2013 Audi RS5 - Official Photos and Info news

 
Considering that the number of cars Audi debuted at this year’s Frankfurt auto show actually reached double digits, we forgive you for losing track of one or two. But one of the minor debuts—the updated RS5 coupe—deserves a second look. After all, this is the car we'll finally get sometime in 2012.
The biggest changes for the RS5 are readily apparent, because the front end received the most attention. While the lower grille and chin spoiler go unchanged, the central grille gets Audi’s new clipped top corners, as well as a more subtle trim ring. And then there are the headlights, which get an overall shape that will help the car fit in wherever owners of the new A6 and A7 gather. The new lights have a more chiseled shape, and the old strings of individual LEDs comprising the running lights are gone. In their place are more-modern light tubes that run almost a full circuit around the headlight housings. Around the corner, the car’s side-window trim is now black instead of brushed metal. At the rear, slightly darker lenses cover revised taillights. Audi’s designers could find nothing wrong with the car’s beautiful cabin, so it survives this refresh mostly unchanged. Minor updates include a new steering wheel and shifter knob, as well as a reduction in MMI button count.
Because the RS model was itself a late addition to Audi’s range of cars with a “5” in their name, it doesn’t get any powertrain updates like the S5 coupe does. Sure, it was probably tempting to move the car to the company’s new 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8, but the high-revving, naturally aspirated 4.2-liter is a wonderfully seductive engine. If anything, we’d like to see Audi coax enough power out of its turbo five-cylinder to make it a legitimate replacement for this aging V-8. Like the engine, the RS5’s suspension, transmission, and all-wheel-drive components remain unchanged. The optional carbon-ceramic brakes carry over, while the standard iron rotors get a revised design that shaves a total of 6.6 pounds between the four of them.
When we put the RS5 up against the BMW M3 and the Cadillac CTS-V in a comparo last year, our biggest point of contention was the car’s steering. It can be altered through the standard Audi Drive Select system, but we found none of the three settings suited our taste. For 2013, steering assist is provided by an electromechanical setup that, on our recent drive of the face-lifted S5, proved to be a vast improvement. With that complaint stifled and an even sharper look, we’re more excited than ever for the RS5 to show up on our shores.

by caranddriver.com

 

2014 Chevrolet Corvette C7 Mule Spy Photos - Future Cars review and news

 
America’s sports car. A brutally effective track weapon. A favorite of hairy-chested, gold-chain-wearing old dudes. Or simply one of the world’s best dollar-for-dollar performance bargains. The Corvette is at least a little of all of those, and that’s why any word of a major overhaul sets the enthusiast world on fire. Going beyond gearheads, it’s also one of the few cars on which everyone has an opinion.
We’ve just spotted the first physical evidence of the next-generation C7: Two mules, a convertible and a coupe, caught testing on public roads while wearing current C6 bodies. While the pictures themselves don’t tell us much, we have some good ideas about what you’ll find in the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette.
Do the Evolution
The current C6 Corvette underpinnings are pretty ancient by automotive standards. Introduced in 2004 as a 2005 model, it was only a small evolution of the previous C5. The C6 is an extremely capable machine, but the C7 won’t receive the dramatic shift to a mid-engine layout many predicted. (That could be in the cards for C8, however; GM commenced work on such a platform, although it was put on hold during the company’s bankruptcy brouhaha.) The front-engine layout will carry over—as will the rear transaxle, helping to retain optimum weight balance—and we believe the current suspension, transverse leaf springs and all, will appear on the 2014 model. We also don’t expect any drastic dimensional changes; while the mules here appear to have a narrower track, their bodies were donated by C6 Grand Sports, which have wider fenders and tracks than do base Corvettes. Besides, it wouldn’t be logical for the Corvette to get narrower without a commensurate shrinkage in overall length and wheelbase. The C7 is likely to shed some mass, which will yield a better power-to-weight ratio.
The engine room, however, should see more-significant changes. GM already has invested nearly $1 billion in the American plants that produce its small-block V-8, and the fifth-generation of the powerplant should appear in the C7. Downsizing is almost a given for efficiency reasons, so expect a naturally aspirated 5.5-liter in place of the current 6.2 in the base model. (As for the oft-rumored twin-turbo V-6? We’re thinking C8.) The 5.5 will continue to use an aluminum block and should make roughly the same 430 hp as the current 6.2, however, with a higher compression ratio and direct fuel injection. The V-8 also may get cylinder deactivation, variable-valve timing, and could even have stop-start functionality—the latter not exactly ideal for stoplight tête-à-têtes. GM has already announced that its next-gen small block would have an “all-new advanced combustion system,” which we take to mean it will feature Viper-esque ‘cam-within-a-cam’ variable valve timing. Finally, the Z06 and ZR1 models—with their larger and supercharged eights, respectively—should return.
A Radical New Look?
In the looks department, we hear that CEO Dan Akerson and design chief Ed Welburn are in agreement that the current Vette’s rear is simply too wide, and so you can expect the C7 to get slimmer and tauter there. A split-window treatment may also be offered as an option, paying homage to the ’63 Sting Ray coupe. The cabin is expected to be of a similar size and layout, and we’re optimistic that it will make use of higher-quality materials. Interiors across the rest of the Chevy lineup have steadily improved of late, so the company has shown that it has the know-how.
Chevrolet is keeping a very tight lid on all things Corvette, but the C7 ought to debut sometime in late 2012 or early 2013, with sales commencing in the first quarter of 2013. Prices shouldn’t change much from current levels, with the base car starting in the neighborhood of $50,000. We’ll undoubtedly learn more about the C7 as development progresses, so stay tuned to this space.
  by caranddriver.com

