An updated 2011 A4 has a lot to say on Audi’s behalf. That’s mainly due to the fact that A4 is the best-selling Audi in America. With base models starting at $34,500 (but versions hit upwards of $43,220) this sporty sedan not only takes off at the change of a traffic light, but also performs well at the pump.

Audi squeezed every last bit of performance out of its turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder, which powers all versions of the A4, and produces 258 lb-feet of torque at 1500 rpm. A4′s come in manual or an eight-speed automatic, with smooth transitioning between gears.

Audi’s new A4 receives better gas mileage than previous models. The all-wheel-drive A4 is rated at 21/29 mpg city/highway with the eight-speed automatic (a 2 mpg improvement compared with the six-speed 2010 model). The front-wheel-drive A4 with automatic transmission gets 22/30 mpg.

This car is safe too – really safe. A4 was a 2011 Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety – receiving the highest possible overall score from IIHS during frontal-offset, side-impact, roof-strength and rear-impact testing. Safety features include antilock brakes, side-impact airbags, side curtain airbags and an electronic stability system.

Source: Mike Hanley | Cars.com

Set to debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show, the RS5 will come equipped with a powerful 4.2-liter V8 engine with at least 450hp (331kW). Boasting quattro AWD and a standard six-speed manual transmission (a seven-speed R Tronic gearbox will be optional), the RS5 is expected to accelerate from 0-100km/h in less than 5 seconds. Audi will likely limit the top speed to 250km/h (155mph), but after market tuners will surely fix that.

source: WCF

Audi’s promotional video shows us one sleek A5 Cabrio strolling through tight roads of some European town. The drop top is canvas, not a hard top, which separates it from the metal convertible lids many car companies go with today (unfortunately it makes the top more accessible to harsh weather damage and fading) This lid can come down in 17 seconds at speeds of up to 31 miles per hour. But is it hard to stay warm on those chilly Spring evenings with the it down? Not with Audi’s heating set up on the A5, borrowed from Mercedes-Benz, which shoots warm air at driver/passenger neckline.

Audi’s A5 Cabriolet will offer owners a choice of five different engines, including a 3.2-liter V6 265 horse power. Two different versions of the 2.0 TFSI will also be available, the entry level version produces 180 horse power, while the other pumps out 211 horse power.

A supercharged version of the A5 (Audi’s soon to be released S5) features a 3.0-liter V6 engine producing 333 horse power, allowing a 0-62 mph run of 5.6 seconds. So, whether you go for the conservative convertible or sporty roadster, it looks as though Audi will not disappoint and bring the Cabrio style car back to the forefront of driving.

The mobile museum will also feature the debut of a re-created 1935 Audi 225 Front Special Roadster. More in the Audi Press Release Below – Happy Birthday!

* 100 years of Audi: a special exhibition in the Audi museum mobile with the oldest surviving Audi models on display
* World premiere of the rebuilt Audi Front 225 Special Roadster
* 1911 Audi Type A in Ingolstadt for the first time
* Comic strips narrate Audi’s early history

Ingolstadt – The museum mobile in the Audi Forum Ingolstadt has organised a spectacular exhibition to commemorate the centenary of the Audi brand. For this unique event, which is entitled “From Horch to Audi – The history of perfection has a new name”, historic cars have been collected together from all over Europe. From March 11 to July 16, 2009, visitors to the Audi museum mobile will be able to see thirteen cars dating from before the Second World War, including the first model to bear the Audi name, a 1911 Audi Type A, and a world premiere – the 1935 Audi 225 Front Special Roadster which was recently rebuilt. Both these cars, and many other exhibits as well, are the only examples to be seen anywhere in the world.

AUDI AG can look back on a very varied and often turbulent history. Before the end of the 19th century, August Horch established a company known as Horch & Cie. Motorwagen Werke in Cologne. In 1902 he moved it to Zwickau in Saxony, and in 1904 it was reorganized into a joint-stock company. In 1909, following a dispute with the members of the executive and supervisory boards, August Horch left the company and a few weeks later established a second automobile manufacturing operation, also in Zwickau. Since he could not use his own name, which was a registered brand, he chose a Latin translation instead: the German word “Horch!” (meaning “Listen!”) became “Audi”. The use of this Latin imperative was suggested by the son of one of August Horch’s business partners, a student of Latin, who had followed the discussion about a new name with interest. Car production began on a small scale, true to Horch’s basic principle of building only “good, strong cars”, but only a few years later Audi had already developed into one of the best-known German automobile brands. It enjoyed success in competition from the very start. Victories in Austrian Alpine Rallies between 1911 and 1914 made the Audi name familiar on the international scene. The Audi Type C 14/35 PS was especially successful, and acquired the name “Alpine Victor”.

The Audi museum mobile will be displaying no fewer than thirteen of the oldest Audi cars still in existence anywhere in the world. In order to present not only these historic vehicles but also any number of anecdotes from the company’s early days in a stimulating manner, including the years up to the major interruption in its activities caused by the Second World War, the exhibition’s organisers have adopted an unusual approach. The stories have become a storyboard, and this in turn takes the form of a comic strip. Each page deals with anecdotes, special occurrences and legendary landmarks in the Audi company’s history. The choice of name, the dismissal of August Horch, the first eight-cylinder model, the pioneering adoption by Audi of left-hand drive in Germany, the competition for the first Audi radiator badge, acquisition by DKW and the subsequent creation of Auto Union – the chronicle continues until the point when, on the outbreak of war, Germany’s second-largest automobile manufacturer had to cease production of passenger cars for the general public. As Stefan Felber from the Audi museum mobile explains: “Audi’s history is far too exciting for a conventional form of presentation. We have aimed to make it easily comprehensible at first glance, and for children to understand it easily too.”

