It’s been fascinating to sample Audi’s new EA824 V8 in all of its various incarnations. Our first crack at the new TFSI powerplant was in Audi’s own 513-horsepower , and we then went on to try it out in the new . Most recently, we dipped into the 4.0-liter biturbo in the new before getting behind the wheel of the closely related S6 seen here.
Versus the previous S6 with its muy macho -derived 5.2-liter V10, everything is quicker, more efficient and lighter in weight. The new fourth-generation S6 Quattro with S-tronic seven-speed dual clutch comes in at a European curb weight of 4,178 pounds – about 30 pounds lighter than the previous V10-stuffed car with its automated six-speed. Yes, power is slightly lower now at 414 horses, but peak torque of 406 pound-feet is slightly higher and happens over a vastly wider range of 1,400 to 5,200 rpm. Audi’s 0-62 miles per hour sprint time is now listed at 4.6 seconds, a figure that compares favorably with the outgoing car’s official 5.2-second time.
For my test drive, Audi thoughtfully provided a couple of S6 four-door setups for me to sample: those with Dynamic Steering and the torque vectoring sport Quattro rear differential, and those without. You know which trim I went for already. So equipped, these S6 sedans were all painted Misano Red… an exterior color that Americans cannot get this time around. So, just visualize me thundering around Bavaria in a car painted shades of white, black, silver, gray, or blue, since those are the paint chips you’ll find on the order sheet at your local dealer.
As the man behind illicit video site MegaUpload, Kim Dotcom finds himself in a world of trouble. But before he was arrested by the New Zealand authorities and had his property seized, the controversial internet bajillionaire took a little trip to the Nürburgring. Only he wasn’t about to take a ride in the Ring Taxi and call it a day.
No, instead Dotcom shipped in not one, not two, but three CLK AMG DTMs from his private collection in New Zealand (with vanity plates reading “Good”, “And”, “Evil”), rented out the entire track and hired former Formula One World Champion Kimi Raikkonen to drive alongside his business partner Finn Batato. And while he was at it, he hired a crew of over a hundred people, set up about 30 cameras and rented two helicopters and an airplane for the aerial shots.
The resulting video is nothing if not indulgent, and unfortunately, it has techno music drowning out the exhaust notes, but you can view it by . NSFW Warning: the music contains explicit language.
sales are up 10 percent already this year, after ending 2011 on a 20-percent uptick. With its Alabama assembly plant , something had to change. In response, the Korean automaker will be adding 877 jobs at its Montgomery assembly plant to begin a third shift, starting in September 2012.
Hyundai said the plant is now responsible for creating over 3,000 total jobs, with the latest expansion adding some 20,000 units of annual capacity. Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama builds both the and sedans.
While this move will work as a short-term solution to Hyundai’s capacity restraints, if the company continues to grow sales as it has in the past few years, it will soon be faced with the necessity of building another new production facility, for months.
has made it clear that it is hard at work on a successor to the automaker’s bread-and-butter . Word has it we’ll get our first glimpse at the next-generation Mini toward the end of next year, and when it debuts, Sonny Lim believes the machine will be smaller, more mainstream and far less gimmicky than the current creation.
Having served as the senior designer with DesignWorksUSA, Lim knows a thing or two about BMW styling. His sketches show a modern three-door hatch that’s still easily-identifiable as a Mini thanks to bulging fender arches pushed far to the vehicle’s corners, pie-plate headlights and a traditional Mini grille.
Lim says the next-generation Cooper will be more true to the concept of the original Cooper. Measuring in at just 140.6 inches from stem to stern, the Mini Zero Concept is shorter than the current hatchback and just slightly longer than the the now deceased . The clipped size means the Zero weighs in at 1,851 pounds, which should help it yield better fuel economy and performance with minimal changes to the drivetrain. Head over to for a deeper dive.
