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300-HP 2013 Audi S3 Sportback unwrapped

Not content to let Volkswagen have all of the fun with its GTI and Golf R, Audi is rebooting its five-door S3 Sportback with rather monstrous power. Headed for an official unveil at this year's Geneva Motor Show, the new S3 rolls out with a 300-horsepower, 280-pound-feet of torque turbocharged 2.0-liter TFSI engine under the hood. The four-cylinder powerplant is strong enough to shove the Sportback to 62 miles per hour in just 5.0 seconds when connected to the optional S-Tronic gearbox, or 5.5 seconds with the traditional manual transmission. Top speed is said to be an electronically governed 155 mph. Almost as impressive as those performance figures are the fuel economy ratings: the S- S3 is said to average 34 miles per gallon.
All S3 Sportback models offer Quattro all-wheel drive, ride on a sport-tuned suspension tuned to a lower ride height (about one inch) versus the standard Audi A3. 18-inch wheels with 225-section tires are standard equipment, and 13.39-inch front brakes should offer serious stopping ability.
Audi has done a lot of work shedding pounds from this latest MQB-architecture S3, as well. The car has a curb weight of roughly 3,186 pounds, or some 154 pounds less than the outgoing model. 11 of those pounds were cut via weight-saving measures in the 2.0-liter engine.

The next-generation wearable will be your car

This year's CES has had a heavy emphasis on the class of device known as the "wearable" – think about the Apple Watch, or Fitbit, if that's helpful. These devices usually piggyback off of a smartphone's hardware or some other data connection and utilize various onboard sensors and feedback devices to interact with the wearer. In the case of the Fitbit, it's health tracking through sensors that monitor your pulse and movement; for the Apple Watch and similar devices, it's all that and some more. Manufacturers seem to be developing a consensus that vehicles should be taking on some of a wearable's functionality. As evidenced by Volvo's newly announced tie-up with the Microsoft Band 2 fitness tracking wearable, car manufacturers are starting to explore how wearable devices will help drivers. The On Call app brings voice commands, spoken into the Band 2, into the mix. It'll allow you to pass an address from your smartphone's agenda right to your Volvo's nav system, or to preheat your car. Eventually, Volvo would like your car to learn things about your routines, and communicate back to you – or even, improvise to help you wake up earlier to avoid that traffic that might make you late. Do you need to buy a device, like the $249 Band 2, and always wear it to have these sorts of interactions with your car? Despite the emphasis on wearables, CES 2016 has also given us a glimmer of a vehicle future that cuts out the wearable middleman entirely. Take Audi's new Fit Driver project. The goal is to reduce driver stress levels, prevent driver fatigue, and provide a relaxing interior environment by adjusting cabin elements like seat massage, climate control, and even the interior lighting. While it focuses on a wearable device to monitor heart rate and skin temperature, the Audi itself will use on-board sensors to examine driving style and breathing rate as well as external conditions – the weather, traffic, that sort of thing. Could the seats measure skin temperature? Could the seatbelt measure heart rate? Seems like Audi might not need the wearable at all – the car's already doing most of the work. Whether there's a device on a driver's wrist or not, manufacturers seem to be developing a consensus that vehicles should be taking on some of a wearable's functionality.

2016 Audi TTS Quick Spin

So, this is awkward. Last week, you (hopefully) read my Quick Spin on the Mercedes-Benz C450 AMG, a vehicle that I argued was dynamically very good, but wasn't so much better than the standard C300 to make it a worthwhile buy. Now I'm going to voice a similar opinion. The Audi TT has always been a vehicle you bought for the style, rather than the performance. If you wanted an athletic two-seat German, you just bought a Porsche Boxster. But the TT, that's a car you bought for the way it looks. And the way it looks remains the strongest argument against the car you see here, the TTS. In short, it's quick, agile, and more aggressive looking, but none of those qualities are so dramatically better than the plain-jane TT. Another Autoblogger came to this conclusion while tracking the new TTS – now I'll explain where this car misses the bull's eye on the road. Driving Notes Audi will probably never match the design impact of the original 1998 TT, but the third-gen feels like a more mature, cohesive evolution of the handsome second-generation car. The front and rear fascias are sharper, more muscular, the headlights/taillights chiseled and emotive, and the front grille significantly more powerful. Even in the subdued Daytona Gray shown here, this is a car that can get people staring almost as easily as that original model. The interior of the third-generation TT is as much a design triumph as the first TT's exterior. It's a master class in clean, simple, elegant design, but it's also extremely disorienting. Buttons for the HVAC system are hidden on the vents themselves and not having a central display of any kind is jarring. Once you get used to the layout and embrace the absolutely exceptional Virtual Cockpit – seriously, I'm convinced this is the finest piece of in-car technology on the market – the cockpit layout just starts making sense. This is a compact cabin, but it's a wonderful place to spend time. In addition to Virtual Cockpit, the S Sport seats (optional on the standard TT) are supportive and perfectly snug. Even for the big boned, the flat-bottomed steering wheel is a delight. The material quality is high across the board. Perhaps the biggest complaint is the charitably named backseats. Audi should just go with an R8-style shelf back here – those tiny buckets aren't fooling anyone. It'd make for a more versatile interior. Audi's current TT engine line is restricted to 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinders.