2009 Audi R8, R-tronic, White/black, 17k Miles, 1-owner, Pristine Car!! 08 10 11 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

VW Group exploring F1 options, would likely wait until Ecclestone is out

The real hurdle is that Volkswagen overlord Ferdinand Piech doesn't like Bernie Ecclestone on a personal or professional level. Superbugs. They are antiobiotic-resistant bacteria and viruses, fiends that defy eradication no matter how much counteracting agent you throw at them. Reports that Audi is going to join Formula One? They are the superbugs of rumors; for five years they've been coursing through the blood of motorsport, and no amount of denials or Audi's continued non-presence in F1 has been able to make them go away. Not even a month ago we contracted another bout of it, courtesy of Auto Express, citing sources who said Audi would leave endurance racing and DTM - handing Le Mans over to Porsche, instead of the other way around - and buy either Red Bull or Toro Rosso for an entry in 2016 with an in-house powerplant. Within 24 hours of that story, Audi Sport sent the tweet, "Audi in F1? There rumors keep appearing with regularity since years. It's pure speculation again this time and without any foundation." Now, few things are impossible in F1, but lining up on the grid in 2016 is not far away from needing to be ready tomorrow, in F1 terms, which is why these announcements come long in advance. Honda, you'll recall, gave us almost two years' notice of its F1 reunion and Porsche gave us three years notice about Le Mans. A brand-new report in the BBC says that Audi is using new hire and ex-Ferrari technical director Stefano Domenicali to lead a feasibility study into an F1 program. According to that story, the real hurdle to the foray, however, is that Volkswagen Group overlord Ferdinand Piech doesn't like F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone on a personal or professional level, so one of them would need to leave his position before Audi could say yes, feasibility be damned. Since we're talking about two men who define professional longevity, that day might not come soon. The BBC story goes on to say that Martin Winterkorn, head of the VW Group management board, would like to see the group in F1, and that if it happened it would be with a "car designed and made in Germany." Ladies and gentlemen, you know where to file this one...

More next-gen Audi TT details revealed

We still only have rumors about the third-generation Audi TT said to be scheduled for launch in late 2014, but based on a report in Car and Driver, we know a tiny bit more about it. The base engine will be the 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder with direct injection, but horsepower is said to be 220 horsepower - that would make for a nine-hp jump over the current output. The TTS would get an even larger power boost, going from 265 currently to 300 hp. The TT RS would stick with it's 2.5-liter five cylinder, with output increased from 360 to 380 hp. If Audi includes a nice dose of the go-light engineering involved in the TT Ultra Quattro, these horsepower numbers might be even more impressive.
As with the TT concept and first-generation production car, though, it sounds like the brand is concentrating on aesthetics. It's been widely reported that Audi wants to reclaim the juju conjured by the original TT, and while we still don't know what that means outside, CD reports that the interior gets simplified, "futuristic-feeling" styling thanks to instruments served up on a TFT screen. Remember, the first Audi TT had a cockpit that Car magazine dubbed simply, "The Cabin."
About a year after the coupe comes, the Audi TT Roadster will show up and should be joined by the next A5. The news for the next version of the subtly beautiful coupe is the arrival of a plug-in hybrid with torque vectoring via an electric motor for the rear axle. Beyond that is wilder speculation of an A9, which might be called Q9, and which was the four-door-coupe flavor of the month two years ago when it was possibly going to share a platform with the Lamborghini Estoque. According to the CD story, the thinking now is around "a combination of fastback and crossover proportions," a two-fer we've yet to see any carmaker pull off without making us go, "Oh. I see."

VW admits 430,000 2016 models have implausible CO2 ratings

Volkswagen finally explained more details about its CO2 rating scandal in Europe and admitted that 430,046 of the estimated 800,000 affected vehicles with "implausible" figures came from the 2016 model year. They included some from Audi, Seat, Skoda, VW, and VW Commercial Vehicles, according to the automaker's list (as a PDF). The problem mostly impacts diesel engines, but the inventory also shows some gasoline mills. VW will next determine the accurate CO2 emissions for these vehicles, and the German Federal Vehicle and Transport Authority will supervise that process to ensure the data's veracity. The automaker will also launch websites in Europe to let owners enter their model's VIN to check whether it's affected. Because governments there often link vehicle taxes and CO2 production, the company promises to work with regulators in each country to cover any fees that result from the inaccurate figures. VW announced the CO2 scandal earlier in November and estimated the equivalent of $2.2 billion to fix it at the time. A later report claimed that a group of engineers were responsible for fabricating the emissions data. They allegedly couldn't meet reduction goals from Martin Winterkorn, and between 2013 and this spring the workers did things like overinflate the tires during testing to achieve the desired results. VW is also closer to a fix in the diesel emissions scandal. According to an anonymous insider to Bloomberg, the company has a repair for the 1.6-liter engine that's reportedly neither very complex nor expensive. German regulators would still need to approve the solution before it could roll out to owners. Next step in clarifying the CO2 issue Affected Volkswagen Group models of the current model year have been identified Customers being informed via website Discussions with the authorities have begun The Volkswagen Group reports that the vehicles of the 2016 model year affected by the CO2 issue have been identified. There is thus now clarity about the new vehicles of the current model year out in the marketplace. On 3 November 2015, the Group had already reported that irregularities may have arisen in determining the CO2 figures for type approval of around 800,000 vehicles. This was identified during its own currently ongoing investigations and had been made public. The internal investigations into the current vehicles of the 2016 model year provide results for narrowing down the actually affected vehicles with implausible CO2 figures.