How can you not be excited to see getting back into with a modern-day interpretation of the classic E-Type? Well, there is that one little issue with the that Jag announced during the . In this day and age, a 380-horsepower V6 just doesn’t cut it, supercharged or not. At least not when .
Yes, we know the horsepower wars , but if Jaguar wants the F-Type to be taken seriously, it just plain needs a V8. And according to Car and Driver, it’s going to be getting one. At least, eventually.
C/D says the F-Type will eventually get a version of Jag’s 5.0-liter V8, although it doesn’t know which one. Speculation says the supercharged variants in 470- and 550-horsepower states of tune are the most likely, as the base V8 only makes five more horsepower than the planned V6. The report also surmises that the initial roadsters will be six-cylinders when they debut in 2013, with the V8 models appearing further on in the production cycle.
This past weekend, celebrated its return to DTM racing after a 20-year embargo of its home series. On the first practice day of the weekend at Hockenheim, Andy Priaulx was the , almost a second off the pace. By Saturday morning’s second free practice just before quallifying, BMW pilot Bruno Splengler, who was 20th on Friday, . In the end, it was Priaulx who was the top-finishing BMW, behind a spate of and racers. Not a win, but not a horrible start for being out of the series for 20 years.
In case you need to get more in the mood for the rest of the season’s racing action, BMW’s got one of those amuse-bouche teaser vids of the sinister in action. All you need to do is to check it out.
Dodge Dart, Chrysler Q1 sales, FR-S and BRZ versus MX-5, 2013 Nissan Altima’s Hyundai Sonata influence
Episode #279 of the is here, and this week, Chris, Dan, and Zach chat about the Dodge Dart, Chrysler’s first-quarter 2012 sales, a Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ smackdown at Motegi with a Mazda MX-5, and the influence of the Hyundai Sonata on the 2013 Nissan Altima. Your questions and comments power the end of the ‘cast, and for those of you who hung with us live on our , thanks for taking the time. We’ve embedded our Q&A module for you to scroll through and follow along, too. Thanks for listening!
Autoblog Podcast #280:
in Q1, especially in
In the Autoblog Garage
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Runtime: 01:41:32
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If you’ve gotten used to being centered around two model lines – and – based on the same platform, get ready to broaden your horizons as the Modenese automaker does the same. Maserati has a vast array of new products in the pipeline, including a pair of new sedans and a new SUV set to be built in Detroit, plus production of the 4C sportscar for sister-company Alfa Romeo. And now reports are emerging that its long-rumored plans to take on the with a new sportscar are coming to fruition.
According to the reports from Italy fueled by comments attributed to Maserati CEO Harald J. Wester, the model could revive the GranSport – a name last used on the ultimate iteration of the 4200 GT coupe that preceded the current GranTurismo. Only this time, it would be a mid-engined V8 supercar similar in approach to the .
If that sounds suspiciously close to the , the rumors suggest that it would undercut its big brother’s price at under $200k. After all, the sister brands didn’t seem to have any trouble bringing the Maserati GranCabrio and into the same arena, or to turning the Enzo into the MC12 – pictured above – the last mid-engined supercar the Trident marque produced. Which gives us hope that this particular product of the rumormill could amount to something. And when we’re talking about mid-engined supercars from Italy, that could be a very good thing indeed.
General Motors has confirmed it will cut 100 research and development positions at its and will close another R&D lab in Bangalore, India.
The cuts are about a 25-percent reduction in the Warren facility and are part of a “global restructuring.”
“These moves will enable the organization to better focus on commercializing customer-focused innovation in a more efficient and cost effective manner,” GM spokesman Dan Flores tells The Detroit News.
If they aren’t offered new positions, affected workers will have 30 days to apply for other posts within GM before the layoffs commence in early June.
The sales figures you see below aren’t quite what they seem. If you look at just the left column where the battle between green and red cells is almost at a draw, you might think that April 2012 was a step backwards in terms of sales momentum for the auto industry. That column, however, is practically irrelevant this month.
