Audi, 2012 Audi Q3 Spy Photos

Audi, 2012 Audi Q3 Spy Photos

Premium carmakers are filling the compact crossover market in a hurry, fulfilling the desires of a market that wants an alternative to traditional cars without the weight and fuel-economy penalties of larger vehicles and engines. Audi has chosen this April‘s Shanghai auto show for the unveiling of its latest such offering, the Q3.

The Audi Q3 is based on the Volkswagen Tiguan platform, which is related to the VW Golf, Audi A3, and a vast number of other VW Group models. This means the Q3 will have a unibody structure, with a MacPherson-strut suspension up front and a multilink setup at the rear. Like the Tiguan, the Q3 will come standard with front-wheel drive; all-wheel drive will be an option for the uplevel models. There will be no low-range transfer case or anything of the kind. But higher ground clearance than small hatchbacks’ will make sure Q3 drivers can make it through puddles in the shopping-mall parking lot and surmount severe obstacles—such as toys abandoned in the driveway—unscathed.

The Q3 will be powered by forced-induction four-cylinder engines from VW's and Audi's parts bin. That includes 1.4- and 2.0-liter gasoline engines with outputs ranging from around 140 to 200 hp, as well as diesel engines making between 110 and 170 hp. The power will be transmitted through a six-speed manual, or, depending on the engine, a dry seven-speed or a wet six-speed dual-clutch automatic. At 3500 pounds or more for the top-of-the-line versions, the crossover won't be a poster child for light weight.

Possible High-Po Versions

If buyers ask nicely—and frequently—Audi might even add high-powered derivatives in the future. A possible SQ3 model could be powered by the Audi S3's 272-hp, 2.0-liter turbo four, and even an RSQ3 is conceivable. The turbocharged, 340-hp five-cylinder engine out of the TT RS and the RS3 would fit under the hood.


The Q3's exterior styling makes the most of the Tiguan's proportions. It boasts a short, 103-inch wheelbase and pronounced overhangs. The tailgate wraps around the taillights, as on its big brother, the Audi Q7. The Q3's roofline is less station-wagon-like than the Tiguan’s; if you stretch your imagination, you could call it coupe-like (and we’re sure Audi will do just that). There also is a new taillight design, which Audi will offer with regular bulbs or in a full-LED version; the headlights are halogen or xenon, depending on how far you open your wallet. The interior will raise the bar in the segment, which consists mainly of the BMW X1 and a number of non-premium entries.

The Q3 will be built at SEAT's underutilized production site in Martorell, Spain. It will roll off production lines next to an old relative, the last-gen Audi A4, which has been rebadged as the SEAT Exeo. With SEAT's future in limbo, though, a Spanish derivative of the Q3 is not very likely. Instead, the Q3 could soon get another sister model in the Audi Q1, which would be based on the VW Polo/Audi A1 architecture. The likelihood of U.S. sales, however, is even slimmer for the Q1 than it is for the Q3. American availability of the latter is still being debated.

Audi, 2012 Audi Q3 Sketches Released

Audi, 2012 Audi Q3 Sketches Released

In January, we brought you spy pictures of the Audi Q3 taken on its German home turf; the crossover’s official unveiling is expected to take place at the Shanghai auto show this month. Now Audi has released a number of interior and exterior sketches, and they give a good idea of what to expect from the final product.

The sketches show a sleek, compact crossover—a bit like a shrunken Audi Q5, which is itself a shrunken Q7—and, thankfully, the Q3 is sleeker in appearance than its close relative, the Volkswagen Tiguan. While the Tig and the Q3 are based on a front-wheel-drive platform, the Q3’s main competitor, BMW’s X1, is based on rear-drive underpinnings. We doubt many shoppers will notice the difference, though, and in any case, all-wheel drive will be optional on the Q3.

We can see that the Q3’s front grille resembles the snout of the new A6, and it contributes to an overall elegant look. For those seeking a more aggressive persona for their Q3, there will, of course, be an optional S-line appearance package, as well as optional LED lighting.

