Culture|Garage

Wagon fans rejoice! The new 2009 Audi A4 sedan has been on display in Frankfurt this year and Audi AG has finally released details and pictures of its upcoming A4 Avant a month before Geneva’s unveiling.

The Avant is nearly identical to the sedan from the B-pillar forward and it features 50-cubic feet of cargo space in the back. The Avant gains about five inches in length, but is almost ten-percent lighter than the outgoing model.

There is little known about powerplant information but America once again gets stiffed with limited options. We will get stuck with the 2.0-liter TFSI on the Avant, while sedan buyers get a choice of either the four-cylinder or the 3.2-liter V6.

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Wow. Korea is really turning out some pretty cool automotive products. We have Hyundai coming at us with the Genesis and now Kia is looking for some SOUL.

The above shot is a teaser of what Kia will be showcasing at Geneva.  The concept model can be found after the jump.

Their aim is squarely at those looking to personalize their car.  The market will be young and young at heart.  If I were to wager a bet, the pricing will probably come in at or under the Scion xB pricing.

Looking forward to seeing the full shots.  Until then, enjoy the previously released concept shots

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Ok, I know the Contour didn’t fair well. Granted the SVT Contour was hot and still quasi-lusted after by car dude/ttes. But the new Mondeo just looks gorgeous. Or am I way off base? Not to mention, the Fiesta Jim posted below, is pretty hot too.

Instead we get the Ford 500 Taurus and the Fusion!? I don’t know what is holding them back? Drop the Fusion, it’s ugly. And targeting young business professionals is a joke. Unless the young business professional works at Avis.

I mean, I can see it not being a wise decision to bring over a $30,000 Focus ST. But wouldn’t this have broad enough appeal?

The Mondeo just has something going on for it… look at the interior after the jump.

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Geneva, Switz., Ford Motor Company will be unveiling the new and improved Fiesta at this year’s Geneva motor show. Something close to the Ford Verve concept vehicle, this is one new Ford that will actually see U.S. shores.

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It appears the Dutch version of TopGear has a picture of the “draft” Saab 9-1. While my Dutch is terrible, rather the free online translation, I can gather that this is certainly a 9-1 and is apparently a draft/pre-pro model. They mumble that it will be offered as a 3 or 5 door.

They also mentioned that it will have 320hp and AWD and cost under $30k. Ok, I lied about that part. The whole shoddy translation, post jump.

Edit: one of our commenter’s confirmed that this is as CGI as a Michael Bay film. And another helped out with the translation.

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Can this be true? Saab, doing something cool? Wait, what? Really? This would certainly be refreshing for what is a rather dull product line… a 9-3 (that hasn’t changed much in 6 years, but they finally added AWD), the 9-5 (which is going on 10 years old) and the 9-7 Trailblazer.

This would be a direct competitor to the likes of Mini and the Volvo C30. And if they do it right, decent powerplant, perhaps a bit of AWD shenanigans this could even be a contender against the BMW 1 Series (I still wish they had brought the hatch to the US).

If they did this, it could be a really cool car assuming pricing started in the low $20’s. But how long would it be before something like this finally came to market? 2011? That’s along way away. Won’t cars be flying by then?

via Motortrend

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I am publishing this at the risk of pissing off Jim, our resident domestic/retro/hodrod intern writer. But it’s something that has to be said. Is going retro a wise move for a car manufacturer?

Initial thoughts, are “well, yeah, if it kicks ass.” Well, what if it only kicks ass for a short time? How do you evolve something that is retro? As sales stagnate, what do you do?

Retro is a great brand boost, it may act as a halo for your entire vehicle line, but is it always worth the risk? My thoughts, are… well it depends.

If your brand is in the shitter coughGMcough, then maybe doing a Camaro isn’t a bad idea. But then what do you do in three years after it is back to boring and everyone and their sister is driving a v6 automatic Camaro.

I have a whole slew of retro themed vehicles after the jump. Let me know, what you think… retro, wise or not?

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Can’t afford to pay the dealer markup on the Audi R8 and you simply can’t wait for the Audi R4 that’s set to debut in 2011, well the new Audi TT-S is just around the corner. It’s your basic 2.0L TT given the S-variant treatment like the S4, S6, or even S8.

And if you’re somewhat doubtful of what kind of performance to expect from the 2.0L engine, let the video shock you. The TT-S definitely hauls ass thanks to the TFSI engine outputting 272 hp and 350 Nm of torque. The TT-S accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.4 seconds and the top speed is electronically limited to 250 km/h.

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