BMW 3-Series Still Top Dog despite Strong Competition

In the ingloriously named, “small premium car segment”, the BMW 3-Series is king. A good all-rounder with sporting pretensions and cred, a nice assortment of engine and equipment options, and perhaps most importantly, a variety of body styles including a coupe and station wagon derivative that have ensured its market supremacy.

All 3-Series models are doing their bit to keep sales high. According to a study released by R.L. Polk & Co., from 2008 through this past February, the 3-Series sedan covered around 60 percent of the model's retail registrations, with the coupe, convertible and station wagon versions accounting for the rest of the sales.

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Black and White and Red all Over: HS Motorsport Tunes Audi S5 to 375HP

Was Senner's velvety A5 Cabrio not powerful enough for you? HS Motorsport, located near BMW's home turf of Munich, has decided to help out consumers by amping-up the S5 Cabrio into a 375-horsepower 'vert. Power output aside, this white cabrio looks like a dog on the side of the road next to Senner's metallic brown goodness.

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Count Chocula, your ride is here: Senner's A5 Cabrio gets the RS look and 275HP 2.0 TSI

Senner Tuning, which recently tuned Audi's little diesel A1, has opted to showcase some of their A5 products in this gorgeous, 'chocolate' A5 Cabrio.

The car receives some new intake and ECU tuning to bring the turbocharged 2.0-liter's output to 275 horsepower and 430 Nm / 317 lb-ft of torque, while a Senner stainless steel exhaust system is there for aural pleasure and to get rid of those exhaust fumes. The car rides on KW's Inox coilovers, which slam it down hard on those 20-inch Varianza TIS alloys.

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APS Sportec Builds 425HP Audi S5, as fast as RS5 in 0-62mph sprint

Last time we checked (as in a few minutes ago on the UK, US and German sites), the S5 Coupe continues to use Audi's venerable 4.2-liter V8 with 354HP, while the S5 Convertible comes with a 333HP 3.0-liter supercharged V6. Nevertheless, APS, the UK-based importer of the Swiss tuning brand Sportec, has released a performance upgrade for the S5 Coupe and Convertible with the... 3.0 TSI V6.

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Audi Confirms RS5 Coupe for U.S. in 2012, Announces Pricing on 2011 R8 V10 Spyder

First the good news; Audi has confirmed that the new RS5 Coupe is coming to America. Now for the bad; it's going to take another year and half or so for Ingolstadt's sports car to make it on this side of the Atlantic. Audi said details on equipment levels, pricing and fuel economy standards will be released at a later date.

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Killer Combo: Audi S5 Coupe in "Porsche Lime Green" Finish

Found for sale on eBay is this flamboyantly unique Audi S5 Coupe featuring a killer color combination that makes it stand out like a lime in a bowl of lemons. And this ain't no vinyl wrap; the "Porsche Lime Green" exterior finish was a special factory order that cost the owner $2,500. Open the door and you'll see why most manufacturers don't allow customers to combine certain exterior shades with certain interior colors even if they are available. More photos after the break.

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Audi S5 Sportback Grand Prix with 375HP by Senner Tuning

The Grand Prix is Senner Tuning's take on the new Audi S5 Sportback. Starting with the engine, the German company brings output from the standard 3.0-liter TSI's 333 horsepower and 440Nm /325 lb-ft of torque to 375HP and 495Nm / 365 lb-ft. The power boost comes from a reconfigured ECU, the addition of a performance air filter as well as a custom sport exhaust system with four tail pipes.

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Senner Tuning's Audi S5 'White Beast' Does its best Wendigo impression

Senner Tuning has released its take on Audi's S5 Coupe. The call it the White Beast - apparently the Germans learned their "lesson" after last year's "White Power" RS6...

It wears a wide-inlet front fascia, while the rear apron comes from Rieger (done in "carbon look", something I wouldn't want on a Jetta, let alone an S5).

Can you guess what's coming next? Yup, there's also a lip spoiler on the trunk and LED tail lights. "But this is still not enough. As the name "White Beast" implies, not only the optics but also the engine power have been upgraded." And away we go.

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2011 Audi RS5 Coupe Brochure with Plenty of Photos Leaked

A German agency appears to have mistakenly released the official brochure of the new Audi RS5 Coupe ahead of time as the car's world premiere isn't due for another week or so at the Geneva Motor Show on March 2.

