Audi A6 News

You don't often see a Ferrari used as a camera car. In front of the camera, yes. But fitting one out with a camera rig to film other cars ... that's rare. But it's also one of the choices the production crew of Need for Speed is tinkering with, as they prepare to start shooting high-speed scenes.This footage takes you behind the scenes, where chase vehicles for the upcoming movie are being built. In addition to the Ferrari, they're modifying an Audi A6 and a Ford GT Mustang with a supercharger that boosts it to deliver 466kW of power, plus uprated high-performance gears and brakes.Because when you're filming something like a Bugatti Veyron at high speed, you have to rig up a vehicle that can keep pace without too much effort, and handle deftly, allowing the camera team to concentrate on getting the best footage. Or, as one of the production crew simply puts it: "you need a badass car".The only question we'd like answered is what happens to the chase cars after the filming is done. It seems like some of the crew would be volunteering to give them good homes.Watch the Need for Speed - the chase cars video here.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

   

The Avant arrives with a choice of  two efficient, direct-injection, turbocharged four-cylinder engines and prices starting at $81,800. The carry-all features a sleek design, lightweight construction and a generous level of standard equipment and convenience features along with an  extensive options list. Aluminium components comprise roughly 20 per cent of the body with weight reductions of as much as 70 kilograms compared with the previous model. The engine choices are 2.0-litre turbo petrol and turbo diesel with outputs of 132kW and 130kW respectively. They deliver exceptional fuel economy with the 2.0 TDI, for example, sipping 5.1 litres/100 km. Both include a start-stop system and both have continuously variable multitronic transmission (CVT). The luggage compartment has a capacity of 565 litres, which can be increased to 1,680 litres by folding the rear seats. Other standard features include the sensor-controlled, automatically opening tailgate operated hands free by passing your foot under a sensor. Both versions get Audi drive select and MMI Navigation plus. Safety is five star rated. It is in dealerships now.  

Kids aren’t usually a factor in Car of the Year judging.  But child friendliness rates highly with women buying cars – and with women judging cars.The countdown has been kicked off to decide the Women’s World Car of the Year, and the kid factor is one the judges pay a lot of attention to.“Statistics show that women drive children in cars significantly more often than men – and that means women need to take that into account, both when buying and as judges of cars,” WCOTY president Sandy Myhre said from New Zealand.“Any woman who has grappled constantly with child seats and belts and children considers those things when looking at buying a car.  Men might too but the fact is, women drive children in cars more than men.“Women would not consider that aspect in a Porsche 911 more than a bloke. The point is, it can be considered in these awards - and that is one of the points of difference in these awards.”Myhre points out that significant research into buying habits show that in addition to buying for themselves, women have a major influence in household purchase decisions for big ticket items.Ford Australia, for example, says their research shows that women are behind the majority of purchases of the Territory SUV – either as single women buying one, or in influencing the joint decision with their partner. “A report from Mattingly & Associates in Australia concluded, in part, that businesses that didn't understand this influence would be hard-pressed to stay in business.  That report was aptly called 'When I've Made Up Our Minds',” Myhre says.However, the kid factor is just one of the criteria by which the 2012 Women’s World Car of the Year will be judged.There are four categories in the Women's World Car of the Year – Family Car, Luxury Car, Sports Car and Economy Car. Points are allocated to each of ten criteria: driveability, engineering, comfort, child friendliness, style, interior, storage, dashboard efficiency, carbon footprint and colour range.The 20 judges from eleven countries have submitted their own personal short list and more than 300 cars were suggested. These individual choices were then whittled down to form a master list of 32 in terms of popularity. Judges will now allocate points for these cars from a criteria list.The announcement of the winning cars in each category and the supreme winner will be made before the end of March. The supreme award trophy and category certificates will be presented to the car companies concerned at the Mondial de l’Automobile 2012 – the Paris Motor Show – in September. The supreme trophy will this year be made in The Netherlands. Category-winner certificates will be designed at Peartree Studios in Colerne, UK.The first winner of the Women's World Car of the Year was the Jaguar XF in 2010 and the trophy made in South Africa was presented at the Jaguar boutique showroom in Knightsbridge, London. In 2011 there was a dead-heat between the Citroen DS3 and the BMW 5 Series. The two trophies made in India were presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2011. 

