The 2012 Audi A6 Avant has received a new tuning kit courtesy of Audi tuner extraordinaire, ABT Sportsline. Aesthetic upgrades are part of the package, but the main ingredient of the whole thing is an extensive performance upgrade that takes the output of the estate car to a whole new level.
Among the changes you’ll notice on the exterior include a new front spoiler, new sidebars, a custom rear spoiler, a new rear apron that integrates four exhaust pipes, and a set of 19", 20", and 21" lightweight wheels that comes wrapped with high-speed tires.
As for the engine, the 2012 A6 Avant is powered by a number of engine options, including a 3.0-liter TDI engine with a choice output of 204 horsepower and 245 horsepower and a 2.0-liter TFSI engine that produces 300 horsepower. On it’s own, these engines are impressive, right? Not to ABT Sportsline.
Using a few engine modifications, the German tuner was able to bump up the output of the two 3.0-liter TDI variants from 204 horsepower to 240 horsepower and 245 horsepower to 300 horsepower. As for the gas-powered 2.0 TFSI engine, the original output of 300 horsepower has been juiced up to a mouth-watering 420 horsepower, improving the car’s 0-62 mph time to just under five seconds.
ABT Sportsline’s upgrade on the 2012 A6 Avant has turned an already attractive car into one impressive piece of business. And quite frankly, we wouldn’t mind owning a piece of that business ourselves.
The sixth generation BMW 3-Series (F30) is getting closer to its official debut and, as a result, the prototypes we’ve caught testing have started to lose some of their camouflage. The new 3-Series Touring is expected to make its world debut at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show with sales on the US market following shortly thereafter.
The full line of 3-Series Touring models will include sedan, station wagon, coupe, convertible,and M3 versions. The new generation won’t just be bringing a new design language, but it will also host a new family of aluminum four-cylinder gasoline engines ranging from 135 to 245 HP.
The exterior design of the new 3-Series Touring will bring a fresher appearance with a front end inspired by the latest 5- and 7-Series models, plus the company’s latest kidney grille. The interior will offer more luxury and will lose the center hump that houses the current model’s optional navigation system.
As for the engine line-up, depending on the market, expect to see a full line of both diesel and petrol engines, with the addition of a new generation of modular, four-cylinder engines. These new engines will be able to deliver between 140 HP to 230 HP, with a 2.0 engine going up to 300 HP. Whether or not BMW has opted to drop the six-cylinder engines in favor of the new four cylinders is a question still left unanswered. Fuel economy is still the name of the game for most automakers, so this is a good possibility. In fact, the next 3-Series will also be coming in a hybrid version that will add two electric motors for a 20% improvement in fuel consumption.
Audi confirmed the arrival of the new S6 awhile ago with the car’s world debut date set for the Los Angeles Auto Show in November. Now that the debut is only a few short months away, the S6 Avant is getting stripped of its camouflage and enduring some of its final testing. Our newest spy shots reveal every aspect of the new station wagon, minus the S6 badges, but what we’re really interested in is the upgraded engine underneath the sparkling exterior.
The 2012 Audi S6 will be powered by a newly developed 4.0 liter V8 engine with twin-turbos, allowing the wagon to deliver about 450 HP. Not only will the new engine deliver more power, but true to the times, it will also reduce fuel consumption and emissions by about 20%. The model will be offered with a Quattro four-wheel-drive system and an eight-speed automatic gearbox fitted as standard.
After its world debut later this year, the Audi S6 Avant will go on sale - in both sedan and station wagon versions - at the beginning of 2012. If you live in the U.S. and don’t care for station wagons (which covers most Americans), don’t worry, the S6 Avant won’t be coming over here anyway.
Apparently owning a wagon over in Dubai is about as cool as doing the Irish Jig in a Hip Hop dance club, but two guys over in the Middle East are combating this ridiculous notion with a rendering of a CTS-V Wagon Racer. Yes, sadly, it’s just a rendering, but Lap 57’s Emirati race driver, Omran Al Owais, and his brother Mohammed are hoping these images will increase interest and gather up some sponsors to make this vehicle a reality.
The Cadillac wagon seen in these images actually belongs to the brothers and they hope to take them to Nurburgring to complete the next step towards possible production. Before that happens, though, the two brothers are looking for advice from some top tuners, including Hennessey Performance and D3, on how to make this happen.
Currently, the CTS-V wagon is still in standard form which means it is being powered by a 6.2 liter supercharged V8 engine that delivers a total of 556 hp and 551 lb.-ft. of torque. We don’t expect to see many changes, but we imagine the changes actually made will resemble Cadillac’s adjustments to the CTS-V Coupe racer.
A CTS-V Wagon Racer is the dream car of Lap 57’s Emirati race driver Omran Al Owais who said: “We are hoping this fetish might catch on with other Emiratis and see them ditching their X6Ms and G55s, so that we start seeing serious girls on the road such as the RS6/E63 or the new exciting M5 Wagon. The streets of Jumeirah at night will never be the same.”
The German tuner Edo Competition is usually focusing on models from Ferrari or Lamborghini, but this time they came with the M5 Dark Edition - a 555 HP BMW M5 wagon that wants to prove that even family cars can be fun.
The most important part of he tuning package is of course the engine update. The tuner is offering a recalibrated ECU, high-flow air filters and catalytic converters as well as a newly developed high-performance exhaust system that will increase the engine’s output from 500 to 555 HP and the peak torque from 384 lbs-ft to 413 lbs-ft. Also, after removing the speed limiter the car can hit a top speed of 190 mph. The 0 to 60 mph sprint is also made 0.5 seconds faster (4.2 seconds).
