Well it appears that my blogs about cars are as popular as my ramblings about the economy and politics. Who knew?
Today I want to focus on New Cars but specifically on Audi.
For those that are old like me you remember that Audi had some issues in the mid 1980's with "unintended acceleration". While they were producing fine cars with fair value they were no where near the power and strength of either BMW or Benz. However prior to 1986 they were trucking along pretty well and gaining some market share. I was one of their buyers, taking home a brand new 5000S. This was a nice 4 door sedan with Quattro (all wheel drive) and a unique 5 cylinder engine. It was by no means fast but it was solid and spacious. I liked its look and my wife liked the space for two young kids plus the safety features. It was priced below the other two big German luxury car makers and so we had our first Audi.
Then the big scare came with the "unintended acceleration" scandal. This single event with a surprisingly low number of accidents, caused the entire industry to change. Audi took a beating. The cars stopped selling and many thought they would withdraw from the US market completely. They fought the media beating and stayed on course. Slowly they built themselves back up in US.
All cars sometime after this issue, started to install Shift Locks. I am sure you know what these are. They require you to depress the brake before you can take the car out of park (on an automatic). Today every car and most trucks have this feature. The idea is simple - by depressing the brake before putting the car in gear one protects against unintended acceleration that could cause the car to "jump" forward or back. With Audi this happened a few times and caused some folks to be hit and lots of damage to garages. The truth is that in this time period of time, other cars had the same issue and Audi was just the brand that got caught first.
While all this was happening the engineers at Audi were working hard to perfect the Quarttro drive. It fast became the best all wheel drive system in the world proving outsell in world rallies. Funnily enough the car that won all those rallies was called - the Quattro. It was an odd hatchback with square lines and a potent engine. I had the pleasure of racing one in the late 1980's but sadly only on a racetrack not in a dirt rally. It was amazing and while it required some getting used to I was sold on the technology.
As the 1990's moved past Audi produced more and more great sedans and the Quattro symbol became synonymous with all wheel drive innovation. The fit and finish of cars continued to improve and rivaled BMW by the early 2000's. Simultaneously they kept to their racing heritage and developed strong road racing cars. They expanded into prototypes in the Le Mans series and started a string of wins that no manufacturer has ever equaled. The innovations from all this racing was trickled down into their street cars and the brand grew, as did US sales.
Being part of the VW family since 1966 was a big plus as it allowed for excellent R&D and gave them the financial resources necessary to rebuild the brand. Today, Audi is equal to or better than any brand in the world. Benz and BMW have fallen behind Audi in their luxury interiors and now Audi is producing engines( street and racing) that rival any manufacturer on the planet. If you have not looked a modern Audi you owe it to yourself to do so. (and no they are not paying me anything).
They produce a wide array of cars and SUV's. The smallest US car is their A3 and their largest is the A8. In between are the A4,A5, A6, and A7. In the SUV arena they produce a Q5 and Q7 (Q3 in Europe and may come here soon). In the ultra sports category they produce an everyday super car called the R8 which comes in three flavors - V8, V10 and GT. They aslo ahve a small sprots car called the TT. The A4 is their bread and butter and competes with the 3 series BMW, the G series Infiniti, the IS series Lexus, the C series Benz and the Acura TL. The A5 is a two door coupe (Also available as a convertible) that is perhaps one of the best looking cars in the world. The lines are amazing and the fit and finish are excellent. With Quattro and some great engine choices it is a winner. The A8 is without doubt in the top 5 luxury large size sedans.It is amazing in its comfort, handling and performance. Expensive but still competitive with the big boys and I think the most classy sedan if we exclude the super exotics.
That brings me to the A7. This was a big risk car for Audi. It's styling is somewhat polarizing but the concept is brilliant. I like the look myself but make up your own minds. It is a 5 door sedan. In other words a luxury 5 door hatchback (although using those terms for a beauty like this is blasphemous). The car is amazing. It has many Audi technology advances and they all work in symphony to produce a excellent driving experience.
Lets start with the large interior. With the hatchback it can carry more gear than any typical sedan but still looks sexy doing it. The appointments inside are beautiful. Depending on the options you choose this baby can rival a Bentley (interesting that they are owned by the same parent -VW). Audi offers a auto first - the entire car becomes a "hot spot". Yes, all those Thumb Generation kids of yours can connect wirelessly to the Internet by just sitting in the car (subscription is necessary but worth it). Heck the car even offers a memory card slot so that you can show all your recent snap shots from the trip to the beach on the center nav screen on the way home - cool!