The high-resolution photos from the leaflet show that the RS5 Coupe gets its own unique body treatment to differentiate it from the less powerful S5 Coupe.

Look closely and you'll be able to spot the slightly blistered wheel arches that hark back to the original Quattro coupe, the new front bumper with larger air vents at each corner, the honeycomb grille without the horizontal bar, the redesigned rear bumper with an integrated diffuser and the two large oval tail pipes.

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ABT Powers Up and Stylizes New Audi A5 Sportback

ABT Sporstline has built its reputation on modifying just about anything on four wheels that comes out of the VW Group's plants. Their newest proposal concerns the Audi A5 Sportback which has been modified with a variety of aesthetic and performance goodies.

The tuner jazzes up the five door coupe's appearance with numerous aero add-ons, including a new front bumper, ABT's trademark grille, front fender air-vents and a rear apron with a diffuser shrouding chrome exhaust tips.

Customers can choose between 18-inch and 20-inch alloy rims which are available in two different designs.

For the time being, ABT offers power kits only for the A5 Sportback with the 2.0 TSI petrol and the 3.0 TDI diesel engines.

After the tuner gets its way with the powerplants, the entry-level 2.0 TSI's output is boosted from 180HP to a hardy 275HP while the 3.0-liter V6 diesel can be lifted from 240HP to either 282HP or 310HP. The most powerful version of the V6 diesel hits the 100km/h (62mph) mark in 5.8 seconds.

The tuner finishes off the package with a sport suspension and a high-performance braking system with either 345 mm or 380 mm disks and eight piston calipers.

Hofele Design's R8-Inspired Aero Kits for Audi A5 Coupe, Cabrio and Sportback

Ever since the R8 broke cover, Audi tuners have been churning out numerous aero kits that try to imitate the styling of the mid-engined sports car for the German firm's more mainstream models. The latest package of the sort to capture our attention comes from Germany's Hofele Design and it's available for the A5 Coupe, Convertible and even for the new Sportback.

The common denominator for all three A5 models is the R8-look front bumper with the characteristic air vents underneath the headlamps.

Fortunately or unfortunately - we'll let you decide, that's about all the R8-love that Hofele Design has to offer the A5 Sportback.

However, for the full R8 effect, A5 Coupe and Convertible owners can match the new front bumper with a pair of R8-style side blades and a new rear bumper with faux air-outlets and an integrated diffuser that inspired from the V10-powered version of Audi's supercar.

Hofele Design rounds off the package with a boot lid spoiler (A5 Coupe only), air-intakes for the front fenders, side skirts and a wide choice of alloy wheel designs.

Allegedly Official Audi A5 Cabrio, A5 Sportback, A7 and A8 Sketches Appear on the web

Unless Audi has some sort of top secret website that it is only known to a couple of journalists around the world and has somehow escaped our attention -you'll be the judge of that, we're obliged to treat these teaser sketches depicting the German firm's future models which first appeared on the Dutch site Autoweek, either as a leak or as non official. Just for the record, Autoweek vaguely states "there are sketches of future Audi models around the web" - whatever that means. -Continued

In any case, the grayscale sketches showcase Audi's future portfolio including the 2009 A5 Cabriolet and its 5-door hatchback-coupe sibling called the A5 Sportback, the 2011 A7 four-dour coupe which is based on the A6 platform and will compete against Merc's CLS along with the next generation 2010 A8 luxury sedan.

Related Story:

• Audi's 2008-2010 Product Plan
  

Via: Autoweek.nl

Audi S5 Convertible Scooped Without Camo

Spy photographers have managed to scoop the forthcoming Audi A5 Convertible with minimal camouflage providing us the best pictures of the A4 Cabriolet's successor to date. Seen here in S5 guise, the new drop-top variant of the A5 will get a traditional canvas roof instead of a retractable hardtop like its chief rival, the BMW 3-Series Convertible. Power options will include two turbocharged direct-injection petrol four-pot engines delivering 180 and 211HP, as well as a 265HP 3.2-liter V6. -Continued

Just like the '09MY S5 Coupe (expected in spring 2009), the S5 Convertible will most likely benefit from the new S4's (see details by clicking here) 3.0-liter TFSI that develops 333HP combined of course with Audi's quattro all-wheel-drive system. The A5 / S5 Convertibles are expected to be in dealer showrooms by spring 2009.

Via: Worldcarfans