At the recent launch of the 2011 Porsche Carrera GTS in California, the journalists present were treated to a special guest: five-time American Le Mans Series champion Joerg Bergmeister. The Porsche factory driver got his first chance behind the wheel on the streets, comparing the wide-body 408-hp Carrera to his own daily driver, the 911...
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Despite tremendous advances in automatic transmissions over the past decade, many driving enthusiasts still prefer a traditional stick shift and clutch. A testament to just how tightly the less-than-silent minority of three-pedal drivers is, came when BMW tried to drop the 6-speed manual from the previous generation M5. The uproar was so significant that eventually...
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Hours after we brought you leaked pictures of the 2012 Audi A6 comes the first official specs and photos of the new car, which should continue the current A6’s strong challenge to the BMW 5-Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class. North America will definitely see the 3.0L Supercharged V6 making 300 horsepower that’s being used in the...
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Audi is supposed to be revealing official pictures of their new mid-size A6 sedan within days, but a dutch site has apparently leaked the pictures first. Not surprisingly, the car looks like it splits the difference between an A4 and an A8, with Audi design cues so ubiquitous, that the car almost looks generic. We’ll...
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How’s this for making a couple of extra buck on the side. According to reports, a gang of 18 workers at BMW‘s plant in Munich stole up to €3 million ($4 million U.S.) worth of auto parts from the German automaker for years. The thieves would then sell their ill-gotten booty through Internet auctions. These...
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Studie AG is one of the rare but well-known Japanese tuners that specialize in European vehicles, more specifically BMWs. Over the past decade Studie AG has customized a huge range of BMWs, from vibrant to subtle, race cars to street cars. Their newest creation is a 2010 BMW 5-Series GT that has received a flat...
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Porsche‘s supervisory board has given the go-ahead for a new “efficient and sporty model” to be dubbed “Cajun”. Referencing the Cayenne (seen above), the official Porsche news release dubbed the Cajun as an “entry-level” model, similar to the Boxster in terms of positioning, and stressed that the vehicle will be light weight and agile. No...
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Formula 1 pilot Heikki Kovalainen crashed his Audi R8 LMS race car at the Race of Champions event over the weekend – how embarrassing. To make it worse, his girlfriend was riding shotgun. The accident was reportedly the result of a suspension failure – which is what we hope they’d say about us if we...
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Expected to be unveiled shortly and get an official world premiere at the upcoming Detroit Auto Show, Audi has once again teased its new A6 luxury sedan for 2012. We’ve already seen teaser images (above), but now the German automaker has released a short video. The video actually shows little, but that’s not all that...
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Mercedes-tuner Lorinser is hopping onto the “go green” bandwagon with an innovative new product: an aftermarket hybrid drivetrain. This year at the Essen Motorshow, Lorinser has on display its new Easybrid on Smart‘s Fortwo. The electric motor produces around 41-hp and transforms the Fortwo into a hybrid vehicle. Lorinser promises added power and improved fuel...
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BMW will take the wraps off the M Division-tuned 1 Series on December 12th, according to a forum post on 1addicts.com So far, the only news is coming from BMW Belgium, who told one member that December 12th is the official reveal date. At this point, we’re still not sure how much power the car...
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Porsche CEO Matthias Muller wants to start sharing technology with Bentley, even going as far as calling for a “common architecture”. When asked about further variants of the Porsche Panamera, Muller stated that they were possible, but went on to mention the Bentley alliance as an alternative. Ostensibly, competition between a Porsche-derived Bentley and another...
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Debuting today at the Essen Motor Show in Germany, famed Mercedes tuner Brabus took the wraps off the modified SLS we’ve been waiting for. We’ve seen several modified SLS models already, but they’ve either been minor tweaks or massively overdone monstrosities. Brabus, however, has managed to go all-out while still remaining true to the SLS....
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It’s generally thought that wild concept cars never make it to production. The truth is, most of the time the process just takes so long and there are so many changes involved that consumers don’t even recognize what a street car has in common with its concept from five years earlier. That may, or may...
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Senner Tuning has released their vision of what Audi‘s TT RS Roadster should be, calling it the Power TT. The name clearly comes from the added power the TT RS puts out: an impressive 430-hp (from the factory 360-hp) thanks to a reprogrammed ECU, high flow cat, valve-controlled exhaust system and an upgraded intercooler and...
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Fans of 1980’s rally cars consider the Audi Sport Quattro to be the ne plus ultra of road-going rally machines, but one dissenter prominenter dissenter – the man who designed the Sport Quattro – has been vocal recently about his creation. In an interview with Autocar, Peter Britwhistle, the man responsible for the Sport Quattro,...
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Having just introduced the new RS3 Sportback model, Audi Exclusive is now offering a sporty Black Optics package. The package enhances the aesthetics of the RS3 sportback by offering a new front grille, grille frame, license plate holder and highly polished back exhaust tips. While those changes are subtle, the set of wheels that comes...
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Porsche purists who derided the brand’s introduction of the Cayenne SUV and Panamera sedan should be thankful for the existence of the two cars – without them, the brand may not have survived through the past decade. Instead, the Cayenne led Porsche to an 86.4% increase in sales, with Cayenne sales up 151%. Panamera sales...
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After officially revealing the car earlier this week Audi has now released some B-roll video footage of the RS3 hot hatch. Powered by the same turbocharged 2.5-liter 5-cylinder found in the TT-RS, the RS3 Sportback makes 340-hp and 332 ft-lbs of torque. Mated to a 7-speed S tronic dual clutch transmission and using Audi’s quattro...
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Porsche‘s CEO confirmed that the brand will launch a diesel powered variant of the Panamera sports sedan in late 2011. Using the success of the Cayenne diesel as an example, CEO Matthias Muller made the announcement during an interview with Germany’s Westfalen-Blatt newspaper. The Panamera diesel is expected to get a 3.0L V6 TDI engine...
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Good news for the economy, not-so-great news for BMW and Mercedes-Benz factory workers who had travel plans over the holiday season. In order to meet the growing demand for new models, these two automakers have decided to shorten Christmas breaks this year. This shortened vacation policy applies to BMW’s German plants in Dingolfing and Leipzig,...
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Audi has set a goal to be the electric leader in the premium segment by 2020, with a plan that will include pure battery electric vehicles, hybrids and now plug-in hybrids. At a recent technical seminar Audi’s electric mobility manager Franciscus van Meel commented that Audi expects to bring to market its first EV by...
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The BMW 1 Series M Coupe might just be the most highly anticipated debut at the upcoming Detroit Auto Show in January. Numerous spy photos (many by BMW) have revealed much of what the car looks like and the type of equipment it will get, but there has yet to be any official word on...
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General Motors is harnessing the small car expertise of their Daewoo division to develop two new small cars, an upscale hatchback to be branded as a Vauxhall or Opel products, and a smaller, less expensive version likely to be sold as a Chevrolet. The new cars are expected to slot in below the diminutive Corsa,...
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