fit the V12 TDI in it and restyle it. We’ve already seen the V12 TDI R8 in Detroit last January. But this one has got Le Mans written all over it and that’s where we get this Audi R8 V12 TDI Le Mans edition.

The huge 6.0L generates 500 horses and 738 lb-ft of torque. Yeah, and you get all of that with a diesel engine. And if you think that it’ll be a sluggish car, well naught to 62 in 4.2 seconds isn’t at all too shabby. It can rack up the numbers up to 187 mph.

Well, if you’re still not too drawn by the numbers, then you might want to take a look at the styling. I still believe that the draw of supercars is that factor that turns us all back to being 10 year-old kids who dream of slapping on rockets to cars. So how about the Brilliant Red bodywork that they did with the R8.

Now isn’t that a cool car? No word whether this will hit production though. Aaw.

Source: Audi

Now this one is just biblical in proportions. Audi is set to release the most pumped up diesel SUV in the world in the Q7 V12 TDI. Yes, and that even puts other hulking SUVs like the Escalade, the Expedition, and even Toyota’s top-of-the-line Land Cruiser to shame. It is like the Incredible Hulk of SUVs with Wolverine quickness.

It’s sports a 6.0L twin-turbo diesel engine that produces 500 horses and pulls a massive 1,000Nm of torque between 1750 to 3250 rpm. 0 to 62 is achieved in just 5.5 seconds. That’s acceleration that can shames some performance cars and can give some a real run for their money. Thinking that this is a gas-guzzler then? Well, not really with a fuel economy of 8.4 km per liter (19.76 miles per gallon). That’s just similar to driving a 10 year-old 1.6L-engined sedan.

One point for critics though, Audi has opted to mate the engine to a 6-speed Tiptronic gearbox instead of the Volkswagen flagship DSG. Power is distributed to all the Q7’s wheels with a 4WD system. Luxuries include DVD entertainment, navigation, BOSE sounds, and Bluetooth connectivity.

Source: Audi

As an effort to continue improving their product line, Audi has put a new 1.8 TFSI engine for the two cars - the A4 and the A5. Mated with the A4’s manual, it can dish out a decent 120hp. But with the A5’s multitronic tranny, it generates as much as 170hp.

The A4’s offerings round up to make the car a decent sedan, particularly efficient at that. Combined with a turbo and direct injection, a manual six-speed and front wheel drive, the A4 with the 1.8 TFSI can go from 0 to 62 in 10.5 seconds and can run up to speeds of 129 mph. As for fuel efficiency, it can go up to 33.13 mpg.

The A5 with the 1.8 TFSI gets some high-revs and can sprint from 0 to 62 in 8.6 seconds and can reach 135 mph. With the variable automatic multitronic tranny, it offers driving ease with a relatively low fuel consumption getting around 32-ish mpg.

With these upgrades, Audi creates good choices for consumers in terms of badge and performance. The A4 and the A5 ship out at €25,900 and €34,900 MSRPs respectively. But for those prices? Hmm… Seems like a bit too stiff for the common driver.

So I guess the Audi R8 has well-deserved its position as 2007’s car of the year. This here’s the R8 tuned by edo performance which brings up all of the R8’s numbers to impressive levels. The 4.2L V8 dishes out 442hp at 7,800rpm with a peak torque of 332 ft-lb at 4,500-6,000 rpm. Naught to sixty? 4.5 seconds. Top speed? 193 mph.

Source: Top Speed

With the Audi R8 getting acclaim from motoring enthusiasts and critics all over, it’s quite interesting what kick-ass vehicle would Audi bring to Detroit. They’ve actually announced that they would be showcasing a debut and a concept car but details weren’t too clear as to hat exactly those would be.

Since the show is just around the corner, we finally get a few more details about it. Audi will be bring a V12 TDI turbo-diesel version of the R8. That’s right. A diesel. Seems like the Germans are really beefing up on their diesel options.

Don’t be dismayed though. Take note that it’s a V12 and by what we’ve seen so far with the Q7 SUV, it’s capable of dishing out 500 horses and 738 lb-ft of torque.

Source: LeftLane News

I might just have to agree with everyone else that the Audi R8 is the car of the year. If you’ve seen all the reviews, test drives and other takes, it sums up to be a hands-down favorite of journalists, experts, and enthusiasts and all with good reason. Audi just came up with an engineering marvel with this one.

So how about this, the Creventic CR-8. It is a souped up version of the already awesome R8. This racing version is even tame compared to what Roush does to the Mustang. Only 13bhp added taking the R8 to 427bhp and the stock low-gear limiter has been removed. As preparation to the Dubai 24-hour, this car has still yet to include a 90L fuel tank, extra carbon fibre, and a race-spec sequential gearbox.

The car will be available early next year.

Source: Top Gear News