The package also includes a modified front and the new rear skirt, a new rear wing and a new set of 20" light alloy wheels with painted centers and Dunlop tires. The interior combined carbon fiber with precious leather, making the M5 a very elegant and enjoyable car.
Hennessey Performance is bringing a bit more class to their Cadillac CTS-V V700 package by dropping it into one of the rarest Cadillac CTS-V models ever: the Black Diamond Edition with a manual transmission. Now owners of the exclusive Black Diamond can also take part in the 707 HP madness that was provided to the standard model last year.
The Black Diamond CTS-V features a dark tri-coat paint an embedded with SpectraFlair Bright Silver pigment. This special pigment uses aluminum flakes encapsulated in a glass-like substance called magnesium fluoride. The result is a paint that has a diamond-like sparkle as light hits the surface from different angles. The special exterior paint is further highlighted by Satin Graphite 19-inch wheels with yellow Brembo brake calipers and a special Midnight Sapele wood trim.
The sparkling exterior of the Black Diamond makes it a hot commodity to begin with, but Hennessey’s V700 upgrade package causes the temperature to spike with 707 raging horses, up from the CTS-V’s standard 556 HP. For this increase, the Cadillac’s 6.2 liter supercharged V8 engine was given a plethora of goodies, including an HPE Cold Air Induction System, supercharger pulley upgrade, intercooler heat exchanger upgrade, and a V700 camshaft upgrade. Other features include high flow cylinder heads, stainless steel long tube headers, high flow catalytic converters, and stainless steel mid-pipes.
With these additions, the Cadillac CTS-V Black Diamond V700 can sprint from 0-60 mph in 3.2 seconds, make the quarter mile in 10.9 second at a speed of 128 mph, and will be capable of a top speed of 211 mph.
BMW is readying yet another X1 variant for this year’s Fall lineup with the new X1 sDrive20d EfficientDynamics Edition. This new model will be powered by a four cylinder engine that delivers a total of 163 HP and delivers an average fuel consumption of 4.5 liters/100 km with a CO2 emission of only 119 grams per kilometer. With these numbers, the new model will become the most fuel efficient X model yet.
The engine for the new X1 has been optimized with a centrifugal force pendulum in the dual-mass flywheel, which compensates vibration experienced at low engine speeds, thus providing more riding comfort when the vehicle is driven within the economic low engine speed range. The gear-shift point indicator fitted as standard has been adapted to suit the new engine characteristics.
The new engine will also be combined with brake energy regeneration, Auto Start Stop function, electromechanical power steering, a disengageable air-conditioning compressor, and tires with reduced rolling resistance.
All told, the BMW X1 lineup will include three petrol and four diesel power units with power ranging from 143 to 245 HP.
Initially unveiled for the first time back in 1977 as the W123, the Mercedes E-Class took its name from the word "Einspritzmotor", which means ’fuel injection engine’ in German. Eventually, the letter morphed into being officially designated as the E-Class - or E-Klasse - to describe Mercedes’ line of mid-size executive vehicles.
Over the course of its life, the E-Class has had many different iterations with the latest facelift coming in 1999 and the introduction of the latest model, the W212. Introduced for the first time at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, the 2009 E-Class’ design was inspired by the new design language Mercedes adopted at that time for the C-Class, S-Class, and CLS-Class.
With the purpose of competing in a luxury executive market that features competitors in the form of the BMW 5-Series and the Audi A6, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class has become one of the staple vehicles amongst high-ranking executives and business people the world over.
Details on the 2009-2011 Mercedes E-Class after the jump.
Audi has just revealed the A6 Avant in Berlin. The Avant is the most successful business-class station wagon in Europe and the new model will be offered with a choice of six engines with an 18% fuel consumption, a lightweight body, and many additional innovations.
The base version will be offered with a 177 HP 2.0 TDI engine, while the top model gets a 313 HP 3.0 TDI engine. The 2.0L TDI version is the most impressive when it comes to fuel economy with a total of 47 mpg on the highway.
Like with all the other models, the A6 Avant will also get a S-Line sports package that will lower the body by 30 millimeters and includes large wheels, appearance modifications, and many special details for the all-black interior.
The seventh generation Audi A6 Avant will go on sale on the European markets in late summer 2011 with a base price of 40,850 euros - or about $58,000 at the current exchange rates.
Hit the jump to read more about the new Audi A6 Avant.
Saab may be on the short stick – again - as far as their future is concerned, but some of their models still find a way to make the news and try to move the spotlight away from their tumultuous future into something a little more optimistic.
In this case, the question has to be posed: who knew that you could take a Saab 9-3, strip it down to its bare essentials, build the whole puzzle back together, and fit in an 8.4-liter V10 engine that comes courtesy of a Dodge Viper SRT10?
You read that whole paragraph right, folks. The word’s ‘Saab’ and ‘SRT’ are coming together for a very revealing customer project. The final model, which is being called the ‘9-3 SRT10 MegaPower’, came from the mind of one Zaccho Pelle, who wanted nothing more than to turn his Saab 9-3 Estate from an otherwise mundane wagon into a Viper SRT10-powered, 600-horsepower piece of automotive madness.
Full details on the Saab 9-3 SRT10 MegaPower after the jump.