2012 Hyundai Veloster - Short Take Road Test review and news

Expectations are a bitch. If it weren’t for people’s pesky hopes, the 2012 Hyundai Veloster could totter onto the new-car market as a simple and oddly endearing little nugget of a dressed-up economy car.
But, no. On the back of this little three-door (four-door, if you count the hatch) meatball ride the hopes of enthusiasts who loved the old Honda CRX Si, who still love the Honda CRX Si, or who at least think they remember loving the CRX Si. And since Honda resolutely refuses to re-create one of its great ideas, the opportunity has fallen to the only car company that appears to have any interest in a similar concept: Hyundai.
Now, let’s get one thing straight: Hyundai never explicitly said that its four-seat Veloster was the spiritual replacement for the two-seat CRX Si. But given its size and shape, people have been drawing the comparison ever since the Veloster concept first appeared, and the company sure didn’t discourage the impression. Now that we’ve driven the production version over hill and dale, we can say, in our snappiest Lloyd Bentsen impersonation, that we worked with the CRX Si, we knew the CRX Si, the CRX Si was a friend of ours. Veloster, you’re no CRX Si.
Is This Progress?
The 1985 CRX Si, pumping 91 hp from its 1.5-liter engine, could only get to 60 mph in 9.1 seconds. The Veloster’s 1.6-liter four-cylinder makes 138 hp, giving it a 0-to-60 run of, well, about half a second less slow than the CRX. And forget the CRX for a moment; the Veloster is taller and wider than Honda’s Accord of that era. The Veloster also rides on a longer wheelbase and weighs something like 300 more pounds than an ’85 Accord. It’s nearly 1000 pounds weightier than the CRX.
But it’s not door count or horsepower or weight that disqualifies the Veloster from second-coming-of-CRX status. It’s that the Veloster just isn’t that much fun to drive. It feels heavier than its roughly 2700-pound curb weight suggests. And its feel-free steering, although accurate, brings no joy. The steering happens to have the least amount of self-centering that we’ve felt in some time. After a turn, the wheel is apparently content to lie on its side, lifeless, instead of preparing for its next assignment.
That’s a shame, because the chassis it commands is competent. Maybe not spritely, but at least the MacPherson-strut-front and torsion-beam-rear suspension does an admirable job of snubbing roll without beating the driver senseless. The Veloster circled our skidpad at a mediocre 0.82 g. The Scion tC, which Hyundai lists as a Veloster competitor, returns 0.86 g of grip. It’s a nice middle-ground tuning that should satisfy those looking for an economy car wearing a snazzy outfit.
Smooth Out That Shar Pei
And snazzy it is. The front and the flanks mimic other recent Hyundais, most notably the Elantra. Its face is pulled back tightly, similar to what we imagine a dog would look like with an aggressive face lift. The Veloster’s sides are deeply sculpted. That’s all pretty much standard-issue new-Hyundai oddness, though. The real weirdness is the doors, or rather the asymmetry of the doors. We watched as a couple stopped dead in their tracks on seeing the Veloster sitting in a parking lot. The man approached it first from the driver’s side, cocked his head, shuffled closer, and peeked inside; then, without taking his eyes off the thing, he skirted around the Veloster’s chunky rear until he got to the passenger side. He stood staring for a moment and then squinted, thrust his head forward, and raised his eyebrows. He scooted back to the driver’s side, as if he believed that if he moved quickly enough he might surprise the driver’s side and catch it having two doors. No dice.