They are battling for the biggest prize in global motoring and head the 10-car field for the 2012 World Car of the Year award, which will be announced in April at the New York motor show. The top-10 lineup covers every area of motoring, from city runabouts to advanced hybrids, with a separate fast-car field competing for the World Performance Car award. The final field for the World COTY contest - which also includes a green award - will be set in March when three finalists are named in each category. The top-10 fields were set during voting by the 66 World COTY judges - including Carsguide - from Asia, Europe, North and South America. The results were tabulated by international accounting firm KPMG before being announced. Judges must now rate each vehicle based on their overall merit, value, safety, environmental responsibility, emotional appeal and significance. The World COTY award has been made since 2005, when the Audi A6 was the inaugural winner. It was followed by the BMW 3 Series, Lexus LS460, Mazda2, Volkswagen Golf, Volkswagen Polo and Nissan Leaf. The  Performance Car award has only been running since 2006 when the Porsche Cayman S took the prize. The full fields for the World COTY contests are:

The final piece in the A6 jigsaw puzzle was dropped from the local line-up late last year after being on sale in Australia since 2001 in both petrol and diesel guises. The former was dropped in 2006 and it stayed diesel-only until last its disappearance last year.  Audi says the A6 allroad comes with a claim of fuel use reductions by as much as 20 per cent, depending on which of the four engines is chosen - although Audi Australia is tightlipped on what's coming here. The sole petrol engine for the new model is the supercharged three-litre V6 already seen in the current line-up, but offering 228kW and 440 Nm, kicking the crossover wagon from zero to 100km/h in 5.9 seconds and claiming 8.9 litres per 100km, although not when you're flat-out testing the acceleration claim. The diesel offering is three output variations - 150kW and 450Nm, 180kW and 580Nm or the twin-turbo powerplant's 230kW and 650 Nm, with thirsts starting at 6.1l/100km. Audi says it will soon offer a low-emissions "clean diesel" 180kW engine variant, although it's not likely in Australia in the short term. The twin-turbo 230kW/650Nm three-litre gets the eight-speed automatic (the rest are seven-speed twin-clutch autos) and drops the time to 100km/h to 5.6 seconds. The new A6 gets the company's staple all-wheel drive system, albeit with the addition of the torque vectoring system, which brakes the wheels on the inside of the curve to help the car turn more easily. The new car has the sedan's electro-mechanical power steering, as well as the option of variable-ratio "dynamic" steering and the clever differential that sends power left and right across the rear axle during "enthusiastic" driving. Among the fuel-saving systems is "drive select," which allows the driver to alter the car's functions to run in an economy mode. The new A6 allroad carries over the adaptive air suspension, which was standard on the outgoing car and can drop the normal ride height by 15mm at cruising speeds and can raise between 35 and 45mm for rougher roads, with variable-speed hill descent control for the more adventurous. Standard fare in the A6 allroad quattro also includes 18in and 235/55 tyres, but optional wheels up to 20in are on offer. The new Audi A6 allroad quattro will be available in Germany from spring 2012, starting from 54,600 Euros - it will be launched in Australia in the third quarter of 2012. Audi Australia says it's too early to talk specifics on engine options, specifics on equipment and pricing - the outgoing car was priced at about $104,000 but when the model first arrived it started just under $100,000, but Audi won't say if it will sneak into the five-figure price bracket. The new A6 allroad quattro is 4940mm long, 1900mm wide and 1470mm tall, only slightly longer but 38mm wider and nearly 50mm shorter in overall height over the outgoing model. Audi says the use of aluminium has shaved about 70kg from the weight of the outgoing model. The Audi A6 allroad quattro will have available LED and xenon lighting technology, as well as getting extra trim bits on the door sills, wheelarches, a different grille and underbody protection. The infotainment system - MMI in Audi-speak - has the added function of showing the vehicle pitch as a nod to its all-terrain aims. The luggage compartment boasts 565 litres of cargo space (with folding rear seats upping it the storage space to 1680 litres) and a load-restraint rail system. Also on the features list is a head-up display, ambient LED cabin lighting, four-zone climate control, a panoramic glass roof, automatic parking assist system which steers for the driver,and the keyless entry and ignition and a 15-speaker Bang & Olufsen sound system. There's also optional Bluetooth car phone (standard on the outgoing car) but the new model gets internet connectivity and an in-car wireless hotspot. The allroad will also have radar-based adaptive cruise control with stop and go function that applies maximum braking (below 30km/h) if it senses an impending impact, the pre-sense accident prep system (in a number of guises), lane assist, side assist blindspot warning and the night vision system

