2009 Audi A4 Quattro 2.0t Premium Turbo 2l I4 16v Automatic Awd Sedan Premium on 2040-cars

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J.D. Power study identifies top seats for your tush

File under News your fanny can use: The seating systems in the Ford Escape and Edge, the Audi A3, Chevrolet Cruze, Kia Cadenza, Porsche Cayenne and Toyota Tundra received top marks in a new J.D. Power study on seating and seat belt quality and satisfaction. The J.D. Power 2017 Seat Quality and Satisfaction Study asked more than 77,000 new owners and lessees of 2017 model-year cars and light trucks to rate their vehicle's seats and seat belts within the first 90 days of taking ownership. The survey is broken up into seven vehicle segments and scored on total seat problems per 100 within each segment, with awards presented to the seating system supplier. Canadian auto supplier Magna won three of seven first-place awards for its seating systems in the A3, Escape and Edge. Ireland-based Adient got top marks for its seats in the Cadenza and Cayenne. Lear Corp. won for the Cruze, and Avanzar Interior Technologies scored highest for seats in the Tundra. J.D. Power says its study is intended for automakers and suppliers with quality and satisfaction information to be used in developing and marketing seating systems. "But the results are just as interesting to a consumer audience," the company says. "After all, some drivers spend a considerable amount of time behind the wheel, and it's helpful to know which vehicles offer the most comfortable seats for those long commutes." Ain't that the truth. Ford was the only automaker whose seat systems, both manufactured by Magna, received top honors in two segments: the Escape for mass-market compact SUV and the Edge for mass-market midsize/large SUV. J.D. Power says it used 22 attributes to measure seat quality, three measures of seat belt quality and 12 to measure satisfaction. Awards were presented to the seating suppliers. Related Video: Image Credit: Audi Auto News Design/Style Audi Chevrolet Ford Kia Porsche Toyota Safety JD Power seats

Consumer Reports selling its road-tested roadsters [w/video]

Here's a chance to acquire a celebrity-owned vehicles, and this time at a discount instead of a premium. So the celebrity in this case is Consumer Reports, that magazine that could be equally adored and abhored by car enthusiasts. CR buys all of its test vehicles and usually finds willing second owners within its own ranks, but its opening its small used-car lot to the public. On the forecourt are four roadsters: an automatic 2012 Audi TT 2.0 TFSI Quattro S-Tronic with 6,600 miles for $36,500, a manual 2012 BMW Z4 sDrive28i with 8,400 miles for $45,000, a manual 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK250 for $39,500 and a manual 2013 Porsche Boxster with 7,000 miles for $48,000.
Those numbers mean a savings of $9,000 to $10,000 before haggling - each car is listed with an "Asking price" so there could be some wiggle room if you show up with pockets full of dough and eyes full of serious intent. Since the money CR earns from the sales go back into the magazine's budget to buy more test cars, however, it probably won't take any oddball trades, so you can forget about getting any purchasing help from that track-day AMC Javelin project on blocks in the back yard.
The vehicles have been taken care of and spiffed up for sale; buyers will take delivery at the CR test track in East Haddam, Connecticut and get a tour of the facilities. While you're there they'll even take you on a lap around the track so you can feel how your car handles when driven by one of its testers. They will probably not help you with advice on which toaster and dehumidifier to buy - you'll still need to get a subscription for that. Have a look at the video below to see a day in the life of a CR test car.

Audi SQ7 spied for the first time

Audi isn't really hiding that its engineers are hard at work on a high-performance version of the latest Q7. However, we haven't seen any of the fruits of this labor, until we got these fresh spy shots of the SQ7. With seemingly no camouflage on the car, these photos might give a very good idea of what to expect from Audi's speedy SUV. One big tip-off of the model's performance aspirations is the redesign of the front end's lower portion. New ducts beside the foglights send cool air to what appear to be intercoolers. This test model rides on a very cool-looking set of basket-weave style wheels, and the big, cross-drilled brakes are easy to spot behind them. At the rear, the quad exhaust tips also signal something special. Our spies also snapped some shots of the interior. If there is any question about whether this is the SQ7, these photos certainly assuage it. The badging is plain as day on the gauges, but at this point the changes appear to be fairly minimal beyond that. We know the SQ7 is going to get more power, but the method isn't officially confirmed yet. Although, Audi technical boss Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg said bluntly last year that it would use an electrically turbocharged engine, possibly an evolution of the V6 diesel in the RS5 TDI Concept. Hackenberg also suggested that the SQ7 would go on sale in 2016. Though, the actual debut might come earlier. Regardless, the tweaks should make the SUV quite a performer. Even on the standard version, it weighs 700 pounds less than the previous generation, while remaining about the same size.