In its three-door-ness, the Veloster is like the Saturn coupe (SC) with the three-door option. Or the Mini Clubman, which also has a rear-hinged, door-opening extender added aft of a conventional door. But instead of a silly half-door, the Hyundai has a proper front-hinged rear door that is at least three-quarters as useful as a proper port. And not only can it be opened independently of the front door, but the Veloster’s rear door is also mounted to the passenger side instead of the driver’s.
This is useful for two reasons—one obvious and one we hadn’t anticipated. First, the passenger side is the curbside. So it is the safer of the two from which to disgorge rear passengers, which, given the Veloster’s tight rear quarters, are likely to be children or people you don’t like all that much. The other critical benefit of fitting the rear door to the passenger side is that it allows the driver’s door to be longer, keeping the B-pillar from impeding peripheral vision.
Gamma for Your Gramma
We only drove the Veloster with a six-speed manual, but it’s available with a new-for-Hyundai six-speed dual-clutch automatic. The shifter is perfectly pleasant to use, and the clutch takeup is smooth. But it’s not your left leg you’ll be worrying about. It’s your right leg that will be tired at the end of a drive, what with you trying to cram the accelerator through the floorboards. The so-called Gamma 1.6-liter direct-injection engine is a kindly enough motor, but it’s small and has low peak torque—123 lb-ft—at a high 4850 rpm. You have to work it over to make decent progress, and in our testing, the car needed 8.5 seconds to get to 60 mph. That’s more than 1.5 seconds slower to 60 mph than the Scion. The Veloster trundled through the quarter-mile in 16.7 seconds at 84 mph. A turbo is on the way within a year’s time.
On the upside, when you’re not beating on the Veloster, the EPA reckons it will return 28 mpg in the city and 40 on the highway when equipped with the manual. With the dual-clutch tranny, the Veloster is predicted to return 29/38 mpg. In an attempt to keep things fun, our foot-to-the-floor driving style yielded a not-very-impressive 25 mpg average.
How To: Make Your Veloster Look Like the Concept
Perhaps we’ve been a bit tough on the Veloster. It starts at $18,060 for a manual version. The dual-clutch adds $1250. The example we drove came with both of the major option packages. The $2000 Style package mostly keeps the Veloster from looking like a cheap car. It brings 18-inch wheels, chrome trim, piano-black interior and exterior trim, front fog lights, an eight-speaker stereo, “leatherette” seats and door inserts, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, aluminum pedals, and an auto-up driver’s window. But it’s the panoramic sunroof that comes with the Style package that gives the Veloster its signature look, with glass panels butted up against each other for an almost continuous sweep of glass from the base of the windshield all the way over the top of the roof and down to the rear bumper. It certainly makes the interior airy and is one of the more distinct similarities to the concept Veloster. But having one of the highest glass-to-metal ratios of any car on the market doesn’t do much for structural integrity.
The other available option grouping is the Tech package. It requires the Style package and then adds another $2000 of goodies like wheels with painted inserts intended to make them look like the Veloster concept’s. It also ropes in parking-distance sensors in the back, a rearview camera, a navigation system, automatic headlamps, and pushbutton start. Throw in floor mats ($95), and a loaded manual Veloster lists for $22,155.
Hyundai gives this youth-oriented model standard Bluetooth with voice recognition, auxiliary and USB inputs, and the capability for video (or video-game) playback via an RCA cable. Furthermore, the car comes standard with Pandora internet-radio capability via iPhone. Not enough for you? How about a built-in video game that scores you on your eco-driving prowess? The CRX never had that, did it?

