The mean, green machines about to flood our shores
By Seth FletcherPosted 1.21.08 at 11:34 pm 3 Comments
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Audi A4
Photo by Seth Fletcher
The new Audi A4, which was first revealed last fall at the Frankfurt auto show, made its North American debut this week in Detroit. The new A4 isn't a radical departure, to say the least. To my eye, it looks pretty much the same as the previous iteration, though slightly sleeker and sexier. Audi says the refreshed A4 delivers something that its predecessor lacked: Enough leg room in the back seat to keep adults from getting deep vein thrombosis on drives longer than two hours.
Euro carmakers know that we Americans still associate diesel with the asthma-inducing dump trucks that nearly run us off the road a few times a week. This is why Audi has drafted its hottest car, the R8, to be its official Ambassador of Diesel. This concept version of the R8, which runs on a V12 TDi turbocharged diesel engine, can run from 0 to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds, top out over 185 mph—and still get 24 mpg. At least that's what Audi says.