2005 Audi S4 Cabriolet Convertible 2-door 4.2l on 2040-cars

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VW could fight Uber Black with Porsche and Audi vehicles

Last week, the Volkswagen group dumped $300 million into Gett, a taxi hailing-cum-ride sharing app that's big outside of the US. Now, the company has revealed that it's pondering a rival to Uber Black by offering private drivers access to its higher-end vehicles. Details are scarce since it's a single line reference in a very long press release, but VW says that it's looking at a "special chauffeur service" that features "premium brands, such as Audi and Porsche." What that looks like in reality is anyone's guess, although the idea of getting ferried around in an Audi RS 7 does have some appeal. The deal with Gett will concentrate on getting Volkswagen cars into the hands of Gett's drivers with the promise of juicy discounts. For instance, the firm will offer a special package that'll bundle car insurance and servicing with the purchase price, which can be paid by a would-be operator in installments. It's a similar deal to the one that Uber offers would-be drivers, letting them buy cars from manufacturers like Volkswagen, Ford and Toyota at a discount. Uber, however, also lets prospective cabbies rent their vehicle on a monthly basis, thanks to a deal with Enterprise. Both of which will likely become more muscular now that Uber has a further $3.5 billion in its back pocket. The troubling fact for the auto industry is that people will still need cars, but it's likely that they won't need as many as they do right now. On-demand services and self-driving vehicles are, after all, intended to shuttle around cities like an ersatz taxi-cum-metro system rather than sitting in parking lots. The concepts of ownership that we currently hold dear (and the profits that car companies get from them) are likely to fade away in the next, say, fifty years time. As such, conglomerates like VW will have to reinvent themselves as both manufacturer and transport company in one. But these changes are never easy, especially when the biggest car firms have tons of baggage that slows down their progress. Many are still devoting time and resources to producing thousands of new cars with combustion engines that will be on the roads for years to come. Looming in the shadow, however, is the emissions scandal, with the financial and reputational penalties likely to be felt for years to come. Younger, more nimble rivals without legacy businesses, like Tesla, are working on mass-producing electric cars for mass-market prices.

Audi service tech joyrides customer car, allegedly takes drugs on the way [UPDATE]

UPDATE: We've received and added an official statement from Audi Palo Alto. Dealerships get a bad rap. Stories about sleazy salespeople and overpriced service procedures abound, even though the reality is that most dealers are run by and employ honest, fair folks. But just because the bulk of dealers and their employees are good people, it doesn't mean some bad eggs won't slip through the cracks. Audi Palo Alto, in the heart of Silicon Valley, is finding this out the hard way after dash cam video of a service tech abusing a customer's car started blowing up on YouTube. In the video, which you can watch above, the unnamed service tech took YouTube user Carrera Chris's Audi – it's not clear what model, but it sounds like one of the company's higher-performance 3.0-liter, supercharged V6 models – for a rather spirited test drive. There are plenty of wide-open-throttle runs mixed in with some speeding – the dash cam's lower display shows 90 miles per hour at one point on the freeway – and you can hear the driver laughing throughout. None of this is too remarkable on its own, and maybe not enough to get the tech fired. Until, that is, he pulls into a parking lot and begins snorting something. The dash cam doesn't show the technician, so it's impossible to determine what substance – if any – the driver is allegedly taking. It could be coke, could be crushed up pills, or, hey, it could be a prescription nasal spray (it is allergy season, even in perpetually lovely northern California). Carrera Chris does say he found white powder in the seams of the driver's seat, so take that for what it's worth. There are five videos that include 12 minutes of footage – the one up top is a summary, while the four below show the alleged drug use and some more mundane footage. We've reached out to Audi Palo Alto's general manager, Jason Mattia. He wouldn't answer our questions over the phone, but did forward an official statement from the dealer. An unfortunate incident was brought to our attention earlier this week. We immediately began our investigation and have already taken action. We are working with the customer involved and have thanked them for bringing this matter to our attention. At Audi Palo Alto, we are proud to be a part of the San Jose community. We value and respect our customers, and our team of 75 employees strives to deliver the highest level of customer service.

2015 Audi A3 E-Tron [w/video]

Over the years, we've had a chance to test a lot of Audi E-Tron vehicles, from very early all-electric prototypes (back then we only got to sit in the passenger seat) to the A6 L E-Tron PHEV and the A1 E-Tron plug-in hybrid. All of them were concepts and promises, merely whispers of what was possible, even as the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt and two Tesla models were making waves in the marketplace.
As we learned last year in our Deep Dive of the E-Tron project, all of the concepts, prototypes and rumors have finally come to fruition in this A3 Sportback E-Tron. Previously, we were given a chance to drive a prototype, but it was only very briefly. Last week, we finally got to run a production-representative example through the hilly roads between Vienna, Austria and Munich, Germany. After spending a solid day with Audi's first marketable E-Tron vehicle, we can say that it's a most amazing bit of engineering, in particular for the way that Audi has done so much to hide the fact that this is an electrified vehicle. Not entirely, of course, but the idea was to make the A3 Sportback E-Tron a no-compromise PHEV. And that means it drives and feels, in many ways, like the standard A3 Sportback despite over 700 extra pounds. Oh, and there's a charge port hidden behind the four rings in the grille.