2001 Tt Conv,quattro,turbo,6 Speed Trans,htd Lth,bose,17in Whls,69k,we Finance!! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Focus ST Tuner, Traffic Deaths, Audi EV SUV | Autoblog Mintue

Autoblog senior editor Greg Migliore gives the highlights from the week in automotive news.

Refreshed A1 packs Audi's first three-cylinder gas engine [w/video]

Back in 2010, Audi debuted the diminutive A1, and it's sold over half a million of them since. Now, more than four years later, the German automaker has given its smallest and most accessible model a facelift and some updated equipment.
The latest version of the A1 benefits from a range of updates, including a sharpened take on the company's familiar styling with a reshaped single-frame grille, new bumpers front and rear as well as new wheel and color choices. But the biggest news is the introduction of Audi's first three-cylinder gasoline engine.
The turbocharged, direct-injected 1.0-liter three-pot churns out just 94 horsepower, but that's still six more than the previous base 1.2-liter four offered, all the while returning better fuel economy and emissions figures. Of course, that turbo three is not the only engine on offer, joining the 1.4-liter turbo four in 123- and 148-hp states of tune and the 113-hp 1.6-liter TDI. And of course there's still the 228-hp S1 performance model. Depending on specification, the engines are mated to a five- or six-speed manual, but can all be optioned with a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission as well.

Tesla says Model 3 is best-selling midsize premium sedan in America

Auto sales figures are sort of fuzzy numbers, no matter how you slice them and no matter which manufacturer you're talking about. Unless you're specifically tracking vehicle registrations, automakers generally self-report the figures. So, you have to trust that they aren't doing anything too tricky. Plus, not every sale is equal, as some are logged as dealership loaners or demo models, some go to fleets (like to a rental car agency), and still others are, of course, bought by traditional customers looking for a new daily driver. With that preamble out of the way, when we saw a tweet from Tesla claiming that the all-electric Model 3 is the best-selling midsize premium sedan in America, our interest was piqued. According to Tesla, market share of the Model 3 has just surpassed the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, which had up until now led the Audi A4, BMW 3 Series, and Lexus IS as the best-selling sedan in its class. Note that the graph from Tesla below is, we think, specific to four-door models. So, is it true? Judging by the numbers we can find, including some from Bloomberg, which has a running chart to track Model 3 registrations, the answer is... probably. We don't know exactly how many Model 3 sedans Tesla is currently cranking out, but Bloomberg estimates production at about 2,560 units per week, and total sales for 2018 at 34,414. We know the number is increasing regularly, though, and Elon Musk has said most recently production sits around 500 units per day, which, on a seven-day cycle, would be 3,500 per week. We looked up Mercedes' sales figures for the month of May, 2018, and found that the German brand sold 5,419 C-Class models last month, for a total of 23,917 for the year (incidentally, that's down more than 30 percent from the year prior). While the bulk of those sales would surely be made up of sedans, it would also include a small percentage of coupes. Either way, it's likely that Tesla is currently producing and selling more Model 3s than Mercedes is C-Classes. Now, it's also worth considering if the C-Class is the only vehicle from Mercedes that directly competes with the Model 3. We'd guess customers may also cross-shop the CLA sedan with the Tesla, and if that's the case, you might decide it's worth adding in Mercedes' 2,527 CLA-Class sales last month and 9,622 so far for the year. The same argument could be made for certain versions of the BMW 2 and 4 Series.