Certified Pre-owned Cpo Clean Title Low Miles Warranty on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Volkswagen Group, BMW Z4 top Total Value Awards by Strategic Vision

It was just nine months ago that Strategic Vision announced its 2011 Total Value Awards, but you don't have to wait until next year for the 2012 awards. The Volkswagen Group keeps its lead as the number one brand, with seven products taking top category spots: Golf, Jetta Wagon, CC, Eos and Audi A3 Wagon, Q5 and Q7. Strategic Vision says "true innovation" - "rich and impactful, intuitive, motivational, in-depth and is able to trigger description by the user in great specificity" - is the open secret of the brands with the strongest showings. Results are culled from 77,153 owners covering more than 350 new cars bought between September of 2011 and 2012 ranked in the Total Value Index (TVI).
Other notable winners are Hyundai-Kia following VW in the brand category and having the Hyundai Elantra and Kia Sorento among category winners, the BMW Z4 taking the premium roadster category and the highest overall score of any vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt continuing to gather silverware in the Special Category, nabbing the second-highest score of all and representative of "nearly perfect innovation," and Chrysler and Dodge being most improved.
Check out the press release below for your day's dose of jargon and all the winners.

An amazing Group B rally car collection heads to auction

Kicking off in 1982, the Group B era spawned some of the most fearsome rally cars of all time. The technologically advanced pioneers of all-wheel drive and turbocharging defined a time when automakers had carte blanche to build machines with unrestricted power, without the burden of homologating a large number of road cars to qualify. The results were sometimes deadly, leading the FIA to ban the class after 1986. Now, a collection of seven Group B monsters is headed across the block in Paris as part of the Artcurial auction, held in partnership with France's famed Retromobile show. The show has been delayed to June, however. There's a 1985 Peugeot 205 Turbo 16, one of 20 Evo II models that helped the company achieve two championships in Group B's short run. This particular example was driven by world champion Timo Salonen at the 1986 Swedish Rally, where it finished seventh due to an oil filter seal failure. Bruno Saby subsequently drove it at the 1986 Tour de Corse and Peugeot entered it at the 1986 Acropolis Rally as well. It's still registered to Peugeot Talbot Sport and represents a French technological achievement, according to Artcurial, comparable to the Concorde or TGV train. Representing Italy are a pair of Lancias in the iconic Martini livery. The Lancia 037 helped Bel Paese clinch its only Group B victory in 1983, after a hard-fought rivalry with Audi. It's one of the few Group B cars that weren't AWD, achieving its success the old-fashioned way, through lightness and superb handling. A second Lancia, a 1986 Delta S4, was the culmination of the Italian firm's later Group B efforts and one of Saby's favorites. While Group B was no more in 1987, the S4 was the predecessor to the Delta Integrale that would dominate WRC from 1987 through 1992. While the collection also includes greats like a Ford RS200, Renault 5 Maxi Turbo, and MG Metro 6R4, the centerpiece is the Audi Quattro Sport S1. The ultimate Group B machine, it introduced all-wheel-drive and turbocharging to the sport. It also employed the wildest use of wings and air dams to generate downforce. Tunable up to 590 horsepower, it could rocket to 60 mph in about three seconds. The car offered for sale came straight from Ingolstadt, a 1988 model built for the Race of Champions of ex-Group B cars. The collection was amassed in the late 80s and early 90s, not long after Group B's dissolution.

Audi races ahead with new R8 LMS [w/video]

The biggest news from Audi at the Geneva Motor Show may very well be the reveal of the all-new, second-generation R8 supercar. But the road-going version isn't the only one it's rolling out at the Swiss expo, where it's joined by the new competition-spec R8 LMS. Set to hit race tracks around the world next season, the new Audi R8 LMS picks up where the current one leaves off, having taken 26 GT3 Championship victories and seven 24-hour race wins between 2009 and 2014. That's a heck of a mantle to assume, but the new model looks like it'll be up to the task. Based on the new road-going R8, the new LMS is built to 2016 GT3 regulations and in many ways even exceeds them. In fact, Audi says it meets the more stringent crash requirements for the LMP1 class, and includes its state-of-the-art Audi Protection Seat PS 1 from the R18 E-Tron Quattro. It also incorporates the emergency hatch Audi built in to its DTM racers. Of course, there's more to the new R8 LMS than safety. Despite the addition of those features, the whole package is a good 55 pounds lighter than the outgoing model, thanks to the lightweight spaceframe chassis and the increased use of carbon-fiber components – all the while offering more torsional rigidity. Power still comes from Audi's celebrated 5.2-liter V10 engine producing 585 horsepower, but is now mated to a new six-speed sequential gearbox and benefits from an entirely new electrical system, improved airflow and optimized aerodynamics. All that and more ought to help the new R8 LMS and its customer racing teams achieve the success they're after once it makes its competitive debut at the Nurburgring 24-hour race in mid-May 2016. Related Video: AUDI R8 LMS ESTABLISHES NEW RACE CAR GENERATION: LIGHTER AND SAFER THAN EVER BEFORE Ingolstadt, March 3, 2015 – Audi is again running in front. As one of the first automobile manufacturers to do so at the beginning of the 2015 season, the brand with the four rings is presenting a race car that already meets the requirements of the new GT3 regulations to be introduced in 2016. The new Audi R8 LMS is lighter and safer than ever before. It features even more race car technology, clearly improved aerodynamics and, as a result, provides customers with an efficient concept. Back in spring of 2014, Audi began testing the new R8 LMS that is following in big footsteps.