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KTM X-Bow to get Audi TT-RS five-cylinder turbo

The Audi TT-RS continues to occupy a warm spot in my personal top five list of cars thanks in no small part to the lusty turbocharged 2.5-liter five cylinder under the hood. With 360 horsepower and 343 pound-feet of torque in stock configuration, the engine is a shining star of internal combustion. And now it's headed to one of our favorite vehicles. EVO reports KTM is planning to plop the turbo 2.5 from the TT-RS into the upcoming X-Bow. That ruckus you hear? It's a choir of angels singing "Halleluiah." While speaking at the Geneva Motor Show, KTM CEO Stefan Pierer said the engine is good for up to 480 horsepower.
Pierer went on to say that the company is already testing prototypes and that we may very well see the engine show up in some races next year. What's more, the company's engineers are playing with dual-clutch transmissions, too. Since KTM is already testing the turbo 2.5 on the track, it's only a matter of time before customers will be able to get their grubby mitts on a street-legal version.

AMS Alpha 10 Audi R8 First Drive [w/video]

Horsepower is a relative number. Compared to the 1,500 hp in the last AMS car we drove, the face-melting Alpha 12 GT-R, 900 seems pretty tame. But by any rational standard that's a crazy amount of power, the kind that's hard to grasp in practical terms. When AMS Performance called us and offered a test in the 921-hp Alpha 10 Audi R8, saying yes was easy. Figuring out how to demonstrate that much thrust was the tricky part. Our solution was to head to the drag strip. What better way to show off the wicked alterations wrought by AMS president Martin Musial and his team than a video showing the car do the Star Trek warp speed effect through the quarter mile? AMS has a history of building quick drag strip cars, like the aforementioned GT-R and a series of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions. Vice president Arne Toman even owns the world's fastest Hearse. We should have taken the broken scoreboard at Milan Dragway as an omen. Wiped out by a lightning strike, both displays have since been replaced. Before our test both Musial and Toman explained that the Alpha 10 R8 wasn't built with drag racing in mind. But, being good sports, both met us at the track in southeast Michigan, unloaded the R8 from its trailer, and let us run through the timing lights over and over. The best time that day was 11.0 seconds at 136 mph, uncorrected. One of the many amazing things about the Alpha 10 Audi R8 is that it's essentially a bolt-on system. That's fast, but not what you'd expect for 786 horsepower at the wheels. And, honestly, we're not disappointed. First, a 4,200-rpm rev limiter was set too low to launch on the sticky drag strip. Put another way, that drag strip time is almost a street start. For what it's worth, Musial and Toman didn't seem concerned about the numbers. Like we said, they present the Alpha 10 as an all-around performance car, and we believe them. Now, if you go to AMS with the drag strip in mind, Musial and his staff can program whatever launch rpm you desire. (You're on your own for clutch replacements.) A reflash of the engine controller is part of the Alpha 10 package. Drop off a stock R8 V10 at AMS (or any of its 70-plus dealers), and they'll pull out the suitcase-shaped muffler that sits behind the engine. A pair of turbochargers, small mufflers, and two heat exchangers attach to the stock exhaust system mounts, while a giant water-to-air intercooler sits on top of the engine.

Cars we're thankful we drove in 2019

We drove a lot of cars in 2019, and there's still a month to go. We drove them in our home office in Michigan, at our remote offices in Seattle, Portland, Ore., and Columbus, Ohio, and throughout the globe on myriad press launches. We could count them, but hey, that seems boastful.  Instead, we want to be thankful. Not only for the opportunity to do this wonderful task some might describe as a "job," but for the new, shiny cars that brighten our days (and most hopefully yours). We asked our fellow editors which car they were most thankful to drive in 2019 ... here are our answers. 2019 Hyundai Veloster N Performance Senior Editor Alex Kierstein Every once in a while a car comes along that changes the narrative on a company or its segment, and everyone scrambles to experience it for themselves. This year, for me, that car’s the Veloster N Performance, perhaps the most transformative car the companyÂ’s ever built. Everyone whoÂ’s driven it, here and elsewhere, says it captures all those intangibles that make great driving hatchbacks great. And IÂ’m thankful that I got a go in it before all of them left the fleet, because it does. It upends the segment long dominated by the GTI, a car that nails its brief. The N is rowdy and loud, sure, but it also has some of the most deftly tuned suspension IÂ’ve come across in a front driver. My advice: if youÂ’re in the market for something fun and unique, go test drive a Veloster N. I think youÂ’ll be thankful you did. 2019 Hyundai Veloster N View 47 Photos 2019 Audi E-Tron Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder IÂ’m pleased that I got to drive the Audi E-Tron. ThatÂ’s high praise for a year in which I also drove the stellar Jaguar I-Pace. The E-Tron, while not as sporty as the Jaguar, is excellently executed, and feels like a more refined, polished offering. ItÂ’s quick, whisper-quiet, comfortable, stylish inside and out, and incredibly sturdy. Some may lament that it doesnÂ’t do much to stand out from ICE vehicles, but I donÂ’t think it needs to. What it does need to do is win over the electro-skeptical, and I think Audi put its best foot forward with a crossover that can do just that, and more. So, yeah, not only am I thankful that I got to drive it, IÂ’m glad that itÂ’s compelling enough that itÂ’ll hopefully make potential customers feel the same. 2020 Audi E-Tron View 13 Photos 2013 Peugeot 508 West Coast Editor James Riswick My choice totally sucks.