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2016 Audi RS 7 Performance Quick Spin

Audi's roster of Sevens – the A7, S7, and RS 7 – gets a new and overachieving member with the new RS 7 Performance. The big story is that it ups the RS 7's 560 horsepower to 605. And while the advertised torque rating of 517 pound-feet doesn't change, Audi says the car will actually produce 553 lb-ft during moments of overboost. Hunkered-down with 21-inch wheels filling the wheel wells, the RS 7 Performance has a top speed of 190 miles per hour, and runs to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds – our informal stopwatch tests suggest that may even be conservative. We drove the RS 7 Performance in Florida, which included an eventful lap around Daytona International Speedway's road course, just prior to the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. More about that in a moment. Driving Notes The RS 7 Performance is pretty rough-riding at its softest, a problem only on bad pavement and roads with dips. It isn't punishing, but it never lets you forget this is a performance luxury car, in that order. The eight-speed Tiptronic automatic transmission is a sweetheart, never confused and always standing by to maximize the 4.0-liter, twin-turbocharged V8's muscle. It would have been nice to be able to dial in a little extra exhaust sound – what you can hear makes you want more. The RS sport seats, with optional Valcona leather and Alcantara inlays and steering wheel cover, are excellent. There's a reason why Audi is a template for automotive interior designers. Rear seat room is a little tight but tolerable. As for that lap at Daytona: We were only given one, so we went for it, and hit 164 mph on the back stretch before having to wade deep into the ABS for the bus stop turn. The engine was still pulling hard – we have little doubt the advertised 190 mph top speed is accurate. While the big ceramic brakes did their job, we weren't given a cool-down lap, and the combination of 4,500 pounds and 164 mph seemed to have set the front brakes on fire. No, really. It took a spritz of water to drown them out. We were told that it isn't unusual for ceramic brakes, the first time they hit 800 degrees, to burn out some impurities. Afterwards, the brakes worked fine, but we sure got a lot of attention from the IMSA Rolex crew on pit road. The RS 7 Performance is a viceless car, one we'd cheerfully drive for a very long time.

US-bound Audi A3 Sedan spied testing

As the Audi A3 sedan gets closer to its debut, Audi has camouflaged prototypes to take it on the streets for final testing. Last time we saw the A3, it was testing almost in the buff, but it was on a closed track so our spy shooters were kept at quite a distance.
Now that the newest Audi sedan is testing on public roads, our latest batch of spy shots gives us a more detailed look at the entry-level luxury player despite the swirly camo. Except for the oversized wheels and the fancy exhaust outlets and door mirrors, the production version of the car should look almost identical to the A3 sedan concept we saw in Geneva a couple years ago. Some of the details we can see include a good-sized panoramic roof that stretches almost halfway into the rear passenger space and signature Audi LED-accented headlights and taillights.

40+ cars that barely avoid the gas guzzler tax

The Gas Guzzler schedule, with mpg ratings and charges that haven't changed since 1991, lays out which fuel-swillers owe what to Uncle Sam.
I started thinking about the "Gas Guzzler Tax" - considerably less well known as The Energy Tax Act of 1978 - when I was driving Dodge's new Challenger SRT Hellcat last week. Unsurprisingly for a car that can burn 1.5 gallons of gas per minute at max tilt, theoretically able to empty a full tank of premium in about 13 minutes, the Hellcat will be subject to the Gas Guzzler Tax schedule when it goes on sale.