The drive train is superb. Start with s a supercharged 6 cylinder engine. I thought this would be a very underpowered car because with the Quattro system and 5 doors it is heavy. Well, Audi delivered. The transmission is a big part of the surprise. It is a true dual clutch system (probably stolen to some degree from Porsche - another VW family member). With the supercharger, all wheel drive and this smooth reactive transmission this huge car can go 0-60 mph in under 5 seconds! It rides nicely - firm but not jarring. It is quiet unless you nail it (which I like to do any chance I get). It has paddle shifters for the sport car enthusiast in all of us and even "blips" the throttle when downshifting making even a bald, old guy sound like a race car driver.
Now comes their latest improvement - the S7. You see Audi like many manufacturers has two sporty designations for their cars. The S series and ultra high performance RS series. In the US we have been starved for many of the RS models as Audi has not seen enough of a market for them here. But the S series have been available in the A4, A5, A6 and A8 for awhile. The S7 takes the A7 to the next level. It replaces the 6 cylinder supercharged engine with a strong 420Hp twin turboV8. This is matted to the excellent seven speed dual clutch transmission and all wheel drive system generating a 0-60 time of 3.9 seconds! That is Ferrari and Porsche territory and will eat most stock Corvette's off the line. Keep in mind this is a 4000lbs 5 door luxury sedan. To add to its tech advancements it shuts down to a V4 when you are crusing and don't need all 8 cylinders.
Recently they tested it against the new BMW Grand Coupe 650i and the Mercedes Benz CL550 AMG. While the subjective rating gave a small nudge to the BMW I am not sure I agree. Plus add that the Audi, loaded came in at about $85K and the BMW was well over $110K. The Audi is faster , bigger and has 5 doors versus the 2 door BMW coupe. The Benz was third in this contest.
In summary if you have not looked at an Audi recently make sure you do as all their cars are top notch and very competitive in the import luxury segment. Hope this info helps and as always I welcome questions and comments. Till next time keep the rubber on the road.
Today I want to focus on New Cars but specifically on Audi.
For those that are old like me you remember that Audi had some issues in the mid 1980's with "unintended acceleration". While they were producing fine cars with fair value they were no where near the power and strength of either BMW or Benz. However prior to 1986 they were trucking along pretty well and gaining some market share. I was one of their buyers, taking home a brand new 5000S. This was a nice 4 door sedan with Quattro (all wheel drive) and a unique 5 cylinder engine. It was by no means fast but it was solid and spacious. I liked its look and my wife liked the space for two young kids plus the safety features. It was priced below the other two big German luxury car makers and so we had our first Audi.
Then the big scare came with the "unintended acceleration" scandal. This single event with a surprisingly low number of accidents, caused the entire industry to change. Audi took a beating. The cars stopped selling and many thought they would withdraw from the US market completely. They fought the media beating and stayed on course. Slowly they built themselves back up in US.
All cars sometime after this issue, started to install Shift Locks. I am sure you know what these are. They require you to depress the brake before you can take the car out of park (on an automatic). Today every car and most trucks have this feature. The idea is simple - by depressing the brake before putting the car in gear one protects against unintended acceleration that could cause the car to "jump" forward or back. With Audi this happened a few times and caused some folks to be hit and lots of damage to garages. The truth is that in this time period of time, other cars had the same issue and Audi was just the brand that got caught first.
While all this was happening the engineers at Audi were working hard to perfect the Quarttro drive. It fast became the best all wheel drive system in the world proving outsell in world rallies. Funnily enough the car that won all those rallies was called - the Quattro. It was an odd hatchback with square lines and a potent engine. I had the pleasure of racing one in the late 1980's but sadly only on a racetrack not in a dirt rally. It was amazing and while it required some getting used to I was sold on the technology.
As the 1990's moved past Audi produced more and more great sedans and the Quattro symbol became synonymous with all wheel drive innovation. The fit and finish of cars continued to improve and rivaled BMW by the early 2000's. Simultaneously they kept to their racing heritage and developed strong road racing cars. They expanded into prototypes in the Le Mans series and started a string of wins that no manufacturer has ever equaled. The innovations from all this racing was trickled down into their street cars and the brand grew, as did US sales.