The 2.2-litre turbo-diesel sedan was driven the 4615km from New York to Los Angeles - the equivalent of travelling from London to the Sahara - taking in 11 states, three time zones and eight days. The British team only stopped to fill up the car four times. Jaguar, which now claims the car as the company's most fuel efficient ever, says the test was "a graphic demonstration of the strength, engineering integrity and efficiency of the car". Paul Alcock, XF Project Manager, Jaguar Cars - who was in a following vehicle for the trip - says the project was designed primarily to test the potential economy of the XF 2.2. "The incredible figures achieved by the car were accomplished through making every element of the new XF as efficient as possible - from its aerodynamics to its four-cylinder 2.2-litre diesel engine linked to an eight-speed gearbox," he says. Driven by independent testers, David and Alexander Madgwick, the XF 2.2 was a stock-standard, UK-registered, right-hand drive vehicle. In the coast to coast journey the car maintained an average speed of 85km/h and incorporated a range of real-life scenarios - including the busy roads exiting New York and, towards the end of the trip, entering Los Angeles, road works, high winds and a climb to 2240m above sea level.

The front-wheel-drive, petrol 2.0 TFSI and diesel 2.0 TDI are examples of Audi's engine downsizing philosophy which sees large engine capacity replaced by smart forced induction techniques to achieve outstanding fuel consumption while maintaining performance and driving enjoyment. The most fuel-efficient engine in the new A6 is the 2.0 TDI. Almost entirely redeveloped, it generates 130kW/380 Nm. A multitronic CVT transmission drives the front wheels to give fuel consumption of 5.0 L/100km. It's capable of the 0-100km/h sprint in 8.2 seconds. The turbocharger with adjustable vanes (VGT) provides spontaneous torque buildup at an early stage in the cycle. The 132kW/320Nm turbo petrol 2.0 TFSI engine uses Audi's valvelift system which varies the lift of the exhaust valve. Paired with the multitronic transmission and front-wheel drive, this engine propels the A6 from 0-100 km/h in 8.3 seconds. The engine consumes 6.4L/100 km. Both of these new four-cylinder A6 variants utilise Audi efficiency technologies, including an innovative thermal management system that lowers fuel consumption by approximately 0.1 litres per 100km.  A start-stop system is also standard across the A6 range and shuts off the engine after the Audi A6 has come to a stop for further fuel savings. The energy recovery system utilises the kinetic energy of the car as it decelerates. Among the technologies in the A6 lineup is the latest version of Audi's Drive Select dynamic handling system, which now includes an additional mode the Efficiency program.