Shift your head a little to the right and read the DSR (Daily Sales Rate) column. That’s the important column this month. People usually ignore this column because they don’t understand its purpose or because its data looks so similar to the left column, but this month it means everything.
Why? Because there were 24 selling days for the auto industry last month, versus 27 selling days in April 2011. Usually there’s only a single-day variance between months or no variance at all, but three selling days is a chasm to overcome and means that if you’re only comparing raw numbers like the left column does, the entire industry was at a three-day disadvantage last month compared to the same month one year ago.
The DSR column, on the other hand, shows the change in average number of vehicles sold per day during April of this year and last. This is the more accurate representation of how each automaker performed in April, and as you can see, nearly all continued their momentum of increased sales with the usual suspects occupying those bottom red cells.
Check out how the entire auto industry did in the monthly sales chart below, and visit our By the Numbers section to see all past months.
*Brands and companies are displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 24 selling days in April 2012 versus 27 selling days in April 2011, so there will be a difference between monthly sales volume and the average daily sales rate (DSR) for each brand/company. Also, brands are combined and reported as companies only if their sales figures are released jointly.
From the headlines-we-never-expected-to-see file: “Stick shifts popular again…” Yes, we thought , what with every carmaker bemoaning low take rates and reports that has decided to in both its sports car and throughout the range of models. But lo and behold, it seems that manuals accounted for 6.5 percent of new vehicle sales during the first quarter this year, the highest take rate since 2006, according to Edmunds.com numbers cited by USA Today.
This surge in popularity comes despite a 10-percent drop in the percentage of new models offering stick shifts in the past five years, according to the report. The change in consumer behavior has surprised some automakers, including , who told the newspaper that demand for a manual in the is nearly 10 percent, more than double the automaker’s original forecast.
Of course before we get too excited – or give credit to the Car and Driver – let’s keep in mind that a decade ago, when we first started to hear the groundswell against the manual from automakers, the take rate for manuals was still running above 8 percent. And we’re still faced with an inevitable demographic shift as Millennials, born after automatic transmissions became dominant, grow up. The best we can hope for is to teach those willing to learn and hope to keep the manual tranny around as long as possible.
is looking toward the future. A new Japanese ad for the company has made its way to YouTube featuring some of the most important models in the automaker’s past. From lowly bicycles and small-displacement motorcycles to the ever-sexy 1965 RA272 F1 car and perfectly proportioned S800, the ghosts of yesterday are all lined up behind the new Acura NSX Concept. The spot spends plenty of time talking about the power of dreams and determination before finally ending on the rally cry of “Let’s surpass yesterday’s Honda!” The simple spot is titled “We won’t be beaten.”
At least that’s according to the subtitles. The announcer could be reading us his grocery list for all we know. If the translation is accurate, though, it sounds like Honda is tacitly acknowledging that it needs to pull itself up by its bootstraps and get back into fighting shape. Let’s hope they figure it out. to watch the video for yourself.
UPDATE:The Focus ST has officially been added to Ford’s configurator. to build one yourself.
Well now, the inexpensive performance game just got considerably more interesting. has officially dropped pricing on its upcoming 2013 Focus ST, and it starts at $24,495 (*including a $795 delivery charge). That kind of coin will net you a EcoBoost 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine good for a whopping 252 horsepower and 270 pound-feet of torque, along with a torque-steer compensation system that works in conjunction with electronic power steering to keep the nose pointed in the right direction. If you’re keeping track, those power metrics are slightly north of the figures Ford had previously released. A variable-ratio steering rack toes the line between sport and comfort while the sport suspension sits the chassis 10 mm closer to the ground than the stock configuration.
That fire-spitting four-cylinder breathes easy through a free-flowing exhaust, and interior options like Recaro bucket seats give the cabin a little pedigree. Of course, massive wheels and plenty of aero work are both part of the package as well. What’s more, Ford says it will give early buyers a GoPro HD Hero2 Motorsports camera when they pick up the keys. Sweet.
