2013 Audi A7 Premium Plus Awd S-line 3.0t Supercharched!! on 2040-cars

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Looking for meaning in Audi killing off its $1m electric supercar

Audi's most ambitious - well, most expensive, anyway – electric vehicle is no more. After building fewer than 100 of them (perhaps a lot fewer), Audi has cancelled the R8 E-Tron. Maybe it was the million-dollar-plus price tag. Maybe it was the " supreme hand-built quality." Maybe it was the fact that a non-electric R8 could be had for $164,150. Whatever the reason, was killing the R8 E-Tron a good idea? The R8 E-Tron would have been a good halo vehicle for the brand Here's the case for this being a shortsighted move. As we all know, the VW Group – and Audi especially – is in the middle of an electrification kick, and the R8 E-Tron would have been a good halo vehicle for the brand. Instead, it can stand as a prime example of waffling on the promise of plug-in vehicles. After all, Audi used to be incredibly proud of the R8 E-Tron, even if it had a tough history. The whole program was an on-again/ off-again kind of thing, but with enough momentum to get the EV some time at the Nurburgring. With both Mercedes and the EQ brand and BMW with its i brand moving strong into EVs, letting the headline be "Audi killed an EV" is not exactly fitting. It's not like Audi was wasting time making a lot of these. The R8 E-Tron went on sale in 2015 to customers who made a special request for it, and apparently only 100 did. But let's stop there. Getting 100 people to plunk down a million dollars or so for a car totals up to be a lot of money. There's no reason for Audi to price the car this high (forerunner vehicle programs almost always lose money for a time, just ask Toyota RE the Prius), but it did. And $100 million (if almost 100 were indeed sold) is nothing to scoff at, is it? It obviously wasn't enough to keep the lines and tooling open for this limited vehicle, and that sort of opens up a bigger question. Does the end (the second end, really) of the R8 E-Tron say something more important about EVs? Are they becoming less exotic high-end fixtures and more everyday transport? In a world full of Bolts and Ioniqs and E-Golfs – so, the world of 2017 and beyond – does a super high-end EV have any meaning? Gas-powered cars have managed to pull this off for decades, with Lamborghinis and Maseratis surviving just fine even with millions of Corollas out there. In a more-developed EV ecosystem, expensive EVs like the R8 should be able to do the same. Just not right now.

XCAR shows how Audi engineers let loose with A1 Quattro

In its ultimate mortal guise, the Audi A1 Black Edition - the littlelest little guy Audi makes - costs 22,340 pounds ($33,705 US) in the UK and comes with a turbocharged 1.4-liter four-cylinder that outputs, at most, 182 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque. The Audi A1 Quattro - still employing the body of the littlelest little guy Audi makes - costs more than 41,020 pounds ($61,888 US) gets a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder from the Audi TTS with 252 hp and 258 lb-ft. And quattro. And 17-inch, center-locking, white wheels.
The crew at XCAR gets the A1 Quattro on video, to both question how the A1 Quattro happened and then to praise it even if they never found the answer. The hosannas come too late for anyone in the UK who was waffling about buying one, however, since all 19 meant for the 'sceptered isle are sold out. You can see what we missed out on in the video below.

2018 Audi A5 Sportback First Drive | Cake is delicious

Have your cake and eat it, too – that's supposed to be a fallacy. And yet, the 2018 Audi A5 Sportback defies conventional global wisdom by being more practical and better looking than the A4 sedan upon which it's based. Some may even prefer the way its longer wheelbase and roofline showcase the curves shared by the two-door A5. There's certainly no arguing about not being shoehorned into a coupe's back seat. Compared to its siblings, both of which share a common platform, engines and interior design, the Sportback has virtually the same length, wheelbase and width as the A4, but has a lowered height that's an inch closer to the A5 coupe (54.6 inches versus 56.2 for A4 and 54.0 for A5). Now, you might expect a commensurate loss in headroom, but in fact the Sportback has more front headroom than the A4 (39.4 inches versus 38.9) and only 0.4 less in back. Indeed, someone 6-foot-3 can sit comfortably upright without hair being fussed, and there's still enough legroom. And then there's the trunk lurking beneath its don't-call-it-a-hatchback. With 21.8 cubic feet of space with the back seats raised, the A5 Sportback falls only 2.4 cubes shy of the Audi A4 Allroad ... you know, a don't-call-it-a-wagon. Sure, the Sportback pales in terms of maximum volume (35 cubic feet versus 58.5), but it still offers far more versatility than the 13-cu.ft. A4 or 11.6-cu.ft. A5 coupe. Right, so it's more practical. Then there's the beauty bit. The visual ties to the A5 are obvious, with the exaggerated character line following the car's voluptuous haunches and the Zeppelin-like hood strakes. According to designer Frank Lamberty, however, the difference and indeed the beauty is really in the roofline. He Photoshopped together a for-our-eyes-only image of what the Sportback would look like if they had simply added the A7's roofline and signature window graphic to the A4. "It's not sexy," he said, noting that the resulting profile is too upright and plain. It would just be a more practical A4. Or as the Tamils might say, you'd have a mustache but not be able to drink the soup. Instead, his team created an A5 where everything appears to be pulled back. Both because it literally is in terms of dimensions, but also through lines and details like the little trim piece and badge that bridge the front doors and fenders. The goal was to create a more rear-drive look, drawing attention towards the rear and away from the front overhang.