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2016 Audi S8 Plus burns the 'bahn faster

At no point during my drive of the Audi S8 last year did I think, "You know, this car could really use more power." With 520 horses on tap from a twin-turbo, 4.0-liter V8, the S8 is a damn good luxury/sport sedan. But I'm certainly not going to complain about a big ol' power boost, and that's just what we have here with the new Audi S8 Plus. It's got the same engine underhood, but power is boosted from 520 hp and 481 pound-feet of torque to a healthy 605 hp and 516 lb-ft. There's even an overboost function that increases torque output to 553 lb-ft for short bursts. That means the big S8 will run to 60 miles per hour in just over three and a half seconds. Hot damn. All that thrust doesn't come cheap, though; the S8 Plus costs $115,825. Of course, that's cheaper than the Mercedes-AMG S63 sedan, but the Merc is a decidedly more luxurious car. Still, a 605-hp S8 sounds mighty fine to me. Of course, a 520-hp S8 was already perfectly fine to begin with.

Audi R8 Spyder looks like heaven at the Green Hell

After Audi took the wraps off the new R8 coupe at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show, we knew it would only be a matter of time before the convertible version arrived. Now, we've spotted the droptop during testing on and around the venerable Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany. The new Audi R8 Spyder is expected to closely mirror the fixed-roof supercar we've already seen. Only instead of a tin top, of course, it'll have a folding fabric roof mechanism. This goes against the recent retractable hardtop trend, and the featured is used by the Ferrari 488 Spider and McLaren 650S Spider. Some revised air vents appear to be part of the R8's convertible package, as well. Otherwise, we can anticipate the same specs as the R8 coupe. The latest model ditched the previous version's V8 engine in favor of 10-cylinder options: a 5.2-liter V10 with either 533 horsepower in "base" spec or 602 hp in the V10 Plus model. Both drive all four wheels through a seven-speed dual-cluch transmission. The jury's still out on whether Ingolstadt will slot a smaller engine option into the R8, particularly for markets where tax brackets are determined by engine displacement. But whatever the coupe gets, the convertible is likely to offer it as well. Related Video:

Toyota Corolla Cross, Audi Q4 Sportback E-Tron and which beers are like which cars | Autoblog Podcast #635

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski and Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder. They're thirsty this week, but first, they talk about the Subaru Forester and Lexus NX they've been driving. They dig into the news about the Toyota Corolla Cross, Audi Q4 Sportback E-Tron and J.D. Power's surprising Initial Quality Study results. A longtime Autoblog Podcast listener suggested our editors try to relate some of their favorite beers to their favorite cars, and they happily oblige. Finally, they help a listener choose a new car in the "Spend My Money" segment. Autoblog Podcast #635 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving Long-term 2019 Subaru Forester 2020 Lexus NX 300h News Toyota Corolla Cross is headed our way Audi Q4 Sportback E-Tron concept revealed Dodge and Kia lead J.D. Power 2020 Initial Quality Study Cars and their beer counterparts Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Show full video transcript text - Hey, everybody. This is Autoblog Podcast producer Eric here. I'm just hopping in quickly at the beginning of the episode to let you know that this episode of the Autoblog Podcast is brought to you by these SoFi Daily Podcast. Reaching financial independence starts with having the right information. So every weekday morning, SoFi keeps you up to date with important business news and stock market happenings and how they affect your financial life. So get your money right and search for SoFi-- that's S-O-F-I-- wherever you get your podcasts. On with the show. [THEME MUSIC] [ENGINE REVVING] [CAR DRIVES AWAY] GREG MIGLIORE: Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Autoblog Podcast. I am Greg Migliore. We have a great show for you today on this hot, sizzling Thursday afternoon in July. Joining me today is senior editor for all things green, John Snyder. What's up, man? JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Hey. Just trying to beat the heat with some iced coffee today. GREG MIGLIORE: Sounds good, sounds good. My coffee is just cold because I haven't microwaved it in a while. And chuckling at that remark-- charitably, I guess-- is consumer editor Jeremy Korzeniewski. How you doing? JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: I'm doing good. I-- I mean, unlike you guys, I stopped drinking coffee about an hour ago.