Wheel Fever - by Craig Hill

The syncopated beat of a turbocharged five-cylinder motor is coming back to Audi.

The unusual engine design was the heart of the original Quattro that revolutionised performance motoring in the 1980s, as well as dominating the World Rally Championship.

Now the feisty five is coming back for a fast-car pacesetter called the TT RS.

It won't be spitting flames or roaring through an open exhaust like the engines used in the Quattro coupes which convinced the world that all-wheel drive was the best way to put big power on the ground, but Audi is promising more than 225kW to turn the go-faster TT into something special.

"It will be a sensation little rocketship," claims the spokesperson for Audi Australia, Anna Burgdorf.

Audi TT RS

The final figures will not be revealed until the TT RS makes its public debut in a fortnight at the Geneva Motor Show, but Audi is hinting at a four-second sprint to 100km/h and a potential top speed well beyond its electronically-limited 250km/h.

The TT RS will be built as both a coupe and convertible, with a bunch of body tweaking work to reflect the muscular potential of the 2.5-litre engine hooked to its quattro drive system.

The bad news is a price-tag beyond $100,000, based on today's TT S at $98,900.

But the good news is that car TT RS will definitely come to Australia.

It will be sold as a coupe only. The convertible is considered too limiting, and the timing is around six months after the first deliveries in Europe.

"The car will come to Australia. It will definitely come in 2010 but it's very hard to tie down a date at this stage," says Burgdorf.

She cannot comment on details, including the move away from inline fours and V6s to the new five, but says the TT RS is definitely not a show car or a limited-edition tease.

"It is a production car. What will be shown on the stand at Geneva is the production car," she says.

"We don't know the answer on production numbers, but it is a regular production model. And the engine is a new one that allows the TT to perform extremely well with good fuel economy."

Herald Sun

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Posted By: Paladin - Category: German Cars, Convertibles, Coupes, Audi

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Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe

February 17th 2009 12:14

Mercedes-Benz has used the arrival of the new E-Class sedan to also announce a coupe version that wipes out the CLK range.

And it's an odd decision for a nameplate that has done so well.

Like the CLK, the new coupe is an amalgam of components from various Benz models but is more closely aligned to the medium large E-Class than anything else.

Due to lob here in July with the new sedan, the coupe brings with it a range of new engines and sensational low slung styling destined to set a new benchmark in the segment.

There will be numerous variants of the new hard top coupe (a ragtop cabriolet arrives late this year) starting with a 250CGi direct fuel injection petrol V6 and a 220CDi turbo diesel four cylinder.

Pricing is expected to follow the precedent set by the new Benz C-Class which was pitched lower than the model it replaced.

Other coupe models include the 250CDi diesel with 150kW and 500Nm output, a 350CGi direct injection petrol V6 with 215kW and a 500 petrol V8.

All V6 and V8 models will have a seven speed auto with the fours having five speed autos in Aussie spec'.

The new coupe is said to be a genuine four seater with individual seats and adequate rear headroom. The boot is large.

At this stage, no AMG version of the coupe is on the drawing board but a sports pack comprising brake and suspension upgrades could be available for the 500 coupe.

Technologies and new features from the E-Class sedan will flow through into the coupe including safety, luxury and performance features.

News Limited Community Newspapers

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Posted By: Paladin - Category: German Cars, Coupes, Mercedes-Benz

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Chevrolet Corvette ZR1

February 10th 2009 10:31

The hottest car on American roads is being readied for action in Australia.

It's the 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 and the first car has just landed in readiness for a right-hand drive work-over.

The ZR1, called the 'King of the Hill' in America, is the personal property of a man who makes his living turning left-hand drive dream machines into a down-under drive.

"This ZR1 is my personal toy. But if someone wants to buy one we'll be happy to assist them, bring it in and then convert it for them," says Peter Whiston of the Corvette Clinic in Melbourne.

He has been doing the left-right switch hit on 'Vettes since the early 1980s and is looking forward to the new challenge with a car that's called the 'King of the Hill' in America. The ZR1 has a supercharged 6.2-litre aluminium V8 that produces a brutal 476 kiloWatts and 819 Newton-metres of torque.

The two-door coupe is a genuine supercar with a 0-100km/h sprint time of 3.4 seconds, a top speed of 330km/h and a Nurburgring lap time of 7 minutes 26.4 seconds - which Chevrolet claims as a production car record.

Whiston says the first ZR1 conversion will not be easy - with everything from a new dash pad to relocation of the air-conditioner and drive belts on the job list - but he is looking forward to the end result.

"It's all going to be a bit of a bunfight, unfortunately. I'm 58 and I'm past all that. Once I would have enjoyed it, but now I'm looking to the result," he says.

"It's early days with this car. It's going to be two or three months to get it converted. And now they've changed the steering ratio on the car, so it's totally different again."

But Peter and Kane Whiston know Corvettes and know conversions.

"We registered the business in 1981. Corvettes are all we do. I started with doing cars from '69 onwards," he says.

"Over that time we've probably done about 500 cars. We are coming up to 30 cars with the latest C6 model."

But the Corvette Clinic is not a retail store.

"Our prime business is conversions for people. We do it under orders.

We don't have a heap of stock," Whiston says.

That's no surprise when a C6 conversion is $49,500 and the ZR1 will be worth around $400,000 by the time it is ready to roll.

Whiston says the company's conversions are not costed on an hourly work rate, but an all-in price for a drive-in, drive-out service.

"The hourly rate has nothing to do it with it. The car comes in left- hand drive and goes out right-hand drive," he says.

Business is good because the Corvette has always been an American classic, although the recent drop in the Australian dollar and regulations which allow older classic cars to continue with left-side steering have cut the waiting time at the Corvette Clinic.

"Business has slackened a little since the Aussie dollar took a dive.

But we've still got plenty of work. We're probably got six months of work at the moment."

That includes the complicated process for the ZR1, which must be certified under low-volume compliance regulations. Older cars get by under rules for a Registered Automotive Workshop, but all-new cars are different.

"We'll have to update the compliance. It's noise, it's brakes, it's the engineering on the conversion," Whiston says.

"But that's what we do. And this is the first car, so once that's done then anyone who wants a ZR1 can be taken care of."

Herald Sun

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Posted By: Paladin - Category: American Cars, Coupes, Chevrolet

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