….and now promises the definitive business sedan. The seventh generation of the A6 is on sale now with a body that is 20 per cent alloy. That translates into weight savings of up to 80kg. Prices start at $93,900 for the 2.8-litre petrol engine with 150kW/280Nm and climb to $121,500 for the 3-litre supercharged petrol model boasting 220kW/440Nm. Fuel consumption for the 2.8 is officially 8 litres/100km, while the TFSI engine uses 8.2 litres over the same ground. The mid-range 3-litre turbodiesel costs $116,500, puts out 180kW/500Nm and uses just 6 litres of fuel/100km. All models use Audi’s quattro all-wheel drive system and a seven-speed auto.

... as a selection of the world’s most desirable cars are wheeled out in Melbourne.For some, it’s their first visit to Australia and the first time visitors to the Australian International Motor Show can see some of the hero cars of today – and in some cases, the future.Supercar fans get their first glimpse of the stunning Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4, which replaces the Murcielago and that now sets the standard for exotic cars.Named after a champion Spanish bull, the carbon-fibre and alloy version of the Aventador rushes to 100km/h from rest in only 2.9 seconds and has a claimed top speed of 350km/h.The powerplant responsible for this is a 6.5-litre V12 with 515kW and 690Nm of torque running through all four wheels.But the exceptional performance pales against the coupe’s styling. It is all low-slung wedge and razor-sharp edges – a work of art that mesmerises from every angle.Lamborghini Melbourne managing director Andrew Smith says the car is two generations ahead in terms of design and technology."The Aventador is a truly exceptional package of design, style and technical perfection," he says.  "Its performance is simply astonishing and is unrivalled in the super sports car arena. It looks amazing in photographs but that is nothing to seeing it in the flesh."Sister company Audi won’t be outdone. It has unwrapped its fiercest R8 supercar, the GT, bristling with 412kW of power and 540Nm of torque from its 5.2-litre direct-injection V10. The all-wheel drive coupe has a price tag of $470,700 and even if you had the cash, Audi Australia says only five examples are allocated for our country."And they’re all spoken for," a spokesperson says.Audi will also show its new A6 that has taken Europe and the US by storm. The sleek sedan will enter Australia with a range of engines that all include fuel-saving systems, including stop-start and energy recovery technology.At the other end of the scale, the baby Audi A1 in its diesel form will make its debut in Melbourne. This will be available this year and become the third engine in the A1 franchise. Audi claims the 66kW 1.6-litre turbo-diesel will sip just 3.8L/100km and expects it to account for 25-30 per cent of the A1 sales.The Germans continue to dominate the performance stands with two Mercedes-Benz models on show for the first time. The first Australian showing of the breathtaking C-Class Coupe and C63 Coupe pair is so impressive they even overshadow the awesome CLS63 AMG – finished in a spectacular red paint and also on display for the first time.The CLS63 impresses with its 386kW/700Nm bi-turbo 5.5-litre V8 that averages 10L/100km – not much more than a Holden Commodore V6. In the AMG version, its output jumps to 410kW and 800Nm. Mercedes-Benz Australia says that despite the leap in power, the fuel consumption is 31 per cent – equal to 4.6L/100km – better than its predecessor.The two C-Class coupes are extensions of the recently upgraded C-Class range, but the styling exercise is condensed and the effect is a startling change from the previous models.Output for the C63 AMG Coupe’s 6.3-litre V8 is 336kW and 600Nm which pushes the two-door to 100km/h in 4.5 seconds. Yet it is surprisingly low on fuel consumption and emissions, recording an average of 12L/100km.These Mercedes newcomers are joined by 15 other models, including another first – the debut of the new SLK range – before it hits the showrooms in late July. For many prospective buyers, this will be the first time they can come face to grille with the latest Mercedes convertibles.The SLK will initially arrive with three engines – two four-cylinder turbo models, a 135kW SLK200 BlueEfficiency and 150kW SLK250 BlueEfficiency, and the 225kW SLK350 V6. New equipment includes a panoramic roof called "Magic Sky Control" that is made of glass and switches between light and dark at the press of a button.