 

by caranddriver.com

2013 Audi S5 3.0T Coupe - First Drive Review

ldentical or otherwise, twins tend to find a way to separate themselves. Romulus killed Remus. One of the Sklar brothers wears glasses. Mary-Kate Olsen has a hyphenated first name. Until now, the Audi S5 coupe had a V-8, and the S5 cabriolet was the one with the blown V-6.
For 2013, though, the S5 coupe will trade its 4.2-liter V-8 for the same 3.0-liter supercharged V-6 that the S5 cabriolet has had all along. Now you’ll have to rely on roof rigidity to tell them apart.
A Tale of Two Cylinders
That means no more delicious V-8 growl for the hardtop. The soundtrack has traded bwahs for various bvvvms, the latter being most prevalent when paired with the S tronic dual-clutch automatic. And the V-6—also shared with the S4 sedan, among others—has slightly lower output: 333 hp and 325 lb-ft of torque compared with the eight’s 354 hp and, well, 325 lb-ft. In trade for that offering to the power gods, the super’d six provides its full complement of torque earlier in the rev range, at 2900 rpm versus 3500 for the V-8. The engines, both of them nice pieces that rarely inspire complaint, are nevertheless different in character. The smaller engine somehow makes the car seem smaller than did the V-8, less like a muscle car and more, well, German.
In ditching two cylinders, Audi was nice enough to retain the V-8’s manual option for us, which is one way the twins remain different. The S tronic is the only transmission available in the cabrio here, and in Germany it’s the only one in both S5s. We drove a coupe equipped with the automatic and found the transmission to be well matched to the V-6 in drive or sport, although manual operation was less satisfying. Calls for lower gears occasionally elicited delayed responses, and the transmission didn’t like multiple downshift requests at once. What it lacked in direct controllability, though, it more than made up for in smoothness, and shifts were quick once initiated.
Steering Clearer
Audi has also switched the steering gear for 2013—as it did on all A5s and S5s—going from hydraulic to a more efficient electromechanical system. It’s the same one used on the A6 and A7. Whereas some manufacturers have had trouble tuning such systems, it appears Audi has managed to improve on the S5’s old setup and fine-tune the overall feel.
On cars with the optional dynamic steering system, which varies the ratio based on speed, buyers can spec the newly available active-lane-keeping system. It has two levels of interference—early or late—that determine when and how violently the car uses the electromechanical steering to wrest directional control from the driver. The early setting worked frighteningly well during a short interlude of hands-free driving, the wheel twitching back and forth on its own as the car corrected its course.
The S5’s standard suspension has been adjusted slightly, with revisions to damper tuning and the rear trailing arms. Without a previous model on hand for comparison and with only a brief drive on smooth Andalusian roads, we couldn’t discern much of a change for better or worse.
Corporate Face, Refreshed
The 2013 face lift only accentuates the car’s seductive look—sort of a hot robot—while bringing it in line with Audi’s recent sedans. New, sharp-edged headlights accompany a more-tapered grille set in a more-aggressive fascia. And no mid-cycle Audi refresh would be complete without a set of LED taillights and a new rear fascia.
The interior is likewise updated, but more subtly. New steering wheels with gloss-black accents are borrowed from Audi’s big sedans. The car is equipped with the latest version of MMI and can now be optioned with Google Earth overlays for the navigation system.
Audi’s updated S5 coupe and its sibling will be available here by June 2012 as 2013 models. We don’t expect a big price increase—or a discount for the loss of two cylinders—and estimate that the fixed-roof S5’s base sticker will be close to $57,000. Those who prize cylinder count will have to find a used example. Or, better yet, wait until June when its evil twin, the RS5, hits our shores—with a considerably higher price.

 

 

 