We also get our first view of the interior in these sketches, and it appears sporty and upscale, or at least as much as possible via pen strokes. The upper part of the dashboard wraps around the cabin, and the center console is tilted toward the driver. We look forward to seeing the finished vehicle.

Power for the Q3 will come from a range of turbocharged four-cylinder gasoline and diesel engines. An SQ3 with around 270 hp is possible—and probably necessary to counter the BMX X1 xDrive35i, which will make at least 260 hp.

We’re looking forward to seeing the Q3 when it’s fully unveiled at this month’s Shanghai auto show—it’s just a shame that Audi hasn’t yet made up its mind whether or not we’ll see it on these shores.

Audi, 2012 Audi Q3 Official Photos

Audi, 2012 Audi Q3 Official Photos

With this VW Tiguan–based crossover, debuting at the Shanghai auto show, Audi again has raised the bar in terms of styling and refinement in a segment. The swoopy beltline is similar to that of the A5, and the greenhouse, with its coupe-like daylight opening, evokes the 2006 Roadjet concept. The headlights sport a super-clean shape, but the taillights, like those on the new A6, suffer from a severe case of overbite. Needle-like LED internal elements will make Q3s with the optional Xenon Plus package unmistakable on the road, although the standard head- and taillights look somewhat less dramatic.

Four Times Four—And Quattro, Too

Every engine in the lineup is a well-known 2.0-liter, turbocharged four. There are two TFSI gasoline engines with 170 and 211 hp; Audi says the latter will propel the Q3 from standstill to 62 mph in 6.9 seconds and on to a top speed of 143 mph. The diesel lineup consists of 140- and 177-hp fours. A stop-start system will be standard on all engines, and, with the exception of the 140-hp diesel, every engine will be paired with standard all-wheel drive. The future could bring an SQ3 with around 270 hp and a top speed in excess of 150 mph to complement its remarkably clumsy name.

The less-powerful diesel and gasoline engines both will come with a six-speed manual, but a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic will be obligatory on both of the uplevel engines. In addition to its wide ratio spread, this transmission has an interesting fuel-saving trick: If the driver takes his foot off the throttle with the shifter in Efficiency mode, the clutches disengage, allowing the Q3 to freewheel, thereby reducing fuel consumption. Efficiency mode will even take liberties with the air conditioning and cruise control to eke out maximum mpg. Alternatively, Dynamic mode will sharpen the Q3's reflexes considerably. The ESP system includes a function to increase agility with slight brake inputs that Audi swears will be virtually undetectable.

Keep it Light

Nobody likes dancing with a manatee, and Audi has gone to great lengths to keep the Q3's weight at acceptable levels. The hood and the gigantic, Q7-like tailgate are made of aluminum, and the body shell makes use of high-strength steel. The lightest Q3 will weigh about 3300 pounds—not bad in its competitive environment. With all five seats erected, it will hold 16 cubic feet of luggage; with the rears folded, capacity rises to 48 cubes.

The interior focuses clearly on the driver, and Audi will offer five different colors with four types of decor, including aluminum and open-pore larch wood inlays. The options list reads like one for a luxury sedan: LED ambient lighting, a panoramic sunroof, sport seats, and a number of driver-assistance systems. Order navigation, and a seven-inch screen rises from the dashboard. An optional Bose surround-sound system packs 14 speakers, with subwoofers that light up at night—perhaps a touch juvenile for our tastes. And a connectivity package turns the car into a WiFi hotspot.

An S-line package—pictured here—will be available, complete with fake front air intakes and a fake diffuser. If the monochromatic look is not for you, anthracite-gray tack-on fender trim will be available; with the contrasting trim, the Q3 looks slim and sporty even sans the S-line package. Wheels will range in size from 16 to 19 inches.

