The hard-core, tire-burning attitude, however, is not all the R8 GT Spyder got from its Italian cousins. It also picked up a Lamborghini’s price tag, as Audi USA has just announced the sticker on the exclusive roadster: $210,000. That doesn’t include the $1,200 destination charge, taxes or optional equipment like carbon-ceramic brakes or Bang & Olufsen sound system.

Source: Audi

The vehicle is reportedly tipped to be completed by this coming summer, and will retain the donor car’s 5.2-liter V10 – but we’d guess not its all-wheel drive system, and none of its handling dynamics.

Audi evidently thinks so. And so it has launched a new special edition U.S. model of its sexy S5 coupe on the popular social media site. The model is characterized by a unique shade of dark silver, special five-spoke wheels, a two-tone white and black leather interior, and of course, special badging.

Source: Audi via Facebook

The 60-second spot – called “Ahab” – features the latest A6, and is scheduled to air tomorrow during the NFL division playoffs (making it something of a junior Super Bowl ad). It will be followed by a 30-second version that will air nationally on other broadcasts, and Audi is building a broader digital content campaign around the ad as well, including a Facebook app to follow. You, however, don’t have to wait for all that to see the clever clip.

The only A4 2.0 TFSI sedan available for testing carried the standard six-speed manual and was gifted with Quattro all-wheel drive. The on-road behavior of this most popular North American A4 engine trim frankly hasn’t changed a whole lot, but that’s not a criticism. There is still 208 horsepower on tap and torque stands at an eminently usable 258 pound-feet between 1,500 and 4,200 rpm. Bear in mind that’s for a car that weighs in at 3,550 pounds as tested (we’re estimating it’ll ring up at 3,640 pounds with the U.S.’ optional eight-speed Tiptronic gearbox). That’s a net weight loss of over 50 pounds if we are to believe 2011 and 2012 spec sheets from both sides of the pond placed side-by-side.

Leading the tally of changes is a revamped thermal management system that heats everything more quickly at start-up in order to avoid wasting energy, a modification that Audi says aids in increasing fuel efficiency by around 10 percent. Helping this newfound fuel saving along is reduced friction between the moving parts through re-engineering of various tolerances. All the same, the smoothness and efficiency that comes with it, along with the turbocharging and high-pressure direct injection, is translated into a slightly slicker powertrain. Having said that, the factory’s 6.3-second acceleration number to 60 miles per hour remains, as does the A4′s 130-mph limited top speed. EPA fuel economy figures for the pre-facelift 2012 A4 Quattro automatic came in at 21 miles per gallon in the city and 29 on the freeway using premium fuel, but revised figures for the 2013 model haven’t been released yet.

The major change aboard for the entire A4 lineup is the adoption of electric power steering. Seeing as mid-range Audi Quattro models have never been singled out for having exceptionally precise steering response or feedback, we were only minimally concerned. The new electro-mechanical rack neither improves nor worsens this situation, as the onus with Quattro has more to do with the way torque is managed front to rear. In this case, the steering feel is fine relative to expectations, but it still trails both the 3 Series and C-Class for fidelity and communicativeness, though not as much as it did when Quattro was biased towards front-wheel drive. Tires for our drive were top-option 18-inch Bridgestone Potenzas from the Sport Package – base U.S. cars will receive 17-inch shoes. While the 18s fill the wheel wells nicely, the taller sidewalls of the base 17s will doubtlessly be the best bet for those whose day-to-day drudgery includes rougher road surfaces.

Source: Autblog

There is a lot to love about the 2014 Audi e-tron Spyder. It’s a compact roadster with a torque-happy, twin-turbo diesel V6 mated to two electric motors capable of more instant twist. When we recently took the e-tron Spyder for a spin, we were limited to just 40 miles per hour, but the Four-Ringed automaker tells us that a trip to 62 takes only 4.4 seconds.

The e-tron Spyder, however, is not just a roofless version of that stunning Detroit e-tron coupe, as the model we’re driving here comes with an all-new plug-in diesel hybrid-electric drivetrain, and it’s 5.1 inches longer with more wheelbase, along with being 1.2 inches wider. On the other hand, the current Audi TT is 4.7 inches longer than the e-tron Spyder, so we’re still operating on a very small scale here.

Source: AutoBlog

Once the show opens in a couple of weeks from now, we’ll have a new S6 (both sedan and Avant wagon), S7 and S8 on our hands. And they’re looking pretty sweet so far.

At the top of the heap is the new S8 sedan, which adopts the new twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 that Audi has developed with Bentley, driving all four wheels through a seven-speed dual clutch gearbox. With 512 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque on tap, the big sedan is said to be good for a hugely fast 4.2-second sprint to 62 miles per hour and an electronically limited top speed of 155 mph.

The S6 and S7, meanwhile, get a detuned version of the same turbo eight with 420 hp and 406 lb-ft of torque, good for 4.8 and 4.9-second acceleration runs, respectively. Cylinder deactivation and an active noise cancelation system are also part of the package on the entire range, and we’re anticipating getting each of these models – minus the S6 Avant – in American showrooms.

Source: Audi

The sporty 2012 Audi TT-RS can be yours if you have $56,850 to spare. The redesigned 2012 A6 sedan starts at $41,700 for the front-wheel-drive 2.0T and $49,900 for the 3.0T with Quattro all-wheel-drive. Finally, the Audi R8 GT, if you haven’t already heard, will run you $196,800. Still no word on when the Spyder derivative will arrive to add a $200,000 car to Audi’s lineup.