Filed under: Sedan, Audi, Reviews, Luxury

We come not to bury the A8L, but to praise it. Next week the newest generation of Audi’s aluminum spaceframe panzer will greet the world in Miami, and we expect it to be a leap through a wormhole compared to today’s car. After a week with the current model at the end of its six-year run, we walked away from a saloon that still has us smitten. What we didn’t expect was that, even though we didn’t come to bury the thing, we would end up throwing quite a bit of dirt on it.

A funny thing happened on the way to reviewing the 2009 Audi A8L: we discovered ourselves writing compromising things about the four-ringed flagship. This is a sedan that we adore mightily, and having thought it over, we might even say unreasonably. It became the girl you’re dating that you first describe as “She’s great!” just before divulging a list of mildly unseemly behaviors that you’d never considered all at once, ending with, “Wow… I really do like her, but come to think of it… she’s a little kooky.” That might make the Audi A8 the Megan Fox of automobiles.

We drove the A8L W12 a couple of years ago, and it was possessed of so much battleship-gray girth we wanted to call it the Bismarck and park it in a Norwegian fjord for safety. Yet and still, it was glorious: an exterior awash in pulchritude, an interior so beautiful we wish we had gotten its autograph, and it gulped miles, and gas, like cognac. Since we didn’t write about it, we didn’t give it the philosopher’s thought, and we walked away from it with only roses, no thorns. But now…

Photos copyright (C)2009 Jonathon Ramsey / Weblogs, Inc.

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We come not to bury the A8L, but to praise it. Next week the newest generation of Audi’s aluminum space frame panzer will greet the world in Miami, and we expect it to be a leap through a wormhole compared to the today’s car. After a week with the current model at the end of its six-year run, we walked away from a saloon that still has us smitten. What we didn’t expect was that, even though we didn’t come to bury the thing, we would end up throwing quite a bit of dirt on it.

A funny thing happened on the way to reviewing the 2009 Audi A8L: we discovered ourselves writing compromising things about the four-ringed flagship. This is a sedan that we adore mightily, and having thought it over, we might even say unreasonably. It became the girl you’re dating that you first describe as “She’s great!” just before divulging a list of mildly unseemly behaviors that you’d never considered all at once, ending with, “Wow… I really do like her, but come to think of it… she’s a little kooky.” That might make the Audi A8 the Megan Fox of automobiles.

We drove the A8L W12 a couple of years ago, and it was possessed of so much battleship-gray girth we wanted to call it the Bismarck and park it in a Norwegian fjord for safety. Yet and still, it was glorious: an exterior awash in pulchritude, an interior so beautiful we wish we had gotten its autograph, and it gulped miles, and gas, like cognac. Since we didn’t write about it, we didn’t give it the philosopher’s thought, and we walked away from it with only roses, no thorns.

Dubbed the R10, the heart of the new four-ringed exotic is listed as a twin-turbo 5.0-liter V10 mounted amidship and pumping out 600 horsepower - through all four wheels, natch. The platform is tipped to be shared with sister company Lamborghini’s upcoming replacement for the aging Murcielago, crafted from aluminum and supplemented with carbon fiber.

While such a performance beast would encroach on Lamborghini’s territory and, from the sound of it, even approach Bugatti’s, the Volkswagen empire has proven particularly adept at packing segments with its own products, so anything’s possible. AE says prototypes are already lapping the Nurburgring and could be ready for delivery by 2012.

The intrepid spy shooters at KGP have caught the 2011 Audi A7 uncovered in a testing lab in Germany ahead of its official reveal next year, and the sleek, low-slung saloon/coupe hasn’t lost much of its flavor in the transition from showcar to production.

Although the shots don’t give us a clear view of the front fascia, the headlamps and front clip have obviously been toned down from its conceptual predecessor shown earlier this year the Detroit Auto Show. However, its sloping roofline and well-integrated hatch would appear to prove that at least one automaker can create a five-door hatch that’s simultaneously attractive and functional.

If our tea leaf-reading is accurate, we’d expect to see the A7 make its production debut either in Detroit this January or at the Geneva Motor Show in March. Powertrain options should include everything from Audi’s turbocharged 2.0-liter inline four to the S4’s supercharged six, along with a V8 option further down the line. And if the BMW 5 Series GranTurismo proves to be a hit in the States, we won’t be at all surprised if Audi follows suit and by offering the A7 in North America.

German tuner MTM has a long history with Audi’s inline-five. In fact, company founder Roland Mayer helped develop the turbocharged five-banger for the Sport Quattro back in the mid-80s, and MTM produced a 400 horsepower version of the motor as one of their earliest performance packages. Nearly 20 years later the technology and the cars have changed, but MTM is still doing its thing.

Its latest project is Audi’s TT RS, which boasts 340 horsepower and 332 lb-ft torque in stock trim. MTM is offering three stages of engine packages ranging from 404 to 424 horsepower courtesy of tweaks to the engine control unit and and an upgraded exhaust system. Naturally, the Stage Three kit provides a substantial boost performance, including a top speed of 185 mph and a 0-100 km/h time of just 4.2 seconds. A variety of other upgrades are available as well, including MTM’s 19-inch Bimoto wheels, 15-inch brakes with eight-piston calipers, and lowering springs.