The entry price puts the Focus ST well below fellow front-drive competitors like the and , but within spitting distance of playful hardware like the twins and the all-wheel drive . Suddenly, it appears we live in a world where cheap speed is in abundance. Head over to the for a closer look and be sure to click for the full press release.
Well now, the inexpensive performance game just got considerably more interesting. has officially dropped pricing on its upcoming 2013 Focus ST. That kind of coin will net you a EcoBoost 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine good for a whopping 252 horsepower and 270 pound-feet of torque, along with a torque-steer compensation system that works in conjunction with electronic power steering to keep the nose pointed in the right direction. If you’re keeping track, those power metrics are slightly north of the figures Ford had previously released. A variable-ratio steering rack toes the line between sport and comfort while the sport suspension sits the chassis 10 mm closer to the ground than the stock configuration.
That fire-spitting four-cylinder breathes easy through a free-flowing exhaust, and interior options like Recaro bucket seats give the cabin a little pedigree. Of course, massive wheels and plenty of aero work are both part of the package as well. What’s more, Ford says it will give early buyers a GoPro HD Hero2 Motorsports camera when they pick up the keys. Sweet.
The entry price puts the Focus ST well below fellow front-drive competitors like the and , but within spitting distance of playful hardware like the twins and the all-wheel drive . Suddenly, it appears we live in a world where cheap speed is in abundance. Head over to the for a closer look and be sure to click for the full press release.
may seek to reposition in the wake of slower sales, according to Automotive News. It’s been 10 years since the Japanese automaker unveiled its youth-oriented brand, and Toyota recognizes that the original target demographic has officially grown up. After concluding a nine-month review of the Scion brand, the parent company has decided to move away from quirkiness and toward more mainstream creations.
Models like the and serve more traditional buyers than the nameplate’s best-selling , though Jack Hollis, Scion vice president, says the future of the boxy five-door remains uncertain. While speaking with Autmotive News, Hollis said the company may not replace the model with a “one-for-one” interpretation of the box as buyers are less and less interested in funky exterior designs.
Scion suffered dearly during the sales downturn of 2008 and 2009. By 2011, the company’s numbers had fallen to within 25 percent of its 2006 volume. With consumer credit tightening by the day, recent college graduates have reportedly found it difficult to finance a brand-new Scion. Hollis says sales are on the mend, and the company is cautiously optimistic. In the meantime, expect to see Scion show off more mainstream marketing aimed at a wider consumer audience.
Even tires considered basic are the results of massive engineering and financial investments – a single tire can include up to 20 different kinds of rubber compounds and their constructions and build techniques are so mysterious that it’s easier to get a tour of the White House than a tire factory. A new tire being worked on by a team of German engineers at the University of Leipzig, however, would be a Buck Rodgers-like leap in tire tech by incorporating changeable elements to alter the shape of the tire as you drive.
The includes “flexible actuators, piezo-ceramic actuators, shape memory alloys and ’smart materials’” that gather and process information on the road surface and weather conditions. That info would then be used to reshape the tread to optimize performance on the fly, which can mean altering groove patters and expanding and raising tread blocks. As the , “The driver no longer has to think about adapting their tires. The tire itself ‘thinks’ too.”
For millions of drivers, a world in which the single word “tire” automatically means “all-terrain, all-season, high-performance tire” would be a good one. The engineers have patented their work and are showing a prototype at the Hanover Fair in Germany, yet it should come as no surprise that such a world is a long, long way off.
Sponsoring most events is pretty straightforward for any company: fork over the right sum of cash and you’re the new official automaker/timekeeper/jelly donut of whatever the event is. But for , its status as Official Automotive Partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games is a bit more complicated.
Even to fork over a massive fleet with 4,000 vehicles to the organizing committee wasn’t enough for the German automaker to secure its status. BMW also had to meet the committee’s stringent emissions requirements: while the average emissions of vehicles in the UK comes in at 138 grams of CO2 per kilometer, the automaker supplying these Olympic games had to come in below 120 g/km – which BMW did at 116 g/km.