Car enthusiasts will welcome the chance to see outstanding examples from Audi’s early history, above all the timelessly elegant Audi Front Roadster, on display for the very first time. Only two specimens of this prototype were built in 1935, and both have disappeared. Audi Tradition therefore supplied an original chassis to the specialist Zinke company in Zwönitz, which built a replica body with only photographs as a guide. Now this roadster, a “dream in white”, is making its world premiere at the Audi museum mobile. Another exceptional highlight is the Audi Type A, which dates from 1911. Exhibited for the first time at the company’s head offices in Ingolstadt, this is the 78th car built by Audi in Zwickau and the oldest to have survived. This unique Type A, with its 26-horsepower engine, was capable of reaching 75 km/h. For the exhibition “From Horch to Audi – The history of perfection has a new name”, it has been loaned by the National Technical Museum in Prague –the first time, incidentally, that it has been made available in this way.

The second-oldest exhibit, an Audi Type E built in 1913, also has a dramatic tale to tell. Its 55-hp engine, with a displacement of 5.7 litres, is the largest built by Audi during its Zwickau period. This model remained in production until 1924. Two examples are to be seen in the exhibition, one from the first and one from the final production batch. Although they have similar open tourer bodies, the changes introduced over an 11-year period can be clearly seen. The hero on the competition scene, however, is definitely the “Alpine Victor” – the Audi Type C, built from 1911 to 1925. With August Horch himself as one of the drivers, this car won the Austrian Alpine Rally, at that time the most challenging event of its kind, three times in succession, the last occasion being in 1914. The car on display dates from 1919 and is still in roadgoing condition.

Audi recorded a number of technical milestones in 1923 with the Audi Type M, in its day one of Germany’s most luxurious and expensive cars. The engine had a light-alloy block and an overhead camshaft driven by a vertical shaft and bevel gears. An intake air cleaner was fitted. This Audi model was the first to have four-wheel brakes. The list price of 22,300 Reichsmarks was not within everyone’s reach: Three of the 228 cars sold have survived, and also an additional chassis. The car on display is a sectioned model intended to illustrate the outstanding technical features and workmanship of the car. The Audi Type M was followed by the first Audi eight-cylinder model, the Audi Type R “Imperator”, which broke through the symbolic hundred-horsepower barrier. The car on display was built in 1929, and is the only remaining example of this model anywhere in the world.

In 1931 Audi began to build the Type P, the first small car in the brand’s history. For many years it was believed that none had survived, until 2003, when one was found in a barn in Ludwigsburg. Its documents indicated that the last owner had been the mayor of a town in the Swabian region of Germany and that the car had been taken off the road in 1955, to spend almost half a century like Sleeping Beauty waiting to be reawakened. Following extensive restoration in Riga (Latvia), Audi Tradition is now able to display this unusual car again – the sole surviving Type P. This first major Audi centenary exhibition is rounded off by cars produced by the Auto Union after its establishment and up to 1940 – two different Audi Front 225 models dating from 1935 and the last Audi to appear before the outbreak of war, the 1939 Audi 920.

According to Carscoop – TT RS will come with a turbocharged 2.5 liter, 5-banger churning out 340 hp (253kW) and 450 Nm (332 lb-ft) of torque. A 6-speed manual gearbox manages the transfer of power to the all-wheel drive system. 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) comes in at around 5 seconds, with top speed electronically limited to 250 km/h (155 mph).

Audi has yet to give the go-ahead on a US produced version of the Audi TT RS (sadface ) – look for it in Europe this spring.

According to the press release, this Audi can “Sprint to 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds, top speed 316 km/h.” That brings this enhanced Audi to just under 200 miles per hour – we figure it’s only a matter of time before some foreign tuner gets that needle and horse power past these numbers.

It’s not all power with the new Audi R8 V10 – this puppy has the looks to back its attitude up. The vehicle has more sleek sideblades, giving it an edgy look. Judges at the 2009 North American International Auto Show took notice, and awarded the Audi with their Design Excellence Awards. Expect to see this Audi on dealer lots (at least throughout Europe) by second quarter of 2009.

Thanks to Auto Spies for the concept photo

These days just about everything is customizable – from your iPhone to your home computer. Even newer living room televisions have programmable screen savers. In the future (a not too distant one) you will be able to set up a personalized in-dash background for your Audi readouts.

Interface programmer Futuremark has created a fully 3-D and arrangeable customized dashboard, allowing you to select and move gauges, meters and add picture graphics to your vehicle’s dash. Now, instead of a blinking icon for your “Open Trunk” indicator you’ll actually see a graphic of your car with the trunk ajar. You can adjust the size or shape of speedometers and switch between radio and GPS views. The open sourced system will eventually be able to download external dash wallpapers provided by Futuremark, if searched out by the driver or occupants during non-driving times. Rumor has it you can expect to see the feature added to Audi SUV’s sometime soon.