2004 Audi A4 1.8t Quattro, Xenon, Heated Leather, 6-sp Manual, Cd, Sunroof on 2040-cars

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Audi RS3 Sedan coming to America with over 400 hp?

The Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG is a fast, competent car. It's significantly sharper than the Audi S3, and it should be, since its starting price is around $7,000 more. Still, getting walloped by the higher-performing CLA45 AMG must irk some people at Audi, we'd think, which might explain why there are rumors that the S3's big brother is coming to town. Yes, reports are popping up from an Audi of America employee that the Audi RS3 would transition from its Euro-market Sportback body style to a more conventional four-door, and that its styling would be updated in the process. Oh, and it'll have a 400-plus-horsepower, 2.5-liter, five-cylinder turbo with which to bash the four-cylinder AMG. The report comes from Quattro World by way of CarScoops, and goes on to claim that Audi hallmarks like Quattro all-wheel drive and a seven-speed S-Tronic dual-clutch transmission will both be present. The new RS3 Sedan would arrive on US shores in 2017 as a 2018 model, with prices starting between $55,000 and $60,000. That should make Mercedes-AMG very nervous – the CLA45 may start around $50,000, but getting it past the $60,000-range is simple (your author was driving a nearly $68,000 CLA45 just last month, for example). Naturally, we have a call in with Audi of America to see if there's any credence to this report. Stay tuned for updates. Related Video:

No diesels in the running for 2016 Green Car Of The Year

It's a new era for the Green Car Of The Year. In the past, the theme of the award was to take a broad look at alternative powertrains and pick the best among them. "Clean diesels" from the Volkswagen group were often among the finalists and won the award twice. For the 2016 edition - which will be handed out at the LA Auto Show next month - not a single diesel made the list. There's little wonder why. Green Car Journal, which names the winner with a panel of experts, had to strip two VW brand vehicles of their past wins. The 2009 VW Jetta TDI, which won in 2008, and the 2010 Audi A3 TDI, which won in 2010, have both lost their titles now that the world knows about the "defeat devices" that VW installed in many of its TDI vehicles around the world. So, what does that leave us with for 2016? Two plug ins, a hybrid, and two gas vehicles. The two electric vehicle are the Audi A3 e-tron and the Chevy Volt, while the all-new Toyota Prius (which will come with a plug-in version later) is the lone pure hybrid. Rounding out the pack are two efficient gas models: the Hyundai Sonata and the Honda Civic. This is the tenth year for the Green Car Of The Year, and it will be interesting to see if diesels can come back into the award's good graces (for the record, no diesels were among the finalists in 2013, either) in the future. For now, we'd like to know who you think should win. You can read more about the finalists in the press release below and then cast your vote in our poll. Show full PR text FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR 2016 GREEN CAR OF THE YEAR Green Car Journal to Reveal Winner of 11th Annual Award at LA Auto Show Press & Trade Days, November 19 LOS ANGELES, CA (October 15, 2015) – Green Car Journal has announced its five finalists for the magazine's prestigious 2016 Green Car of the Year® award. The 2016 models include the Audi A3 e-tron, Chevrolet Volt, Honda Civic, Hyundai Sonata, and Toyota Prius. An increasing number of vehicle models are considered for the Green Car of the Year® program each year, a reflection of the auto industry's expanding efforts in offering new vehicles with higher efficiency and improved environmental impact. Green Car Journal has been honoring the most important "green" vehicles every year at the LA Auto Show, since its inaugural award announced at the show in 2005.

Coming to America | 2018 Audi RS3 Sedan First Drive

Audi's Quattro division never let us have the giant-killing, all-wheel-drive RS3. Too sophisticated for the US, they said. Too European. And we only make it as a Sportback (that's hatchback to you). You wouldn't like it. You're more SUV kind of people. Others, those in Quattro's special we-like-you countries, bought the RS3 and constantly raved about it, insisting its handling made the Mercedes-AMG A45 look ponderous (because, well, it is), its packaging was terrific, and the noise, they said. The noise. Over and over, the noise. But ex-Lamborghini president Stephan Winkelmann is now the boss and he's brought with him a worldview that Quattro GmbH never had. And despite being busy changing the letterhead to Audi Sport, Winkelmann found time to think about America. And he must like us because he's moved us to the top of the list. Not only will we get the face-lifted RS3, with its new, lightweight five-cylinder turbo motor crunching out 332 pound-feet of torque and 400 horsepower, we'll get it in a crisply styled three-box sedan. And we'll get it first, before even Germany (where it's built). The RS3's 2.5-liter five-cylinder has enough power to hurl it to 62 mph in 4.1 seconds and, thanks to launch control, the ability to do so repeatably. It's coming with a 155-mph top speed that can be raised to 174. It's coming with limpet grip from a rear-biased all-wheel-drive system. It's coming with a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission (and don't ask for a stick shift, because they haven't bothered to engineer one). It's coming standard (for the US) with constantly variable magnetic ride dampers, which replace the base fixed-rate steel spring-and-damper setup. But more than anything else, the RS3 sedan is coming here with that engine. It starts with a sharp braaap as it spins to around 4000 rpm and then a pop and bang that will wake the neighbors. And that's in the quieter default mode. It's like an angry man who always wakes up looking for a fight and, finding he can't get one, barks out the last word anyway. Except it never really goes quiet. It goes less loud, but not quiet. Quiet is not in the repertoire. The engine is what dominates this car and the noise dominates the engine. It's always there, always threatening, menacing, bellowing, barking, or popping and burbling. With a 1-2-4-5-3 firing order, the turbo five is a unique combination of belligerent and sophisticated, raucous and operatic, brutal and smooth, and often all of them at the same time.