In Germany, the Q3 starts at €29,900, €100 less than a BMW X1. Audi isn’t saying yet whether or not the Q3 will come to the U.S., but, based on the success of the Q5, it might decide to add the Q3 to our roster after all.

cars, 2014 Mini Cooper Hybrid

cars, 2014 Mini Cooper Hybrid Spy Photos

Due in about three years, the next-generation Mini Cooper will offer a four-wheel-drive version. There’s a catch, though: The rear wheels will have no connection to the engine. The car will be a hybrid, and the rear wheels will exclusively be turned by an electric motor.

As BMW switches the next-generation 1-series to front-wheel drive, and expands the Mini portfolio with several new models, the Bavarians are looking at options for hybridizing its upcoming front-wheel drivers. To expedite the process, BMW recently announced a partnership with PSA Peugeot Citroën to develop hybrid tech for front-drive applications. Although BMW presently offers hybrid versions of its X6 and 7-series, each uses a rear-wheel-drive-oriented system co-developed with other companies—and neither is especially frugal. PSA, on the other hand, is launching the Peugeot 3008 Hybrid 4 this year, a compact MPV on a front-wheel-drive platform with a rear-mounted electric motor powering the rear wheels. BMW seems to see its smaller cars heading in this direction.

In this test mule, we can see that the electric motor is connected to the rear axle. The extra power and enhanced launchability should give it a decisive advantage over front-drive Minis, and while the motor and battery pack will add unwelcome weight, at least they’ll be mounted low in the chassis. That said, the production cars won’t be quite as low to the ground as the mule seen here. The hybrid module will likely be offered in a number of Mini derivatives; from the “regular” Mini Cooper up to the Countryman.

It’s not yet clear what kind of combustion engine Mini will pair with the electric drive system, although both diesel and gasoline mills would be compatible. The hybrid won’t share much technology with the Mini E, and we are optimistic that—unlike in that fully electric Mini—rear seating will be part of the package.

Like the original Mini, today’s Cooper is most at home in cities, and it’s in the slow, stop-and-go traffic that hybrid systems best deliver their benefits. The Mini remains hot for fashionable urban drivers, and it’s possible that a hybrid version will up the chic factor for these shoppers—even if it is very late to the eco-party.

How will the hybrid versions be positioned in the Mini lineup? Peugeot priced the 3008 hybrid at the very top of the car’s price ladder. With more power and all-wheel drive, the hybrid Minis are likely to be the most expensive in their ranges, too. It also remains to be seen how much the extra weight and complexity will diminish the Mini models’ playful character.

car, 2012 Mini Inspired by Goodwood

car, 2012 Mini Inspired by Goodwood

Multinational corporate intertwinings make for some creative uses of brands and parts. Within the BMW Group, Rolls-Royce builds its smaller model—the Ghost—using a few pieces of the BMW 760Li. Now Rolls is really downsizing, as it has partnered on a version of BMW’s other iconic Brit, the Mini.

The luxury runabout—to be unveiled at the Shanghai auto show—is officially called the Mini Inspired by Goodwood, Goodwood being the home of Rolls-Royce’s factory. Mini will offer 1000 copies in the spring of 2012. It’s a Mini Cooper S underneath, but with Rolls-specific detailing inside and out. While it has the Cooper S’s turbo four, that model’s scooped hood has been swapped for the Mini Cooper D’s more understated bonnet. The rest of the monochromatic exterior’s trimmings are equally as modest, with some normally optional chrome and “Inspired by Goodwood” fender plaques being the only attention-getting add-ons. Even the 17-inch wheels are standard Mini catalog parts. Rolls-Royce Diamond Black metallic paint is standard while Mini’s Reef Blue metallic will be optional.

Sadly, the Doors are Hinged at the Front

You’ll more clearly see the Goodwood inspiration inside. Rolls designers helped choose the trim and coloring—they call the leather hue Cornsilk—and the walnut pieces are shaped at Rolls-Royce’s Goodwood facility. A stitched black-leather upper dash looks quirky, but expensive.

