2009 Audi A4 2.0t Prestige 4d Sedan on 2040-cars

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Introducing the 2017 Audi A4 Allroad, round 3 of our long-term test

It has been all Audi, all the time for the past few months here at Autoblog. The folks at Audi offered us a unique long-term test of the whole A4 line, a chance to see what it's like to live with the car in all its iterations. We first spent time with a Glacier White Premium Plus sedan. Then we stepped up to a Prestige sedan in Moonlight Blue. Now we're driving a Premium Plus A4 Allroad wagon in Gotland Green. We're saving what we presume will be the best for last when we take delivery of an S4. What we got The A4 Allroad shares the same powerplant as the sedans: a 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four making 252 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque, with a seven-speed S-tronic dual clutch automatic. The setup briskly moves the wagon from 0-60 miles per hour in under six seconds. An Allroad starts at $44,000 MSRP for basic Premium trim. This Premium Plus tester starts at $47,000. Add $575 for the metallic Gotland Green paint - a dignified color that drew back-to-back compliments from a carwash guy and a passing postal carrier, and pairs nicely with the Nougat Brown leather interior. The car is equipped with the $3,000 Premium Plus option package, which includes a sweet Bang & Olufsen 3D sound system; heated, auto-dimming, power-folding side mirrors; an alarm system; heated eight-way power front seats with driver memory; LED headlights; and parking assist . The car also carries the Technology package, in which $3,250 gets you navigation, side and rear sensors, and Audi's elegant Virtual Cockpit instrument display. Those two equipment groups include trials of Audi Connect. The Care, Prime, and Plus packages of Connect offer services such as Google Earth mapping and Google voice search, SOS and roadside-assistance calling, dynamic route guidance, and a lot more. The blind-spot monitoring system packaged with this car is particularly nice, as it employs extra-large amber lights and an audible warning. They greatly augment the rather small, teardrop-shaped side mirrors. Finally, the wagon has the $500 Cold Weather package with heated rear seats and heated, multifunction steering wheel with shift paddles. Its high-gloss burl walnut wood inlays cost $350. Throw in the $950 destination charge and you're looking at MSRP of $52,625. What we skipped We didn't go for the $1,450 Warm Weather Package, which would have provided ventilated front sport seats with four-way lumbar support. The car also came without the rear side airbags, a $350 option.

2015 Audi Q3 is ready to woo America's young and upwardly mobile

You can hardly blame Audi for its decision to finally bring its Q3 compact crossover to America, even though it's been on sale in other global markets since 2012. CUVs of all stripes are red hot, and the number of players in the US entry-level premium segment is mushrooming. Rapidly growing Audi simply can't afford to be left out of the discussion in favor of vehicles like the BMW X1, Land Rover Range Rover Evoque, and even small near-luxury entries like the Buick Encore, if only because capturing these customers could result in subsequent sales of more profitable models down the road.
Audi evidently intends to attract these new, younger customers by spoiling them in decidedly unGermanic fashion: by offering lots of standard equipment. Peruse the spec sheet on base models from rivals and you'll see things like manually adjusted faux leather seats, conventional projector headlamps, and little in the way of frills. By comparison, the 2015 Q3 comes with an embarrassment of standard features, including heated and power-articulated leather seats, panoramic moonroof, Xenon headlamps with LED accents and keyless start.
First impressions of the four-cylinder, 200-horsepower Q3 revealed here at the Detroit Auto Show are very positive, with a rakish (if overly familiar) shape and a fair amount of utility with up to 48.2 cubic feet of storage with the rear seats folded. If Audi can price the Q3 similarly to the entry-level BMW X1 sDrive28i ($31,825 delivered) when it arrives this fall, we think it'll sell like hotcakes - just like its Q5 big brother.

Delphi plans automated-driving journey across the United States

Delphi is attempting to become the first company to pilot an automated car across the United States. The global automotive supplier will start a cross-country journey from a location near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco starting on Sunday, March 22, and cover approximately 3,500 miles on a trip to New York, where it will arrive sometime during the New York Auto Show. Along the way, Delphi engineers will gather data on how the car, an Audi SQ5, performs in a variety of road and weather conditions that the company says could only be tested in a real-world environment. "Delphi had great success testing its car in California and on the streets of Las Vegas," said Jeff Owens, the company's chief technology officer. "Now it's time to put our vehicle to the ultimate test by broadening the range of driving conditions." A formal announcement is expected tomorrow during the SXSW festival in Austin, TX. The company recently demonstrated many of its advanced-safety and automated driving technologies during CES, driving in Las Vegas. The cross-country trip will include tests on its radar, vision and advanced-drive assistance systems, certain vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications, and intelligent software, which includes automated highway pilot with lane-change technology, automated urban pilot and automated parking functions. Though a driver will be behind the wheel throughout the journey, Delphi says its active safety technologies can make complex decisions, like stopping and proceeding at four-way stops, timing highway merges and calculating safe maneuvers around bicyclists. While California has certain motor-vehicle laws that help regulate autonomous vehicles, it was unclear whether Delphi needs special arrangements or permission from other states to conduct automated-vehicle testing elsewhere – or if those concerns might be negated by an active driver. Earlier this year, Audi turned heads at CES by driving an A7 from San Francisco to Las Vegas in a similar display of automated-driving technology. Related video: Image Credit: Delphi CES Audi Technology Emerging Technologies Autonomous Vehicles