New 911 (or 997 and a half) Promo

My eternal indecisiveness is further elevated whenever I watch a new Porsche video (about what my next car might be). The choice is still at least a year and a half away, but current front runners are (not in any order) 911 (s or GT3), Elise or Exige supercharged, Caterham R500, Nissan GTR and the Audi R8. And of course, replacing the M3 in my garage with the newer version.

I have a feeling that cars as we know them won't be around for too long, so I'm seriously tempted to get a back to basics pure driving experience car, and then a daily driver (or see if I can keep the M), which further complicates my decision. I normally have an ordered list in my head of what's next at all times, but the whole GTR vs GT3 vs Caterham are all so different cars, that I'm in a confused state. I guess it's a nice confused state to be in though, and I'll probably end up getting none of them if/when the time comes. You never know, maybe I'll get rich and just put the deposit down on the F430 Scuderia - the lottery is up to $75 million at the minute.

Anyway, enough rambling, here's the video

2009 Audi A7

I realize I've been slacking a little lately, so I'm going to make an effort to get out at least one post per day (on weekdays, just in case).

First one in my new routine is an alleged spy shot of the Audi A7. Apart from the fact that it could realistically be anything under there, this has to be the best camo shot I've seen. The old cover the thing in a weird black rubber/plastic at key parts (similar to the Colorado obsession with those hideous black 'bra' things they cover the front of the car with to prevent stone chips on their paintwork) is obviously old school now. Not sure how the sack is going to survive under high speed (meaning over 20mph from the look of this thing) testing, but that's not really our problem, is it.

Source: The German site Bilder

Audi RS 6 Teaser

This has to got to be one of the most impressive ads for a car I've seen in a long time. And it hardly has any cars in, but I guess it is just a teaser until the RS6 gets released later in the year (with over 500bhp by the way)

New Cars and Reviews

Reading car reviews takes up a reasonable amount of my spare reading time (and having just got through the yearly highlight known as Evo's Car of the Year article, I'm into even more at the minute). It's amazing what a review can do to the desirability of a car, although there are some reviews you tend to ignore if the fancy takes you (reading an Edmunds review on a 911 for examples, where they ream the car for a small trunk....).

Anyway, the STi has apparently arrived, or at least been reviewed, and it's kind of a mixed bag - it's not really any better than the old one, apart from it's quieter (which isn't really what most STi drivers want in their little boxer enginer), and it's now more expensive.

And then there's Jeremy's review of the new R8, which confirmed that if I ever make it into semi-rich land, I'm going to have a hard time deciding between that and a GT3 (or the RS version..).

Car Post

See Lauren, I make it nice and easy for you to skip ;-)

Anyway, couple of things on the car front, so I wanted to do a combined post to get them all in before my tea is ready.

First off is the official announcement of the much rumoured RS6 Avant from Audi - power is ridiculous (up around 560 bhp), torque at 480 lb/ft and 0-60 in 4.6 seconds.

Pictures are here, with a video of it semi disguised going around The 'Ring at the end of this post (it's fast and loud and fun).

Next up, Alfa has announced they're coming back with more than just the gorgeous (but ridiculously expensive) 8C - it looks like the 159 and Brera (plus Spider, which I guess counts as number 3) are on their way over here in 2009, via the Maserati dealerships (which is lucky for me, as it's just along the road from my house, tucked in with the Ferrari, Lotus and Bentley - hows that for temptation).

If you've got money to burn (but not enough to buy) you can apparently hire a Bugatti Veryon for the day (or 50 miles, whichever comes first, and you already know the answer to that). It's only $40k!!!

Fiat seem like they're kicking arse with their new small cars, and they announced another one I want.

If you prefer the look of the old(er) E46 M3 (which of course I do), but need to have the extra performance of the new one, or even a bit more, here's your option.

There's a new A4 coming in a little while.

And finally, why would you ever do this to a car?

Audi Speedster Concept

For the last few years, I think Audi has been leading the way with it's designs (for a mainstream manufacturer anyway - the Alfa 8C is my current fave, and obviously most Ferraris are up there as well). So, there should be no suprise that the Speedster Concept (or the Clubsport Quattro I guess is the 'real' name) is gorgeous.

A few pics emerged earlier in the week, but today was the official Audi release, with lots of juicy details, and the always fun "we could possibly make this" comment thrown in for good measure. The usual quattro drivetrain, a pumped up 2.0 litre FSi engine from the S3, and ceramic brake options add a little substance to the beauty. Anyway, full details of the press release are here, courtesy of Jalopnik.

Oh yeah, and if you need more of an Audi fix, they just launched their new TV site for you to check out.

The worst crash ever?

I don't think so, but pretty impressive never the less. There were no other cars involved (this is just one car, in case you weren't paying attention), but the most amazing thing is the driver walked away from this with no serious injuries (although I bet he needed a new pair of pants!).

Audi S5 - Coming Soon (officially)

Despite owning it's direct competitor, this thing is gorgeous. All the details here coz I can't be bothered to type. If this has the 60/40 rear bias torque split and the M3 doesn't look as good as the current/old model, BMW could have a little fight on it's hands. Oh, and did I say this thing is gorgeous?

Audi A7

So this thing isn't even confirmed yet, and so likely doesn't exist, but someone made a pretty good job of trying to work out what it looked like.

If you ask me, it looks pretty good, although since when did Mr Bangle jump across the road from BM to Audi?

Audi R8 - More Info Released

Loads of info here, and pics here. Once again, I get a spare 2 minutes at work, try and upload and great pic, and Blogger doesn't co-operate - didn't the guys promise it would all work great and be super-scalable once we got the new version out? I guess this is the first upload I've had issues with in a couple of weeks, but still.....

So, I'll post a pic when I can - sorry.