Cars,Travel and Military in Germany

Externally, the car is unmistakably A3 but with a few minor mods. Of course, there is a revised front end, which gets dummy lower side grilles a la VW Golf GTI, the now-familiar deep one-piece main grille, now with an extra little grille below. All pretty predictable stuff, as of course was the styling of the original A3.

Uprated turbo gives plenty of all-round power

But don’t be fooled. With this uprated turbo, the S3 sports hatch can get to 60 mph in about 5.5 seconds – that’s more than half a second quicker than the Audi TT two-liter, despite its aluminum body. It is also a shade quicker than the 3.2-liter TT. Hmmm.Despite the larger turbo, maximum torque of 258 lb ft (350 Nm) is available all the way from 2,500 to 5,000 rpm, so this is an engine with bags of power at almost any speed. Mind you that is a feature of the other VW 2.0 liter direct injection turbos. Incidentally, this is a conventional four-valve per cylinder engine, unlike the five-valve units used in Audis previously. Still, the new engine clearly does the business.  Read more at Fast Autos

Is it quality which is making people turn to European car makers more an more?

I think it’s just that the American cars nowadays are ugly!!!  I just haven’t seen anything that’s made me want to buy….  except maybe the new Volkswagens, BMW or Toyota….

Toyota posted a 16 percent gain in sales, making it the No. 2 automaker in the U.S. market for the first time in the month, ahead of both Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG, which both reported steep sales declines.

Honda sales were up 10 percent, while Hyundai Motor Co’s<005380.KS> sales rose 6 percent, putting all three Asian automakers on track for a larger share of a softening U.S. market for new vehicles.

Why do you think the European’s are selling, and the American car companies are going bankrupt? is it the looks, the quoality or what.  For readers in Germany, stop by Mike Calton’s Military Car Sales website and check out some of the new tax free cars he offers through his military car sales program. The new German and Japanese cars are looking pretty hot!

Pajagre

A convertible this fast?  I took one for a test drive and was pretty impressed with the handling of the new Z4 form the German car manufacturer.

Under the 3.0si’s immense hood is BMW’s familiar N52 inline-six, of 2996cc displacement, variable intake valve lift, and variable intake and exhaust valve timing. This is from the same engine family as that found in the 3-series sedan, with its novel magnesium-and-aluminum hybrid block casting. The engine makes incredibly smooth power through a slick-shifting six-speed manual or a six-speed automatic. We expected our 3080-pound Z4 coupe’s broad torque band and shorter final-drive ratio to equal quick acceleration, but our 3.0si manual ran to 60 mph in 5.5 seconds and hit the quarter-mile in 14.0 seconds at 101 mph, no quicker than a 3.0si roadster.

I’m not sure if I would need all that power if I shipped it back to the states….  I might get in trouble with that kind of power.

Dynamism, sportiness and sophistication – the Audi A3 occupies an outstanding position in the premium compact class. Now its top-of-the-range version is ready to go, the new Audi S3 boasting 195 kW (265 bhp) and quattro permanent four-wheel drive. With its sparkling performance it pursues the ideal of pure driving pleasure coupled with excellent everyday practicality – like all Audi S models.

The S3 redefines the standards of its class – at the level of a sports car. It races from 0 to 100 km/h in a mere 5.7 seconds, and its forward urge remains unbridled until it reaches 250 km/h. Aggressively hard-hitting, free-revving and with a sonorous acoustic profile, the powerful two-litre, turbocharged four-cylinder unit with FSI petrol direct injection proves to be a smooth, high-performance engine.  continue article

The story starts with dark wood and titanium, chairs by Mies van der Rohe and deer’s antlers. These are the fittings that decorate the boutique of watch manufacturer Girard-Perregaux in Gstaad in the Swiss Alps - and these were the source of inspiration for one of the most exciting projects that BMW Individual has ever experienced. Transferring the atmosphere of the room to a BMW 760Li - this was the vision of the President of Girard-Perregaux, Dr. Luigi Macaluso, and the challenge for the designers from the BMW subsidiary that specialises in meeting exclusive requirements. 

With the unique vehicle based on a BMW 760Li, BMW Individual is continuing its own success story in a most spectacular way: with an automobile in which the development of a common product has been brilliantly implemented - two brands that have both positioned themselves successfully in the premium segment in the international market. Both combine similar objectives: meeting the toughest demands in terms of precision, quality and aesthetics, realised with complete expertise. BMW Individual and Girard-Perregaux are appealing to the same target group: people who value exclusivity and emotion

Check out the rest of the story and this beast!  I have to own one of these some day!

This is a pretty cool German car site I found today while poking around on the web. I really like  the simple design of the site, and it is well layed out.

http://www.bmw-autohaus-woelfle.de/