Paul Walker Owned: 2003 Audi Rs6 Avant (imported - **rare**) on 2040-cars

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Automakers teaming with Google to bring Android to cars this year

Remember how we mentioned that Hyundai would be offering a BlueLink infotainment app for Google Glass? And how last week, we told you about a rumored partnership between Audi and Google? Well, both of these things were just part of a much bigger deal.
Google has teamed up with Audi, General Motors, Hyundai and Honda to form the Open Automotive Alliance. With the help of chipmaker NVIDIA, the group aims to bring Google's Android operating system to the auto industry on a large scale. While the speed with which Android will be adopted by the industry remains unclear - the OAA's own press release says "timing for each automaker will vary" - we could see the first Android-equipped vehicle by year's end.
For those that keep their ear to the ground in the automotive tech world, this is a big deal for more than just one reason - Honda, GM and Hyundai are all partners in the Siri Eyes Free program from Apple. The future of that relationship now that three of its automakers are in bed with Apple's arch-rival, though, could be under threat.

2017 Audi A4 Deep Dive

Unchanged. Plain. Boring. These words have been used to describe the new 2017 Audi A4, but they all miss the point entirely. Yes, the design of the new A4 is evolutionary, rather than a ground-up restyling. But as they say in ancient High German, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Of course, if you're at all interested in the 2017 Audi A4, you've probably read all about it in the official press release a few days ago. So we'll cut to the chase and tell you the bits you don't already know: the American-market details. We spent a day at Audi headquarters in Ingolstadt last week finding out the latest and poking around the A4 in the metal. The new A4 is wider, longer, and roomier than before. The lines are crisper and sharper, but yes, the proportions have remained very similar. That was done on purpose, thoughtfully. Not out of laziness. Stand any two sequential generations of Porsche 911 next to each other and you'll find they are rather similar. And yes, people do complain about that. But they also complain about the property tax rate on their third home in Monaco. That familiar-looking body gets a shockingly low coefficient of drag of just 0.23. The improvements in drag come from fine-tuning details down to the placement of the side mirror (now on the door, rather than the triangular window panel) and the contouring of the inner edge of the side mirror, which gets little vortex generating bumps to improve the turbulent airflow in that area, reducing drag. Attention to detail and refinement of a successful design – not boring, lazy repetition. Another notable departure in the styling of the new A4 is equally subtle, but even more significant from a precision manufacturing perspective: the hood has no cut lines on its upper surface. Instead, the hood now wraps around the tops of the fenders, the cut line integrating with the sharp crease that runs down the entire body side. The creation of this cut line requires extremely tight manufacturing tolerances to enable the precise alignment of the hood and fender gap with the stamped-in crease in the door panel; misalignment would be obvious and catastrophic to the clean, simple design's flow. Now, let's rip off this Band-Aid: no, we won't be getting the Avant. Why? Because no one buys it, vociferous vocalizations on the Internet aside.

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."