by caranddriver.com

2012 Toyota Camry SE V6 - Short Take Road Test

Like the late Rodney Dangerfield, the Toyota Camry could reasonably complain that it don’t get no respect.
Never mind that it’s been America’s bestselling passenger car in 13 of the past 14 years—the past nine consecutively—and appears to be headed for another sales title this year. Never mind that a financial or marketing exec might observe that those numbers are the only kind of respect that really matters. The Camry don’t get no respect at Car and Driver, and it has only rarely over that entire run. But the 2012 Camry, due in showrooms in October, could end—or at least moderate—our disdain.
All-New, Selectively
This is the Camry’s seventh generation—the first appeared in 1983—and inevitably the words “all-new” appear in the accompanying publicity materials. As usual, that description is open to interpretation and/or explanation. Considered in terms of the specifications, all-new is hard to see here. The body dimensions are identical to those of the gen-six car. So are the particulars of the 3.5-liter DOHC 24-valve V-6 that towed our SE test car—same bore, same stroke, same port fuel injection (no direction injection yet), same output: 268 hp, 248 lb-ft of torque.
The only powertrain changes, aimed at improving fuel economy, are subtle: lower-viscosity engine oil (0W-20 versus 5W-30), a transmission-oil warmer to achieve operating temps a little faster, and a higher (numerically lower) final-drive ratio of 3.46:1 versus 3.69:1. The net, according to the EPA, is a gain of 1 mpg in city and highway modes, for a rating of 21/30. We averaged 25 mpg.
New Where It Counts
Although changes to the basic unibody are mostly cosmetic—the seventh-generation sheetmetal, although not exactly head turning, looks contemporary and continues to be commendably slick with a 0.28 Cd—the really significant newness lies within. Without altering exterior dimensions, Toyota’s design team rearranged the Camry’s furniture to create more space for folks inhabiting the rear seats. Key elements: The accelerator pedal and the front-seat rails have sneaked slightly forward, and the backs of the front seats have been scooped out, yielding a rear-seat knee-room gain of 1.8 inches, according to the company.
Expanded roominess is always welcome in a family sedan, and in the new Camry, it’s enhanced by a center rear position that’s habitable for more than a run to the mall. Even more welcome, though, is the upgrade in the materials, including lots of soft-touch surfaces that give the interior an aura of comfort and quality distinctly absent in the last couple generations. The pseudo-suede center inserts in our test car’s optional leather-trimmed front buckets lend a soupçon of luxury, as well as a little grip to keep the driver centered in rapid transitions (not that many of those are likely), and slimmer A-pillar trim yields better forward sightlines.
Hold the Excitement
Assessed as a device with which to satisfy your inner Sebastian Vettel, the new Camry is pretty similar to its predecessor, which is to say essentially bland. Our test car was an SE model, nominally sportier than the rest of the lineup, but the suspension tuning is still skewed strongly toward the comfort side of the chart. There’s considerable body roll in hard cornering, obstinate understeer progresses to absolute, and as is common nowadays, a new electric-assist power-steering system substitutes weight for tactile information. This string of criticisms would add up to “fuhgedaboudit” if the Camry had sports-sedan pretensions. But it doesn’t, and its dynamic virtues are on target for its family-sedan mission.
And let us not neglect the power component. The Camry’s optional V-6 may be basically unchanged, but it delivers respectable hustle—0 to 60 mph in 5.8 seconds, the quarter-mile in 14.3 at 101 mph, 50 to 70 in 3.7. Those times are brisk for this class and would have been tops in our recent sedan comparison involving the Honda Accord EX-L V-6, Hyundai Sonata 2.0T Limited, and Volkswagen Passat 3.6 SEL. Chalk it up in part to a curb weight—3407 pounds—100 pounds wispier than that of the lightest car in that group. Similarly, our test Camry’s 0.83-g skidpad performance would have topped those charts, and its 70-to-0-mph braking distance—173 feet—would have been 15 feet better than the comparo’s best stopper.
Respectability Returns
All in all, what Toyota has achieved with the latest Camry makeover is a return to the traits that put this car at the top of so many families’ shopping lists. An aggressive pricing schedule can’t hurt, either. The base price for most models is down versus 2011’s by as much as 7.5 percent, and the base for our test car—$27,400, less than any of the comparo trio previously cited—is unchanged from the previous generation.
Although well equipped in basic trim, our SE had a substantial inventory of optional equipment: the Leather package (seats, door trim, heated front seats, $1050); a power sunroof ($915); and navigation with Entune, Toyota’s infotainment system ($1550). The latter package also included a rearview camera, an auto-dimming rearview mirror with digital compass, an anti-theft alarm, and JBL audio with Bluetooth and voice recognition. The nav system is one of the most cooperative we’ve ever encountered, and we were similarly pleased with the JBL audio system. The bottom line as tested: $30,935.
This still isn’t the kind of car that raises pulse rates. But it is competent in everything, just right for a driver who doesn’t want to be involved any more than is absolutely necessary. As the Camry’s phenomenal sales record shows, there are a lot of those drivers out there. The new Camry should make them happier than they’ve been in a long time.