To get there, a portion of the cars BMW is supplying are electric vehicles: 160 units of the and 40 of the Mini E, with another 40 of the . The rest of the fleet is comprised of the (1,550 vehicles), (700), (17), (10) and (200 vehicles), plus another 25 R1200 RT motorcycles and 400 BMW Streetcruiser bicycles.
Wondering what they’ll be doing with all those cars? They’ll be used for everything from shuttling around the athletes, officials, medics and journalists to hauling boats out of the water. for the full details.
We’re almost ready to record Episode #280 of the Autoblog Podcast, and you can check out the topics below, add your own to the and join us live via , as well, and we’ve embedded our UStream player Thanks for listening!
Discussion Topics for Autoblog Podcast Episode #280
is trying to make a name for itself on the safety and technology front, recently and outfitting new models with a suite of safety equipment that arguably puts it among the leaders in the industry. We got a chance to sample some of this last month, but we were also allowed to “drive” a semi-autonomous test mule equipped with what Cadillac is calling “Super Cruise.”
Nominally an improvement on adaptive cruise control, Super Cruise is actually a more sophisticated system that uses a camera communicating with the car’s GPS to “see” the road ahead. It goes one step further than currently available systems, however, automatically centering the vehicle in the lane using its electric power steering system. Unlike other active lane-departure systems that use a car’s brakes to help prevent it from veering off the road, the system General Motors is developing allows for precisely setting the vehicle’s position within the lane. The test mule we sampled had steering-wheel-mounted buttons that would allow you to “nudge” the car from side to side by a foot at a time without upsetting its course. Super Cruise also communicates with the vehicle’s other active safety systems to help prevent and mitigate crashes.
Super Cruise is designed only for use on the highway, to “ease the driver’s workload.”
Super Cruise is designed only for use on the highway, to “ease the driver’s workload,” with drivers still required to steer in city traffic and for more complicated maneuvers like passing. GM officials acknowledged the difficulty in deploying a system like this, a technology that if used improperly may encourage inattentive driving. Supposedly the system will only be functional under the specific circumstances for which it is designed, much like today’s in-car entertainment systems will not play video on the front screen unless a vehicle is in Park. Currently the system is somewhat limited by external factors, like weather and the need for distinct lane markings. If visibility is low or the road doesn’t have at least one clear lane demarcation, Super Cruise won’t function. However, GM says it will improve the vision abilities of the system as it readies the technology for the marketplace.
GM says that Super Cruise could be introduced into production vehicles in just a few years, “by mid-decade.” While on the one hand, its ability to help improve the safety of our roads is laudable, we can’t help but express our frustration at the march of technology headed inevitably towards removing the physical act of driving from the motoring equation.
to watch some video of us aboard the Super Cruise-equipped test mule and read the full press release.
Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction. A stolen from celebrity chef Guy Fieri has been found a year after it first went missing. In case you need refreshing, the Lambo was pilfered by a thief who literally in order to get access to the Italian Stallion.
It seems the perpetrator had a thing for stealthy operations – the vehicle turned up during an investigation that began after a motorcyclist wearing all black fired a gun into a parked car. The gunman was a 17-year-old boy, and Fieri’s car was located in a storage container in Point Richmond, California, along with the boy’s motorcycle and apparent evidence linking him to the shooting.
Fieri, for his part, is happy to have his Lamborghini back:
“I would like to thank the Marin County Sheriff’s Office and the Mill Valley Police Department for their hard work and effort in the recovery of my car. I’m glad we can put this behind us, and feel better knowing that justice is being served.”
If absence truly does make the heart grow fonder, we’d be happy to have our back in one piece, too, especially considering it’s been over a year since its disappearance.
The sales figures you see below aren’t quite what they seem. If you look at just the left column where the battle between 
