Sunday, February 28, 2010

Family Ties: Audi Owner Rebadges TT Coupe as a Volkswagen


At a first glance, few would guess that the first generation Audi TT shares a platform, engine and most of its mechanics with parent company Volkswagen's Golf as well as the VW Jetta, New Beetle, Seat Leon, Skoda Octavia etc., etc.

Call it down right honesty, call it stupid, you know, call it whatever, but the owner of this 2000 model year Audi TT Coupe, which is up for sale on eBay, had no problem at all replacing Ingolstadt's four-ring logos with the VW badge. He even went as far as adding a couple of VW emblems on the seats.

"I just added Volkswagen logos around to make it look different, since they are the same company," said the eBay with a sincerity that could do with a good a dose of self-irony. More pics for your enjoyment after the jump.

Kudos to Marcus for the tip! , Link: eBay



Saturday, February 27, 2010

Volvo Preparing "Naughty" S60 for Geneva Show


Once a maker of some of the most boring to drive and mundane-looking bricks on wheels cars in the industry, Volvo has managed to turn up some pretty interesting proposals over the past few years - no thanks to FoMoCo's involvement.

Their latest and most likely last vehicle to be developed under the "loving" arms of Ford before the Swedish company falls into the hands of China's Geely Motors, is the all-new Volvo S60 sedan that will premiere at the Geneva Salon on March 2.

That we already knew. What we didn't know is that Volvo may surprise us with a sporty version(s) of the S60 as this blurred teaser image and a series of videos titled "Naught Volvos Are Coming" suggest.

Could it be that the Swedes are preparing the return of the 'R' series with a hotted up version of the 2011 S60 sedan?

That we'll have to wait until the opening of the Geneva Motor Show to find out, but we wouldn't be surprised if all this "naughty" promo-talk ends up being just another aero package of the same kind as Audi's S-Line or BMW's M Sport Packs.

Hat tip to 'Coco' for the photo and tip!





Ford to Unveil New Focus Station Wagon at the Geneva Motor Show


At next week's Geneva Motor Show, Ford will stage the world premiere of the fifth member of its Focus family after the five-door hatchback, four-door sedan and the C-MAX and Grand C-MAX minivans, the station wagon model.

According to our sources, the more practical and roomy Focus SW (also known as the Estate in some countries) will initially be launched in Europe. However, if there's enough interest by buyers in other international markets, Ford will add the station wagon variant to its global range of Focus models in the very near future.

Other body styles planned to join the Focus family are a three-door hatchback, a convertible with a retractable hardtop, a replacement for the current Kuga SUV that's based on a modified version of the outgoing (Euro) Focus platform, while there's also been talk about a sporty two-door coupe model.

*The opening photo is a Carscoop CGI


Photo Galore: 2011 Audi RS5 Coupe 450HP V8


Audi is now ready to show us a lot more of its Geneva Motor Show-bound RS5 as the Ingolstadt automaker published a slew of high-resolution images of the high-performance coupe that will take on the BMW M3 and its ilk. Like all RS models, the hottest A5 has been fully developed by Quattro, Audi's in-house performance division.

Under the bonnet of the sleek-looking coupe is a subtly tweaked version of the same naturally aspirated 4.2-liter V8 engine found in the old RS4 and the R8. In the RS5, the high-revving V8 churns out 450HP at 8,250 rpm along with 430Nm (317.15 lb-ft) of peak torque between 4,000 and 6,000 rpm.

Those ponies are sent to all four-wheels through a seven-speed S-tronic dual-clutch transmission with Audi announcing a 0-100km/h (62mph) sprint time of 4.6 seconds and an electronically-limited top speed of 250km/h or 155mph. Hit the jump for the 55 new photos of the RS5 or click here to read the full details.

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