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Review: 2010 Audi S4 sedan, Fast and Practical

2010 Audi S4 - click above for high res image gallery

Among the big 3 German premium carmakers, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz each has its own in-house department dedicated solely to creating faster, better handling versions of their parent's mainstream cars. Of course none of those three automakers would actually want their everyday products referred to as mainstream since that would neutralize the cache that allows them to charge a premium tariff. That however is a story for another day.

BMW has its M Division, Mercedes-Benz has AMG and Audi has Quattro GmbH. Quattro of course draws its name from the all-wheel-drive system that has been a staple of Audis since the early 1980s. The Quattro group based in Neckarsulm, Germany creates two levels improved Audis which are distinguished by the model names, these being S and RS. The pinnacle of Audi performance is defined by models like the RS6, TT-RS and of course the mighty R8. Many of these models are not offered here in the US market. However, we do get all of the S models such as the TT-S that we drove recently, the S5 coupe and the latest addition, the S4 sedan. Follow the jump to read about our time with the latest S4.

Gallery: 2010 Audi S4 sedan

Tags: 2010, 2010 Audi, 2010 audi s4, 2010Audi, 2010AudiS4, audi s4, AudiS4, feature, featured, features, review, reviewed, reviews

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Review: 2009 Audi R8 5.2 FSI V10, An Everyday Supercar

by Sam Abuelsamid (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

2009 Audi R8 V10 - click above for high res image gallery

Not so many years ago, driving a exotic supercar while clearly demonstrating the owner's financial wherewithal to own such a vehicle was not always such a pleasant experience. Such cars were typically built by small financially shaky companies that didn't have the resources necessary to properly develop the vehicles to be reliable and robust. The interiors were often poorly built and outfitted and were afflicted by assorted mechanical and electrical glitches.

Then in 1990 things suddenly changed when Honda rolled out the NSX. Instantly people realized that there was no reason why a high performance, mid-engine exotic sports car couldn't be just as a reliable and hospitable as an Accord. By the end of the 1990s exotic car builders like Ferrari, Lamborghini and Aston Martin had all come under the wing of major automakers like Fiat, Volkswagen Group and Ford and the engineers began tapping into the parents resources to improve their cars.

Lamborghini in particular took advantage of its relationship with Audi to help develop the Gallardo, the best selling Lambo ever. Audi in turn decided to reverse the process with a supercar of its own to celebrate its decade long dominance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and used the Gallardo as the jumping off point for the R8. We recently got to spend some quality time with the fastest R8, the 5.2 FSI V10 and you can read about it after the jump.

Gallery: 2010 Audi R8 5.2 FSI