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Audi 58 Plate September Sale

With the up coming release of the 58 Plates, Essex Audi have a Audi 58 Plate Sale. Whether you are looking for a new Audi A3 , Audi A3 Cabriolet, Audi Q7 or even an Audi RS4 Cabriolet! now you can be the first to have a 58 plate Audi

• We have 58 Plate Audis in stock for immediate delivery for you right now!
• All for September delivery on a 58 plate!
• These 58 plate audi’s must go- so don’t miss these Audi 58 Plate special offers!

Call Essex Audi now for your 58 Plate Audi On:

• Stansted Audi 0845 058 1755
• Harold Wood Audi 0845 058 2109
• Docklands Audi 0845 058 1798
• Chelmsford Audi 0845 058 2106
• Southend Audi 0845 058 2119
• Chingford Audi 0845 058 1747

Looks like the Audi A3 Cabriolet has learnt a new trick - it can park itself

The Audi S3’s new Parallel Park Assist system, available across the range, interfaces with the Driver’s Information System (a standard feature on Sport and S-line versions and an optional extra on other models).

Using ultrasonic sensors the system can, at speeds below 19mph, measures length of longitudinal parking spaces and alert the driver, via the DIS system, when it finds one the car can fit in.

Furthermore, the driver only needs to select reverse gear and touch the accelerator and the Park Assist system steers the car into space.

The driver must still operate accelerator, clutch and breaks, but the Park Assist system helps here as well with audible chimes, the frequency of which is dependant on the proximity of solid obstacles (like other parked cars).

New 2008 Audi A6 and Audi RS6 Saloon

The Audi A6 has been updated for 2008, with engine updates and restyling. The Audi A6 range now has a new saloon version of the Audi RS6.

Improved both aesthetically and technically, the new Audi A6 range makes its international debut this week, with enhancements to visual appeal, refinement and convenience electronics. With the rising cost of fuel and the improvements in fuel economy and emissions (averaging 12 per cent via the new or updated engines), will be welcomed by both private and fleet buyers.

Key Changes to the Audi A6 Range for 2008

• The New Audi A6 range will be available for UK order in August 2008 with first deliveries in late October 2008 – the Audi A6 Saloon has prices from £24,800 OTR and the  Audi A6 Avant from £26,370 OTR.
• A new Audi RS 6 Saloon introduced to complement existing Audi RS6 Avant version – available from August for November delivery priced at £76,160 OTR (Audi RS 6 Avant £77,730 OTR).
• Styling revisions inside and out, a major update of the engine line-up bringing fuel efficiency gains averaging 12 per cent and reconfigured suspension for improved comfort.
• Latest generation quattro system with 40/60 torque split.
• New petrol engine range highlight - supercharged 3.0-litre TFSI unit with 290PS and 420Nm from 2,500rpm to 4,850rpm.
• New headline engine in TDI range – 2.0-litre TDI now featuring ultra-efficient common rail fuel injection with piezo injectors – all TDI engines now common rail-equipped.
• New ‘e’ model achieves 53.3mpg and 139g/km CO2 output through technical and aerodynamic refinements.
• Enhanced cabin incorporates new third generation Multi Media Interface infotainment system with high capacity navigation mapping and 3D display.

Priced from £24,800 OTR for the new economy-targeting Audi A6 2.0 TDIe model, delivering in excess of 53mpg with 139g/km of CO2, the Audi A6 range is available to order now and will reach its first UK customers in October 2008

At the same time, the eagerly awaited Audi RS6 Saloon version of the potent ten-cylinder Audi RS6 Avant, which like the A6 allroad quattro and Audi S6  model range incorporates many of the new  enhancements and is priced at £76,160 OTR. Its Avant counterpart, like all Avant versions, carries a premium of £1,570.

There are Two all-new engines in the Audi A6 range – a 3.0-litre TFSI petrol unit which makes its debut here to effectively replace both the 3.2 FSI V6 and the 4.2 V8, and the advanced 2.0-litre TDI with common rail piezo fuel injection, whose impressive frugality makes the new Audi A6 TDIe model possible. This 136PS diesel unit replaces the 2.0-litre pump jet injection engine with 140PS, and later in 2008 will also become available in the Audi A6 in 170PS form.

