2011 Audi S5 Cabriolet Convertible 2-door 3.0l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Consumer Reports says infotainment systems 'growing first-year reliability plague'

The Consumer Reports Annual Auto Reliability Survey (right) is out, and the top two spots look much the same as last year's list with Lexus and Toyota in first and second place, respectively. However, there are some major shakeups for 2014, with Acura plunging eight spots from third in 2013 to 11th this year, and Mazda replaces it on the lowest step of the podium. Honda and Audi round out the top five. This year's list includes six Japanese brands in the top 10, two Europeans, one America and one Korean.
Acura isn't the only one taking a tumble, though. Infiniti is the biggest loser this year by dropping 14 spots to 20th place. Other big losses come from Mercedes-Benz with an 11-place fall to 24th, and GMC, which declines 10 positions to 19th.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's not traditional mechanical bugs hauling down these automaker's reliability scores. Instead, pesky problems with infotainment systems are taking a series toll on the rankings. According to Consumer Reports, complaints about "in-car electronics" were the most grumbled about element in new cars. Problem areas included things like unresponsive touchscreens, issues pairing phones and multi-use controllers that refused to work right.

Toyota, Lexus dominate KBB's Best Resale Value Awards

Toyota and Lexus stormed the 2014 Kelley Blue Book Best Resale Value Awards, winning a combined 18 categories including best brand and best luxury brand. This marks the third year in a row that both automakers have won the Brand and Luxury Brand resale value awards. In all, Toyota won 11 categories and Lexus won seven.
Honda made a good showing, as well, winning two segments (Accord Plug-In Hybrid and Civic Si) and putting one car on the top-10 Best Resale Value list (CR-V). Chevrolet did even better, winning two segments (with the V6 Camaro and the Corvette) and placing three cars on the top-10-overall list (again, the Camaro and Corvette, plus the Silverado 1500).
The other winners came from Jeep, Dodge, Infiniti, Subaru and Audi. To give you a clearer picture of the Toyota and Lexus domination, their 18 mentions represents more than half of the 34 awards (including the top-10-overall list).

Audi kicks off A3 celebrity-fest marketing campaign with Dues

Audi is desperate to appeal to young people with its new 2015 A3 sedan. It's planning launch parties around the country to present the new model to these younger buyers, and its latest tactic is a series of videos starring celebrities the company considers trailblazers to further captivate youthful buyers.
The advertising campaign starts with a spot titled Dues starring comedian Ricky Gervais, chef David Chang, photo journalist Lynsey Addario, comedian Kristen Schaal, boxer Claressa Shields, artist collective Cyrcle, and church choir Voices of Destiny. It's being followed up with seven, minute-long online documentaries called Uncompromised Portraits about the folks featured in the new ad. Audi believes that they are all trailblazers who have forged their own way, and it's all supposed to fit with the A3's slogan of "Stay Uncompromised."
Dues will play during the NCAA March Madness tournament. Audi is also running two, 30-second commercials during the games to highlight the sedan's technology and two, 15-second ads to promote its Quattro all-wheel-drive system.