A video of the Audi R8 in the snowstorm that hit the Northeast:

You can’t miss them, those bright white lines that denote Audi’s new lighting scheme. Every single car in Audi’s lineup now features them. From the single strip in the A6, to the bracket shaped ones on the Q7. Those bright LED strips now define Audi’s image as much as the yellow “corona rings” defined BMW’s for a decade. With the new Audi A8, unveiled today, Audi takes another leap – a full cluster of LED’s for lighting. No conventional bulbs in the housings at all. No xenon or HID units either – it’s all LED for daytime running lights, turn indicators, low beams and high beams. Fantastic! Soon light housings will be merely thin strips where the beams come out from.

Last year I published a list of cars with direct injection, looks like Winding Road beat me to it and published a an updated list. I love direct injection engines because it’s one of those technologies that defy the fuel economy/horsepower tradeoff. Direct injection engines have better fuel economy and higher performance.

Their complete list is on their website and it’s amazing how large this list is. Just a few years ago, only Audi produced cars with this technology, now almost every brand is represented.

This two-part video, in German, compares the two cars head-to-head, which are priced almost exactly the same in Europe:
Part 1:

Part 2:

What could you possibly do to make the R8 a better car? How about putting a 520hp V10 instead of the 420hp V8? Well here it is, and it’s coming to Canada. I snapped a shot of this white one while drooling over it at Agincourt Autohaus.

BMW hosted an event called BMW Comparison Drive. At the event, BMW allowed us to compare their 3 series (323i, 328i xDrive, 335i xDrive and 335d Diesel) against the all-wheel drive versions of the Audi A4, Lexus IS 250 and Mercedes-Benz C300. It was a  cloudy day, but the track was dry – it threatened to rain but never did.

The event started with a 30 minute presentation about BMW and the various technologies they use. Not much new information was conveyed but the information was very pro-BMW. However, they did a good job and all the information was based on facts. Since they were comparing all the all-wheel drive cars, it’s important to note that the BMW xDrive cars cannot be equipped with sport suspension. This is unlike cars like the Audi A4 which can be equipped with lowered sport suspension which improves it’s handling and dynamics.

The short track was designed to test dynamics and not powertrain performance. Noone needed to leave 2nd gear at any part of the circuit. The course had five sections, starting with a long sweeping turn with a decreasing radius near the end. Following was an emergency braking while turning exercise, an emergency lane change, and a slalom through the cones. The final leg was a full throttle then full braking exercise.

All the BMW’s felt very good in the course, but the 323i was underpowered. It would be a great commuter car but anyone after some serious performance should pass this car over. The 328i performed great, but it was hard to notice the AWD in this course. A wet traction section would show it off some more, especially since BMW bragged that it was the only system that could put 100% of the power to either front or rear axles.

Some of my observations:

• The BMW’s interior is too stark, although the quality of materials is top notch, sitting in the Audi and Mercedes felt a lot better. It was about on par with the Lexus.
• The Lexus IS250 AWD is too burdened with the automatic transmission and AWD drivetrain to be a fun car. A manual IS250 without AWD would be more fun.
• The Mercedes has a great sounding exhaust, and it was only the C300. The C350 must sound fantastic.
• ABS braking is life-saving technology. And every car performed both braking maneuvers flawlessly and some had less aggressive touring tires.

In this video (which is in German) two aftermarket tuned R8’s go head-to-head. One is tuned by MTM, the other by Abt – both major players in the aftermarket tuning business for Audi’s (and other German makes).

I didn’t think it was possible, but Audi improved the R8. They added a new V10 engine, some body tweaks, and standard LED lighting. The result is in the video below:

BMW Canada is offering two driving events that compare their 3-series against the competition. On May 27-30 and June 5-7 they will be heading to Downsview park and allow people two hours to test drive their car against the Audi A4, Lexus IS and Mercedes C-class. Granted, many of the competition cars will not be heavily optioned, and usually are run with very crappy tires, but it should prove to be a fun day. To signup go to their website.