2008 Audi A4 2.0t Quattro Special Edition on 2040-cars

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Audi to show hydrogen Q6 in Detroit

Audi is allegedly bringing a hydrogen-powered concept to the Motor City next month. The report comes from Autocar, which cites German media in claiming the new concept, tipped to be called the Q6 H-Tron, will ride on the same MLB architecture as the E-Tron Quattro Concept, shown at Frankfurt earlier this year. In fact, it sounds like the Detroit concept will look more or less like the Frankfurt concept, just with low-mounted hydrogen fuel cells instead of battery packs. That said, Audi didn't come right out and tell Autocar that the Q6 H-Tron was coming to Detroit. Instead, a company spokesman told the website that "a concept car with new drive technology" will be shown at next month's show. But this seems like a safe bet. As Audi continues to cope with the fallout of its diesel emissions scandal, shifting focus to an even more alternative fuel source would be a sound strategy, even if it is just a PR move. Whatever Audi ends up showing in Detroit, we'll be live at the show to report on all of it. Look for more in mid January.

Junkyard Gem: 1987 Audi 5000 S

U.S.-market Audi sales climbed steadily in the 1980s, and the third-generation Audi 5000 (known as the Audi 100 outside of the United States) was a big part of that success. Then, in 1986, "60 Minutes" aired the infamous "Out of Control" report about the 5000's alleged propensity to put itself into gear and crash into stuff at full throttle. U.S. Audi sales went into the crapper straight away, and they stayed there for years. Here's one of the '87s that did sell in the aftermath of the unintended acceleration debacle, spotted in a California wrecking yard. The 5000 was big, comfortable, futuristic-looking (sporting flush glass long before most of Audi's competitors), and lent an air of European sophistication to its American drivers. Sure, 5000s broke down frequently, but daily-driving cutting-edge technology comes at a price. Just 82,699 miles, and the interior is in excellent condition. Perhaps this car was driven sparingly and religiously maintained, or maybe something expensive broke 20 years ago and it sat in a garage until now. I am assuming that there was a heart in this sticker, not a skull-and-crossbones or other non-love-related symbol. Audi recalled all the automatic-equipped 5000s extant in the aftermath of the unintended acceleration drama, installing these stickers on the gearshift consoles. Sure, the problem was more likely to have been caused by drivers mixing up the pedals than by mechanical failure (unlike, for example, the all-too-real "park-to-reverse" defect in 23 million vehicles that Ford didn't have to fix, a few years earlier), but Audi's fixes may have saved some lives. Here's an Audi PR film about the issue, released about the time today's Junkyard Gem was rolling off the showroom floor. Audi dumped the 5000 name for the 1989 model year, calling these cars 100s and 200s. There's a lot of interesting automotive history in your local U-Wrench-It yard! Related Video:

1,682 miles in a 2014 Audi A8 L TDI - Part 2

Interruptions like the Canadian Grand Prix, Le Mans, Pikes Peak, that ridiculous Porsche 911 GT3 and the really good, really outrageous Jeep Cherokee, are among the distractions that delayed the conclusion of this tale. If you'll remember, in Part 1 we started off in a parking lot in Sebring with an Audi A8, headed anywhere that would empty our tank, and after five days in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale and Pompano Beach we bolted in the middle of the night for a breakfast date at an IHOP a couple hundred miles away.
We last left proceedings at a Chevron pump beside the West Florida Turnpike, somewhere around midnight in the humid wilds, having done 660 miles and spent $89.40 to put 20.992 gallons in the great white whale. We had done average speed of 31 miles per hour at an average rate of 27.5 miles per gallon. Those kinds of numbers, as we demonstrated, are good enough to put you in the fuel economy orbit of the Toyota Corolla - to be precise, it only cost $6.40 more to cover that 660 miles in the A8 TDI than it would in the Japanese compact. That led us to conclude that there were just a couple of Starbucks Venti lattes between the A8 and the Corolla, assuming we conveniently ignore the two cars' purchase prices. Turns out we were wrong: it didn't take long for a commenter named "mike" to set us straight when he wrote, "It's clear you weren't lying about not frequenting Starbucks...no way could you get two venti lattes for $6.40." Mike, we salute you - our ignorance of terrible coffee has served the higher purpose of emphasizing the strong case made by the diesel Audi.
But that A8... well, the wheels were still on the damn thing and we had to drive them off. That meant five more days of pilot duty to get us from wherever the hell we were to Wildwood and Daytona Beach, FL, then Brunswick, Macon and Atlanta, GA, then Birmingham, AL, and back to Atlanta.