Few details were overlooked. A Rolls-like woven headliner has been fitted, as have lamb’s-wool floor mats. The doors and center console are covered in leather. The speedo and tachometer faces have been swapped for versions with Rolls-Royce’s font, although, disappointingly, the tach has not been supplanted by a Rolls power-reserve gauge. Many of the controls get a gloss-black finish, including the steering-wheel spokes. We’d have preferred a thin-rimmed wheel to better match that in a Rolls, but using the chunky Cooper S helm is an understandable concession given the fight provided by the turbocharged Mini’s front wheels.

You can think of the Mini Inspired by Goodwood as the smallest Rolls-Royce available, or the only Roller that comes with a manual. (A six-speed automatic transmission is optional.) Standard equipment will include adaptive Xenon headlights, automatic climate control, a Harman/Kardon sound system, and rear parking sensors. A Cooper S spec’d that way before adding the Rolls bits costs about $30K, and we figure the Inspired car will sticker for at least $45K.

No Ugly Duckling

Blasphemy? Some may think so, but BMW was at least able to keep it in the family, and it avoided building a Rolls-branded microcar à la Aston Martin Cygnet. We’re told some portion of the Mini-Royce allotment will be offered to U.S. customers and we have no doubt they’ll go quickly—possibly to Rolls aspirers or current owners, but most likely to Mini fanatics.

Chevrolet, 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Chevrolet, 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

It’s an epic, decades-long battle waged in showrooms, at the race track, at stoplights, and in internet forums. Chevrolet versus Ford, Camaro versus Mustang. Commencing in the mid-’60s, the clash has been marked by tit-for-tat product introductions, as each brand seeks to match its competitor in every conceivable pony-car niche. Currently, the cars face off in the V-6, V-8, and droptop arenas, but the latest Camaro has ceded the high-performance crown to the Mustang and the brutal, 550-horse Shelby GT500. That ends now.

Welcome the reborn Camaro ZL1.

Open Secrets are Hard to Keep

It’s been a bit of an open secret that GM was working on a high-po Camaro to slot above the 426-hp SS model. Spy photos revealed the car’s 6.2-liter supercharged V-8, and most assumed that car would wear the storied Z28 badge. But Chevy’s product planners had something different in mind, and we now know the car will wear the reclaimed ZL1 moniker. (SLP Performance previously held the rights to the historic alphanumerics.)

A quick look back is in order. The 1969 Camaro ZL-1 was one of the ass-kickingest machines to ever roll out of Detroit. Dressed up in nothing fancier than base Camaro trim—including dog-dish hubcaps—that original ZL-1 looked like a measly six-cylinder wimp. Without even an engine-designation badge, its only real giveaway was the factory-installed cowl-induction hood. (Well, until you started it up and brought the aluminum big-block 427 to life.) The car was only available via Central Office Production Order (COPO), which installed the 427 option in the Camaro shell. Just 69 copies were built, and the ZL-1’s official 430-horse output figure was grossly underrated, mainly for insurance purposes. It was a quarter-mile king, and is among the quickest factory-built and street-legal beasts ever created.

Back in the present, the 2012 ZL1 aims to grow the legend, and it comes well prepared with a supercharged LSA V-8, borrowed from the Cadillac CTS-V. Producing an estimated 550 hp—a figure on par with the actual output of the original—and 550 lb-ft of torque from its force-fed 6.2 liters, this burly Camaro is seemingly built to terrorize drag strips rather than road courses, so perhaps ZL1 is more appropriate than Z28. (The Z28 was a racer, after all, competing and winning in Trans-Am.) A short-throw, six-speed Tremec manual is the only transmission.

Aiding driveline longevity and pavement adhesion are a beefed-up driveshaft and differential with asymmetrical half-shafts; the latter twist fat, 305-width ZL1-specific Goodyear Supercar F1 gumballs. The 20-inch forged wheels are 10 inches wide in the front and 11 in the rear, but the overall wheel-and-tire package is 22 pounds lighter than the Camaro SS's narrower 20-inch setup. We (conservatively) estimate the ZL1 will cover the 0-to-60-mph run in four seconds flat, while 0 to 100 mph should be accomplished in 9.9 seconds and the quarter-mile in 12.5. Monstrous two-piece Brembo rotors—measuring 14.6 inches in the front and 14.4 in the rear, and squeezed by six- and four-piston calipers—are the centerpieces of the braking system. The latest adaptive magnetorheological shocks sit at all four corners, and drivers can choose between Tour and Sport settings. The ZL1 also marks the introduction of a new electric power-steering system. Weight is said to be about the same as the Camaro SS's—the stronger driveline added weight, but some was pulled out with stuff like the wheels and hood, so it's roughly a wash—which puts this top-spec Camaro at 3900 pounds or so.

