2010 Audi R8 5.2 FSI

The Audi R8 5.2 FSI is easily among the dozen fastest street-legals on planet Earth.
The car is the 2010 Audi R8 5.2 FSI -- a billion-candlepower version of the R8 sports coupe with a Lamborghini V-10 engine wedged amidships. To drive one is to mind-meld with an off-world creature of magnificent grace and dramatic pace, a being that can by turns be tender and sophisticated or -- once you kick the loud pedal -- an unholy freakin' animal. The primal aurality of this car at 8,000 rpm will actually cause your DNA to devolve. Ugh. Mook-ah.

The Audi isn't simply quick (zero to 60 in 3.7 seconds) or fast (a quarter-mile in less than 12 seconds), though it easily qualifies as among the dozen fastest street-legals on planet Earth. It isn't only that it will cause your organs to slosh to one side of your rib cage like an untrussed load of pork bellies. It's that the whole package -- the death-grip Pirellis, the mid-engine layout, the all-wheel drive, the carbon-ceramic brakes, the milfoil layering of electronic safety systems, the preternatural balance of the thing -- so thoroughly augments and flatters the abilities of the humanoid behind the wheel. The man-machine interface is so supple, so syncretic, the bit stream from the four wheels through the seat and steering so vivid and real-time that at times I could taste the carbon fiber.

I got out of the Audi feeling 10 feet tall and ready to tame the nearest Toruk.

Audi’s Second Electric E-Tron

The Audi E-Tron that was unveiled at the Detroit auto show on Monday. It is the second concept Audi has revealed with the E-Tron name.
Audi introduced a second electric car prototype in Detroit today, and it’s a family affair. Like the two-seater sports car Audi showed off recently in Frankfurt and Los Angeles, the new concept is also named E-Tron. The automaker is not trying to be confusing, said Michael Dick, a member of Audi’s Management Board, interviewed in Detroit. Audi says that “E-Tron” will be the name for a family of electric cars — hopefully to gain the same kind of resonance as “quattro” and “TDI.”

Mr. Dick describes the Detroit E-Tron as a kind of mini R8, or alternately as the “little brother” of Audi’s other electric E-Tron concept. “It is smaller and lighter than the other E-Tron, and the technical investment is not so great,” he said. “It is completely new, and something of a scaling exercise from the other car.” The new E-Tron, with two electric motors in the rear axle (the other e-tron has four motors), is capable of zero to 62 miles per hour in 5.9 seconds, with speed governed at 124 miles per hour. Range is estimated at 155 miles.

Audi Says A5 TDI Suicide Ad Is a Fake

2010 Audi A5 TDI Picture

An Audi A5-themed ad, making the rounds on the Internet and showing a businessman trying to commit suicide, is definitely not the work of Audi, the automaker says.
A purported Audi ad of a man unsuccessfully trying to kill himself in an Audi A5 TDI is a fake, confirmed Audi of America on Friday in an e-mailed message to Inside Line.

"You or your staff might have caught wind of a purported Audi TDI commercial that made its way around the Web this week featuring [an] attempted and failed suicide," said Audi of America spokesman Christian Bokich. "This video was not commissioned, funded or produced by any Audi organization worldwide."

The video shows a man in a parking structure who attempts to kill himself by carbon monoxide poisoning. He threads a hose from the exhaust into the window of the Audi. When the fuel gauge reads empty, the man appears to be dead. But he wakes up. "Good for the environment. Good for you," says the tagline to the ad. The man is then shown trying to choke himself by rolling up the window of the car on his neck.

2010 Audi A8

The current generation Audi A8 or otherwise coded the D3 has been with us since 2003. Only receiving a few minimal facelifts, it’s rivals, the Mercedes S-Class, Lexus LS, BMW 7-Series and everything that falls within the same category have all but moved on past facelifts and onto new models already. That’s a fact but the truth is, the design will have to stay on for at least another two years as the next generation ‘D4′ A8 isn’t due to arrive until 2010. A prototype has been spotted undergoing cold weather testing while hidden under the current D3 body. The first give away was that it was odd to see an almost obsolete model undergoing testing at such a late stage in its life cycle, and that it needed extended fender flares, a stretched wheelbase and wider track, what other visual cues could a trained eye need?

Audi A8

Audi A8

2010 Audi A8

The A8 will use an extended version of the modular platform used in the A4 but predictably will be built using more exclusive and exotic materials such as aluminum and magnesium to save weight and improve dynamics. The engine line up will very likely be the same as the current range, starting with the 2.8 liter petrol onto the middle class 4.2 liter V8 FSI and Audi’s all new 6 liter V12 TDI to top the segment.

2010 Audi A8

There will also be other units depending on country and demand and this will include superchagred units as well as an increased application of Audi’s latest valve-lift system. Those passionate about motor engineering might not be too happy but Audi’s 6 liter W12 engine is reportedly being phased out due to its high costs and emissions. Expect the base model to retain its FWD layout but All-Wheel-Drive variants will feature later on with Audi’s latest Quattro torque vectoring systems, which distribute drive individually between each axle and between the rear wheels for improved traction and stability.