2010 Audi A4 Base Sedan 4-door 2.0l on 2040-cars

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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.

Next-gen Audi A7 design to be 'radical'

The Prologue concept has our attention. In fact, it has everyone's attention. It is the preview for the coming A7, and Autocar summarized Audi design chief Marc Lichte's concerning the new A7 as, "A more radical design is promised for the next-generation." In fact, the next A7 is said to become "the most radical" of three coming designs inspired by the Prologue, the others being the new A6 and A8. Autocar also said Lichte made it clear that there would be "much greater visual differentiation between the trio and other future Audis." Yet, for at least four years Audi has been talking about a design overhaul to fight back charges that its cars look too similar. In 2011 there was a "design initiative" dubbed AQR to make sure that "the design details will be different" between its hatchbacks, Quattro offerings and R Sports cars, and make proportion changes to its sedans. That didn't really move the needle. In 2013, then-design boss Wolfgang Egger hailed the end of "scalable design," a prime culprit for the 'same sausage, different lengths' accusations. We're not sure the needle moved much then, either. And this year came news of a new "Quattro-centric" design language that would stress horizontals, perhaps the new Q7 it's first serious proponent, a crossover that we'll have to see before we can judge. Although we've heard the bells ringing about fresh design at Audi for years, we hope they mean it with products that come after the Prologue; it is a fabulous place to start. Featured Gallery Audi A7 Sportback facelift View 13 Photos News Source: Autocar Design/Style Audi Sedan marc lichte

BMW tops Consumer Reports 2023 Brand Report Card

Feels like we wrote about Consumer Reports' 2022 Brand Report Car and 10 Top Picks a few weeks ago, but it was last April. So the mag is back with a ranked roster of 32 brands and 10 vehicles in four categories for your debating pleasure. Starting with the brands, last year's top three were Subaru, Mazda and BMW. This year, the Munich crew climbed two spots to win the prize thanks to "Superb road test scores and solid results in CR’s reliability and owner satisfaction surveys." Subaru narrowly fell to second, maintaining its four-year run in the top three. Mini, eighth last year, jumped five spots to get the last step on the podium. The rest of the top 10 were Lexus (up one spot from last year), Honda (down one spot from last year), Toyota (up three), Genesis (up 12), Mazda (down six), Audi (down three) and Kia (up eight). The magazine and testing outfit says its Brand Report Card "[reveals] which automakers are producing the most well-performing, safe, and reliable vehicles based on CRÂ’s independent testing and member surveys," and that "Brands that rise to the top tend to have the most consistent performance across their model lineups." Last year's top 10 had six automakers from Japan, three from Germany (giving Mini credit for England), none from the U.S. or South Korea, and five luxury brands. This year's list counts five makes from Japan, two from Germany because Porsche fell out of the top ten, two from South Korea, still none from the U.S., and four luxury brands. Buick again ranked as the best domestic, dropping to 12th after being 11th last year. The big mover was Lincoln, its 10-place jump up to 16th attributed to better reliability from the Corsair and Nautilus. Tesla's improved overall reliability saw it climb six spots to 17th. Dodge climbed one spot to 15th. Jeep got out of the penalty box in last to come second-to-last. Land Rover fell three places into the penalty spot.  CR's top 10 vehicle models The 10 Top Picks list is practically a new list. Only two holdovers made it to 2023, those being the Subaru Forester and Kia Telluride.