Many More Pieces of Flair

While the sleeper look of the original was awesome, the new ZL1 will be highly differentiated from its lesser kin. Up front, the lower fascia is dotted with brake-cooling ducts and four fog lights, and has a large splitter and a wide-mouth intake. The domed hood is aluminum with a louvered carbon-fiber center section that Chevy says helps downforce, while the rear end gets a larger integrated decklid spoiler and quad exhaust finishers. The exhaust system houses an actuated flap, as on the Corvette, that opens at higher engine speeds to both reduce back pressure and deliver a blood-boiling growl.

The cabin gets a few modest upgrades, including alloy pedal covers, a head-up display, and emblems for the headrests and door sills. Sueded material is applied to the shifter, the new flat-bottomed steering wheel, and the front-seat inserts. The auxiliary console gauges are standard on the ZL1, and feature a boost readout that we wouldn't recommend actually looking at while behind the wheel—keep your eyes on the road, please.

We're told the ZL1 will start around $47K, although Chevy could revise the pricing upward later, and it's unknown if the model will get hit with a gas-guzzler penalty. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait to get our hands on this brute, as it doesn't go on sale until February of 2012. So the GT500, which costs $49,495, will gallop on unchallenged for a little longer. And what about the more-racetrack-oriented Mustang Boss 302? Maybe the Z28 will find a place in Chevy’s modern lineup after all . . .

Chevrolet, 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 / Z28

Chevrolet, 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 / Z28

Contrary to popular perception, there is not just one higher-performance Chevrolet Camaro on the way, but two thumpers. It is ­perhaps instructive to look, as Chevrolet has, at the current Ford Mustang lineup. In addition to the bread-and-butter V-6, V-8, and convertible versions, the Mustang ­corral includes the ground-pounding supercharged Shelby GT500 and the track-oriented, naturally aspirated Boss 302.

Chevrolet will match Ford move for move, first with what company insiders call the “HP” edition. This is the model that until recently had been assumed to get the Z28 badge. It carries the Cadillac CTS-V’s supercharged LSA V-8 engine making at least 550 horsepower, bolted to a six-speed manual. The CTS-V also donates an updated version of its magnetorheological shocks and asymmetrical half-shafts (differing diameters) to reduce axle hop. From the Corvette comes an active exhaust system with a flap that opens at high engine speeds to reduce back pressure. It’ll carry massive, track-ready, two-piece Brembo rotors and new high-perform­ance Goodyear tires, at 285 mm front and 330 mm rear. It should get to 60 mph in less than four seconds. The monster engine will be covered by a bulged and louvered hood, the center section of which is made of that fastest of materials, carbon fiber. The top-shelf Camaro will also have a higher, trunklid-mounted spoiler and a unique front fascia with a deeper chin. Owing to this car’s overwhelming power, the company decided to change its name to the more historically consistent ZL1 badge, as that model was a big-block bruiser, not a track-tuned road racer like the Z28. The ZL1 will go on sale in February of  2012.

More interested in track days than high-tech dampers? Chevrolet plans to have you, and the Boss 302, covered. Around April of  2012, Chevy will release what so far has been referred to by insiders as the “Track Pack.” This significantly stiffened Camaro will be the hard-core version, with handling as its primary focus. That doesn’t mean it won’t get a power upgrade, though. The “Track Pack,” which might inherit the Z28 moniker, could have an uprated iteration of the standard V-8 or a version of the LS7 7.0-liter V-8 from the Corvette Z06. Both high-performance models will—like all 2012 Camaros—carry revised interiors, too.