2010 Audi A6 3.0t *certified* *sport Pkg.* on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2017 Frankfurt Motor Show | Observations on the Ferrari Portofino, Honda Urban EV and more

Related: We obsessively covered the Frankfurt Motor Show — here's our complete coverage The 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show kicked off the fall reveal season with an impressive array of powerful cars blended with forward-looking concepts. It's a seminal period for automakers, who find themselves at the intersection of disruption and opportunity. With that in mind, here are four takeaways from Frankfurt. The transformation of the curvy yet overbaked Ferrari California T into the Portofino is complete, and its coming-out party in Frankfurt served notice that Ferrari's entry-level sports car is much more formidable. There was nothing wrong with the California (and later the California T), but the Portofino features a cleaner look with stronger lines and an elegant resemblance to the rest of the Ferrari family. The California name is a good one. Used on a number of memorable cars in the 1950s and '60s, it's steeped in tradition, and certainly Ferrari will dust it off again. But switching to Portofino, the name of a scenic town in Italy, is a nice way to change the conversation and generate fresh interest in this part of the Ferrari portfolio. Man, people are stoked over the Honda Urban EV concept. Why? I assume it's the retro look that harks back to early Civics, and the lack of information about the concept itself. What people don't know, they're imagining. Honda hasn't even confirmed the range, the car is very small, and it likely won't be sold in the United States. With this dearth of facts, enthusiasts are filling in their own blanks. I guess that's OK. Count me among the intrigued. When I saw pictures of this thing early Tuesday morning, I was pretty excited, too. We do know Honda is expanding its electric strategy, and two-thirds of its new vehicles sold around the world will have some form of electrification by 2030. The Urban EV launches in Europe in 2019, and a hybrid CR-V rolls out in Europe next year. Unconfirmed for the U.S. market, it seems like a no-brainer to bring that version of the CR-V here. The electrification and autonomous tech parade of concepts continues. You gotta be there. It's the cost of doing business in the modern automotive landscape. This technology takes years to develop and launch, so the next best thing to remind the world you're trying to be cutting-edge is to show off lots of fancy concepts. Frankfurt had plenty. A couple standouts: The BMW I Vision Dynamics and Audi's Elaine and Aicon.

Audi Prologue Avant Concept points to the future of wagon design in Geneva [w/video]

The new generation Audi R8 and its LMS GT3 racing version are grabbing much of the attention at the Audi stand at the Geneva Motor Show. However, if you are more interested in seeing the brand's future design direction, just take a look at the Prologue Avant Concept that's also on display. Audi traditionally uses the Avant name for the company's wagons, but that's tweaked slightly here. The vehicle is certainly a five-door, but from some angles it looks more akin to a Porsche Panamera-like hatchback. Compared to the B-pillarless Prologue Coupe (that we recently drove), the stretched roof flows all the way to the angled rear hatch, and the result is a very elegant design. The interior tends towards minimalism with just a few screens showing the driving info. The Prologue Avant also ditches the Coupe's petrol-fueled hybrid for a 3.0-liter, twin-turbo diesel V6 plug-in hybrid with a total of 455 horsepower and 553 pound-feet of torque, which is linked to an eight-speed gearbox. Audi claims the setup reaches 62 miles per hour in 5.1 seconds and allows for 33 miles of pure electric driving. To get a sneak peek at what's next from Audi, take a look at the Prologue Avant Concept on the floor of the Geneva show in the gallery above.

Audi RS7 vs. Porsche Panamera Turbo, which would you pick? [w/poll]

We live in a blessed time - a time when you can buy not just one, but two (or three, or four) monstrously powerful, blazingly fast four-doors that can't only keep up with modern supercars, but in some instances, will outperform them as well. Two of the finest are the Audi RS7 and the refreshed Porsche Panamera Turbo, and Motor Trend has been messing around with the both of them in this comparison video.
MT provides a comprehensive and entertaining look at the RS7 and the turbocharged Panamera as they go through a battery of tests, before getting tossed about on both the road and the track. Starring flip-flop aficionado Jonny Lieberman, it's a must-watch, whether you're in the market for one of the two super sedans or merely want to see the former Autoblog editor again.
After having a look at the video, register a vote for the car you'd park in your driveway in our poll. Hop below for the full video from the team at Motor Trend.