Being part of the VW family since 1966 was a big plus as it allowed for excellent R&D and gave them the financial resources necessary to rebuild the brand. Today, Audi is equal to or better than any brand in the world. Benz and BMW have fallen behind Audi in their luxury interiors and now Audi is producing engines( street and racing) that rival any manufacturer on the planet. If you have not looked a modern Audi you owe it to yourself to do so. (and no they are not paying me anything).
They produce a wide array of cars and SUV's. The smallest US car is their A3 and their largest is the A8. In between are the A4,A5, A6, and A7. In the SUV arena they produce a Q5 and Q7 (Q3 in Europe and may come here soon). In the ultra sports category they produce an everyday super car called the R8 which comes in three flavors - V8, V10 and GT. They aslo ahve a small sprots car called the TT. The A4 is their bread and butter and competes with the 3 series BMW, the G series Infiniti, the IS series Lexus, the C series Benz and the Acura TL. The A5 is a two door coupe (Also available as a convertible) that is perhaps one of the best looking cars in the world. The lines are amazing and the fit and finish are excellent. With Quattro and some great engine choices it is a winner. The A8 is without doubt in the top 5 luxury large size sedans.It is amazing in its comfort, handling and performance. Expensive but still competitive with the big boys and I think the most classy sedan if we exclude the super exotics.
That brings me to the A7. This was a big risk car for Audi. It's styling is somewhat polarizing but the concept is brilliant. I like the look myself but make up your own minds. It is a 5 door sedan. In other words a luxury 5 door hatchback (although using those terms for a beauty like this is blasphemous). The car is amazing. It has many Audi technology advances and they all work in symphony to produce a excellent driving experience.
Lets start with the large interior. With the hatchback it can carry more gear than any typical sedan but still looks sexy doing it. The appointments inside are beautiful. Depending on the options you choose this baby can rival a Bentley (interesting that they are owned by the same parent -VW). Audi offers a auto first - the entire car becomes a "hot spot". Yes, all those Thumb Generation kids of yours can connect wirelessly to the Internet by just sitting in the car (subscription is necessary but worth it). Heck the car even offers a memory card slot so that you can show all your recent snap shots from the trip to the beach on the center nav screen on the way home - cool!
The drive train is superb. Start with s a supercharged 6 cylinder engine. I thought this would be a very underpowered car because with the Quattro system and 5 doors it is heavy. Well, Audi delivered. The transmission is a big part of the surprise. It is a true dual clutch system (probably stolen to some degree from Porsche - another VW family member). With the supercharger, all wheel drive and this smooth reactive transmission this huge car can go 0-60 mph in under 5 seconds! It rides nicely - firm but not jarring. It is quiet unless you nail it (which I like to do any chance I get). It has paddle shifters for the sport car enthusiast in all of us and even "blips" the throttle when downshifting making even a bald, old guy sound like a race car driver.
Now comes their latest improvement - the S7. You see Audi like many manufacturers has two sporty designations for their cars. The S series and ultra high performance RS series. In the US we have been starved for many of the RS models as Audi has not seen enough of a market for them here. But the S series have been available in the A4, A5, A6 and A8 for awhile. The S7 takes the A7 to the next level. It replaces the 6 cylinder supercharged engine with a strong 420Hp twin turboV8. This is matted to the excellent seven speed dual clutch transmission and all wheel drive system generating a 0-60 time of 3.9 seconds! That is Ferrari and Porsche territory and will eat most stock Corvette's off the line. Keep in mind this is a 4000lbs 5 door luxury sedan. To add to its tech advancements it shuts down to a V4 when you are crusing and don't need all 8 cylinders.
Recently they tested it against the new BMW Grand Coupe 650i and the Mercedes Benz CL550 AMG. While the subjective rating gave a small nudge to the BMW I am not sure I agree. Plus add that the Audi, loaded came in at about $85K and the BMW was well over $110K. The Audi is faster , bigger and has 5 doors versus the 2 door BMW coupe. The Benz was third in this contest.
In summary if you have not looked at an Audi recently make sure you do as all their cars are top notch and very competitive in the import luxury segment. Hope this info helps and as always I welcome questions and comments. Till next time keep the rubber on the road.