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Power for the people who need crossovers | 2018 Audi SQ5 First Drive

The 2018 Audi SQ5 is pretty simple. It's the sporty version of the redesigned Q5. It's for the enthusiast. The buyers skew male, and Audi pitches it as the solution for when an S4 doesn't meet your needs. It's a 354-horsepower purple pill for the Dad who's resigned himself to driving a crossover — but still wants to have some fun. The SQ5 is simple, but it's also very important. The Q5 is Audi's best-seller, and a sportier sibling makes the entire family look good. The midsize crossover segment is big business, and the performance industry is hot. Archrivals Mercedes, BMW, and Porsche have formidable entries. A few years ago a hotted-up crossover was a nice thing for an automaker to develop – a bonus addition to the lineup. Now it's essential. The SQ5 definitely feels like the right vehicle at the right time. Cruising around Vancouver Island outside Victoria, the stately capital city of British Columbia, we're having heck of a good time. The crossover, based on a platform shared with the larger Q7, feels nimble and eager. Breaking free from early morning traffic, we find the Trans-Canada Highway, cue up Dynamic mode, and take off. Dynamic mode adds heft to the steering, lowers the vehicle 0.6 inches from Auto mode, and deepens the exhaust note. It's low, growly, and sounds surprisingly good. The 3.0-liter TFSI engine has plenty of punch. You know it from the S4 and S5. Like those cars, the SQ5 now ditches the supercharger for turbo power. It was a mildly controversial move as the blown motors in the S4 and S5 gave those cars true muscle-car character. We've made our peace, and turbos just seem like the natural move for the SQ5. Audi is quick to point out the wide torque curve – you get 369 pound-feet sooner than with the supercharger, and output is 23 more pound-feet than before. The horsepower remains the same, though it maxes out slightly sooner in the band. Audi says the turbo, mounted in the middle of the engine's V, makes the SQ5 more responsive, and with all of the low-end torque, we agree. It certainly feels capable as we open it up, finding gaps in traffic, side-stepping tree haulers and deftly out-maneuvering slow-moving motorists. We find a rhythm on the Pacific Rim Highway, smoothly tackling the curves, pulling the paddles for quick downshifts from the eight-speed automatic Tiptronic transmission, and aggressively accelerating before giving way to common sense. It's a beautiful drive.

Formula E is on track financially, with NYC race coming up

LONDON - Formula E could be breaking even already were it not investing for the future, chief executive Alejandro Agag said on Monday after the electric motor racing series reported continuing losses in its latest annual accounts. Accounts filed at Companies House showed Formula E Operations Ltd reduced its operating loss to 33.7 million euros ($38.32 million) at end-July 2016, a period covering its second season, from a previous 62.7 million. Net liabilities rose to 107.2 million euros from 72.1 million, while total revenues reached 56.6 million from a previous 19.7 million. "Everything is going according to plan," Agag, whose city-based series will be racing in New York for the first time on July 15 and 16, told Reuters in an interview at his London offices. "Actually we are doing incredibly well financially according to our plan. "We could have broken even this year but we decided to invest more in marketing and promotion. We decided to add races like the one in New York, which is in year one a race which is costing, we have significant capital expenditure." "It's really up to us when we want to go to break even or not. We could be in break-even now, we could be in break-even next season but we may decide to invest more in marketing and promotion." Agag said the shareholders, including John Malone's Liberty Global and Discovery Communications, were supportive of the strategy and the series had attracted more investors, sponsors and car manufacturers. The New York races will be held in Brooklyn's Red hook neighborhood, with lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop with technology partner Qualcomm securing the naming rights. MANUFACTURER INTEREST Agag, whose series plays down competition with Liberty Media-owned Formula One, said more carmakers were set to join a series increasingly aligned with their commercial focus. "I think Formula E has become the preferred destination for manufacturers and there are a few reasons for that," said the Spaniard. "Obviously, one is that it is electric and manufacturers are more and more focusing on electric cars...and we are the only platform really to help them promote that technology and those types of cars. "And second, because of the cost. The cost of the team in Formula E is very moderate." Whereas top Formula One teams can burn through $300 million a year, as can the likes of Toyota in the World Endurance Championship, the budgets of successful Formula E teams are between 10 and 15 million.

Are future vehicular hacks inevitable?

Before the hack of the Uconnect system in a Jeep Cherokee resulted in a 1.4-million vehicle recall, the potential software vulnerabilities in vehicles were already a hot topic with Congressional inquiries and even proposed legislation in the US. As cars' interconnected systems gain the ability to go online, they become open to a host of new threats. Automakers are trying to stop this, but it might be too late to put the genie back into the bottle. Throughout 2015, the issue of software security in vehicles has become increasingly vital. For example, the recent Jeep case wasn't even the biggest hack this year. In February, a major flaw was discovered in the BMW Connected Drive service that allowed researchers to remotely lock and unlock the doors and potentially affected 2.2 million cars. The fix was an over-the-air patch for the problem. Automakers are actively working to fix the issues. Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi reportedly are using encrypted connections and firewalls in their vehicles to prevent hacking. "Absolute, 100-percent safety isn't possible," Daimler spokesperson Benjamin Oberkersch said to Automotive News Europe. "But we develop our systems, tested by internal and external experts, so they're up to date." These vulnerabilities seem to be popping up more often. A successful hack took $14 in parts from Radio Shack in one case. There was also a 60 Minutes report earlier in the year about DARPA's ability to hack into OnStar to take control of a Chevrolet Impala. Experts aren't so sure companies can contend with hackers' advancement. "The difficulty for the carmakers at the moment is the question whether they can keep pace with advances in technology, and especially hacking technology," Rainer Scholz, executive director for telematics consultant EY, said to Automotive News Europe. "We seriously doubt they can." At this point, vehicle hacks are coming more from researchers looking for holes than from those with malicious intent. Still, the vulnerabilities are definitely there. It's up to automakers to keep patching the problems before they become dangerous to drivers. Related Video: News Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req.Image Credit: Bill O'Leary / The Washington Post via Getty Images Audi BMW Jeep Mercedes-Benz Safety Technology Emerging Technologies hacking cyber security