Audi R8 Spyder Spotted in Germany

The jalopnik blog has spotted the Audi R8 Spyder being testing in Germany.

Having seen the Audi R8 Spyder they say:

‘Besides the soft top, the first thing you’ll notice is the lack of the R8 coupe’s trademark “sideblades.” The side intake has instead been molded into a more traditional scoop. Hiding under the top, there’s suspected to be more air intakes located behind the seats and the obligatory pair of roll-over bars. Breathing through those intakes will be either the standard 4.2-liter V8, or a 5.2-liter V10.’

The Audi R8 Spyder is due to be released in autumn 2009.

Classic Pre-war Audi - 1938 Horch 853 Special Roadster at Auction

Fortitude is reporting on an extremely rare Horch due to be auctioned by RM Auctions and Sotheby’s in London on the 29th of August. Horch is one of the 4 companies merged to form Auto Union - from which the present day Audi descends.

This very rare Horch is a 1938 Horch 853 Special Roadster with coach work by Erdmann & Rossi (chassis number 854268). Regarded as one of Germany’s preeminent luxury marques, Horch was part of the famed Auto Union group alongside Audi, DKW and Wanderer. With its advanced chassis design and fully independent rear suspension, the Special Roadster competed with the Mercedes-Benz 540K.

Formerly stored in a private Latvian collection, the elegant 853 Special Cabriolet, on offer at RM’s October event is one of just three surviving examples of its kind and one of six survivors of all types, making for a very rare car. The auctioneers estimate the Horch roadster will go for a staggering £1,500,000 - £2,000,000, more than a new Bugatti Veyron.

There is a Horch Museum in Zwickau, in Western Saxony and their web site is here

One Wheel On My Audi - The Audi Snook

Recently, we found a very interesting article in the NYT on one of Audis up and coming designers and his radical one wheeled designs that won this year’s Michelin Challenge Design Award at the Detroit Car Show.

Designed by German Tilmann Schlootz, the Audi Snook Concept is a unique and original personal mobility vehicle that rides on a sphere implementing the principle of agility through instability from aerospace technology, offering a completely new driving experience and a variety of new manoeuvres, the Audi Snook concept can go sideways, backwards and also turn on a point.

Inside the Audi Snook showing 1 and 2 seat versions

The Audi Snook combines driving fun with the demanding needs of future urban mobility and is described by its designer Tilmann Schlootz as the: “two billiard balls standing on each other.”

Whist this is a very radical design concept looks like the sort of thing that a bond villain would use to arrive at his underground volcanic lair - the concept of how the vehicles stabilise themselves has been proven with the Segway.  I suspect a practical vehicle will need some form of popout stabilizers to allow it to be parked with the power off and I think the name needs a little work - Audi .25 maybe.

About The Designer of the Audi Snook

Tilmann Schlootz was born in Frankfurt, Germany and studied industrial design at the Academy of Art and Design Offenbach after basic studies in mechanical engineering at the TU Darmstadt.

He was in the student team in partnership with Honda and created the OFX motorcycle design, which won two Intermot Design Awards 2004.

In 2006 Tilmann Schlootz won the Michelin Challenge Design Awards with the two mono-rubbertrack-vehicles Baal and Hyanide, supported by Edag. He currently works at Audi Design.

Telegraph Audi Q5 Review - Top of the Class

The telegraph has given the Audi Q5 a glowing review:

Sam Hardy The telegraphs reviewer says:

The Audi Q5 is an impressive newcomer to the compact 4×4 sport-utility market

and sums up by saying

It’s a better all-rounder than the BMW X3 and, unless you really need a full-on mud-plugger, it’s got the measure of Land Rover’s Freelander too. It’s not revolutionary like the original Quattro, but it’s another decent Audi 4×4 nonetheless.

The Audi Q5 Should be on sale from September