Audi lose their way (as usual)

[re2500]

For my money - if you took that compact chassis and stripped out all the 'toys' to get the weight down and powered it with special version of the 2.5 TTRS motor and ran it through good old Torsen quattro with rear bias and make the steering feel nice and sharp we would be on the way… Maybe add options for super light wheels, adjustable dampers & ARBs for folk to adjust to taste. Get the overall weight down to somewhere around 1100kg and the need for monstrous brakes is reduced too. 100bhp per corner with fat/flat torque spread on a modern, stiff, light chassis and you are on the way.

which is essentailly what the original "white" concept pictured above was focused towards. Its a shame its just pie in the sky now

[LHD_Kid]

… moist excellent

Typo of the week.....

but I agree with Andy.... and with you Paul....

[UrS4boy]

http://carbuzz.com/news/2013/12/12/A...Turbo-7717590/

Now we're talking. Factory 360 hp 2.5L 20VT I-5!!?? And when the tuners get ahold of that.....

[Error404]

Gee. I don't think they lost there way if they found 700 hp for a vehicle that light. All the other "kids" (e.g. Porsche are going hybrid with massive hps so it is not surprising that Audi would also investigate the concept).

Admit it, if you had the opportunity to drive (or own one), you wouldn't turn it down on the grounds that it doesn't have a 20V turbo I-5.

Who needs 700hp? For the money they would likely cost there is a load more car I'd rther own. I'm getting pretty tired of the continual hp pissing contest between Audi BMW & Mercedes. As Rusty said it would be nice if one of them went back to basics and producing something magical - Audi had (have) the opportunity and ability to do that here and lets hope they do. If not and they follow the direction of power & weight calling it the Sport quattro name is just a marketing ploy and defiles the brands heritage given that this concept has devolved into a complete contradiction to what the sq was originally about - making a lighter more agile car. Fingers crossed eh?

[simon20vq]

I don't get it. Either make a fast car or an eco car. These things are for rich people to say they have done there bit for global warming imo.
I like it looks better than a TT but it also looks like an alfa brera! Sorry

[Vorsprung durch Technik]

Now we're talking. Factory 360 hp 2.5L 20VT I-5!!?? And when the tuners get ahold of that.....

Now this could be a spiritual sucessor.Stunning!! Beautiful car for a modern take that takes a good part of the past with reverance mixed with the up to date design and manufacturing processes.

I agree with Error404 totally.Its as if The big 3 are constantly saying look at me i have more marbles in my pocket than you They are loosing there way somewhat. I loved audi when they were revolutionary when the very meaning of Vorshsprung Dirch Technik meant something. At least they took the V8 out of A4 and went back to A V6.Lighter more nimble and virtually as powerful.Good decision audi!

Big problem is....they don't make cars for Europeans like they used to...meaning just for Europes taste. Audi's total sales in Europe pales into insignificance when compared to where the Huge majority of Audi's sales are now.The money and the taste is in the States and China that' audi's biggest market now.They are no longer designing for people Who first aspired to Audi's back in 80,s and 90,s who are now in their forties but
jsut cant seem to love Audi's of today as they loved them of the past. On a good note i quite like the look and size of the new A3.It looks like a quality grown up car now and if it had 3 doors would be even more desirable.

[newsh]

http://www.evo.co.uk/news/evonews/29...and_video.html

100,000 "Likes" though chaps! I guess there's truth in the old saying, 100,000 flies can't be wrong

[Cottis]

What happened to 3 pedals and a manual box? These new cars are sterile and characterless. That front end is hideous too. Looks like it is almost trying to be a hybridisation of a Bentley and an Alfa

[s2driveruk]

DNA to the sport q due to the shape of the c pillar I guess lol...not raising a pulse here

[geryS2]

think they did revised their concept, and last red it should be an I5 and weight around 1400 Kg, so that should make it , but not the price : 200 000 € and production ( a few hunders )

i m still amazed how stupid those marketing/brand developers guys are, it remembers me Renault, who won F1 with an engine, owns the Alpine brand, but still didn't produced a decent car for the last 20 years....

same for Alfa Romeo (exept for the 8C and maybe now the 4c)

their brains seems like their cars, full of sh...

[1781cc]

same for Alfa Romeo (exept for the 8C and maybe now the 4c)

Alfa made some stunning looking cars over the 70s/80s/90s but have totally lost their way, despite their issues with electrics, rot and oil pressure - I would love to own (all in alfa red) a Spider, a GTV6, a 33 1.7 cloverleaf sport back, a 75 3.0 V6, a Giulietta Saloon, an SZ and a 155 Q4 (so I could drop in a fiat 2.0 coupe turbo and GT28, bore to 2.5 and make a Larinni DTM replica)

of the current crop... nothing

[S2central.net]

Alfa should have put the Maserati V8 into the 159 Q4 - that would have been fun… I drove the 3.2 V6 version last year and it was utterly gutless - nice enough looking saloon or wagon but nothing like as nutty as some of their other more driver centric cars. The SZ is a mad thing - I only discovered it recently.

The marketing people have decided that only premiership footballers will be interested in these kind of cars (8C, 4C, R8 etc) - if that whopping price tag of 200k Euros is vaguely correct - they have truly lost the plot !

[Duffelcoat]

I am not convinced Audi give a toss what the likes of us thinks:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25663549

Afterall we are running around in near 20 year old cars, not exactly there target customer!

[1781cc]

The SZ is a lovely car, not quite as mental as their Scighera concept from the 90s... that was off the chain

[S2central.net]

@Duffelcoat - you are absolutely right... they have no intention of making a 'proper' sports centric car for hard working people to aspire to anymore - everything affordable gets overbuilt with compromises for comfort, gadgetry and additional weight. And the highest performance cars end up being driven by overpaid footballers.

Weight is the fundamental enemy in a car whether it be safety, economy or performance... it is never a good thing - how road cars seem to be getting heavier and heavier despite great technological advances is laughable.