2002 Audi S4 Base Sedan 4-door 2.7l on 2040-cars

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Audi Canada surprises out-of-warranty owners in a good way

One of the worst parts about going to a dealership is sitting around waiting for the courtesy shuttle to show up and transport a group of strangers to their places of work or homes. Well, Audi of Canada found a nice way to surprise customers who brought their out-of-warranty vehicles in for a scheduled Health Check by replacing dealer's normal shuttle with a 2014 Audi R8 V10.
The R8, painted to resemble a safety car or police car, gave the customers a ride home - even stopping at a coffee shop along the way. Needless to say, the stunt got plenty of attention from passers-by and was quite a hit with the Audi customers, too. Scroll down to watch video of the customers getting the ride of a lifetime, which we're sure left some of the in-warranty customers at least a little jealous as they drove off in dealer loaner cars.

Audi S3 with manual transmission still on table for US

The fine folks at Fourtitude recently sat down with Audi of America President Scott Keogh, and among other things, learned that the potent little S3 sedan could be offered with a manual transmission in the United States someday. That sort of sounds like the usual company line to us, but Keogh reportedly said the company is "looking very closely" at adding the manual to the S3, which currently is only available with a dual-clutch automatic.
Fourtitude also brought up the possibility of a hotter RS3 - a vehicle we've seen testing before, as a hatchback. We don't doubt that this more potent compact is already a done deal, but Keogh reportedly mentioned that the sedan will get this treatment. An RS3 for the US? Sign us up, for sure.
Head over to the Audi enthusiast site to read more from their talk with the company's US boss.

A few pre-race notes and a lot of photos from the 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 82nd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is on.
Audi has won 12 of the last 15 events, the scion of Auto Union is trying to make it 13 this year. To do so, it will have to overcome a situation faced only three other times during its dominance of La Sarthe: underdog status. Toyota has won the first two races of the year and claimed pole for this race, the rumor being that this year it's Toyota's race to lose.
And then there's Porsche. It's been 16 years since the Stuttgart brand raced on the top rung at Le Mans, three years years since it announced its return, just a year since it acquired Mark Webber in a signing that wasn't subtle and a few months since we got eyes on the 919 Hybrid.