Audi and Quattro go together like peanut butter and jelly, but Autobild is reporting that the four-ringed automaker’s fabulous all-wheel drive system will be excluded from the forthcoming A1 mini car. We’re a little surprised to hear that the Quattro tech won’t be added considering that the A1’s design study, the Audi Metroproject Quattro Concept, includes the word “Quattro” in its name. Regardless, while this news might be a problem for purists, on the practical side, the inclusion of AWD means additional weight and cost, something that’s antithetical to the A1’s stated mission.

The A1 will reportedly only be available with one gearbox: a seven speed S-Tronic automatic transmission. Autobild reports that the A1 will be available throughout Europe in August or September of next year, with a sportback version coming online in late 2011 and a cabriolet in early 2012. The S1 will reportedly hit production in February of 2011 with a 1.4-liter TFSI powerplant capable of a very respectable 180 horsepower and a 0-60 mph time of 6.9 seconds. There’s no word on whether Audi plans to offer the A1 in the U.S., but we should know more when the compact runabout is revealed at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

Volkswagen is building swanky new digs on New York City’s west side for its VW and Audi brands. The automaker has purchased a 256,000 square foot space currently occupied by Potamkin GM (the Potamkin family has been synonymous with car sales in NY for decades), which stretches between 55th and 56th Street along 11th Avenue.

Visually unimpressive in its current state, the space will be converted into a state-of-the-art mega facility featuring brand-new Volkswagen and Audi stores. VW’s total outlay for the real estate purchase and ensuing renovation will be around $125 million.

While it may not be beautiful, there’s no denying the R8’s curb appeal. Subtler, but far sexier, are the understated lines of the A5/S5 — no small feat to pull off with a three-box coupe. And while the Q7 looks like some sort of prehistoric giant sloth, we’re still with P.V. 100%.

So, is this the new A8? Hard to say. The C-pillar fits the part but the rear glass really is radically sloped. And that trippy tape job really does mask the mule’s size. Could it be the new A6? Again, yes, sure, but… There’s almost something too daring about the shape to be such a meat and/or potatoes ride. How about this — it might be the long-rumored A7. You know, the swoopy “four-door coupe” set to compete against cars like the Mercedes-Benz CLS. That makes much more sense. Take a long look at the rear glass and thick C-pillars in this spy shot. We thinks we may be on to something. Especially if you stare long and hard at the tail lights — the outer ones appear real and taped off, while the inner lights appear to be fake pieces of reflective tape. A design that conforms to the blurry A7 shots we’ve seen.

We first heard about the latest autonomous driving project from Stanford University and the Volkswagen Group a couple of weeks ago. Audi has released some more information on the car, a TT-S coupe that, like its predecessors, Stanley and Junior, has a name: Shelley. Shelley’s being developed to climb Colorado’s Pikes Peak without any driver intervention during the annual hill climb next July.

Audi and Stanford’s Dynamics Design Lab have managed to dramatically reduce the size of the equipment necessary for the car and its control system to detect the surroundings and respond accordingly. That it can all fit into the compact TT’s body while sprouting just a trio of sensors from roof is quite an accomplishment. One of the goals of this year’s effort is to have the car perform the way it would with a professional rally driver at the wheel, including drifting on the gravel. As of its name, “Shelley” refers to the nickname of Michelle Mouton, the most successful female rally driver of all time and the first woman to win at Pikes Peak, a feat she accomplished behind the wheel of the legendary Audi Sport Quattro in 1985.

This year’s iteration of the annual Design Challenge at the LA Auto Show asks the question: How will a new generation of drivers age 16-23, raised with cell phones, web cams and online communities, emotionally connect to the automobile in 2030? We don’t know the answer either, but at least six designers from some of the world’s top automakers decided to give it a go with their own ideas.

First up are the eSpira and eOra from Audi, which are controlled by thought and by the minutest adjustments to the pilot’s body. Next we have the General Motors Car Hero… yes, the name is borrowed from the popular Guitar Hero line of games and the car, as you might imagine, “turns driving into gaming.” What happens when the inevitable “Game Over” comes at the end? Moving along, we come to the Honda Helix, a shape-shifting vehicle that borrows actual DNA from its owner. Yuck, we don’t want to be a car, we want to drive a car.

Which brings us to the Mazda Souga, easily our favorite out of this crop of concepts. Mazda’s vision for the future would have each owner design his own car for the low price of $2,000 while paying an additional monthly usage fee that also covers the price of electricity to power the Souga.

Nissan’s vision for the future includes cars that get their power from an electrically-charged roadway called the GRID, and the vowel-challenged V2G UNLMTD is quickly hacked into an OFF-GRID transportation device by the next breed of young hackers. Lastly, we have the Toyota Link. According to Toyota, future college students will have nearly no income and will rely on mass transit vehicles like the Link that allow them to interact via their various social networks on their daily commutes. Sounds boring to us, but what do we know?