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The lowly damper (a.k.a. shock absorber) is the unsung hero of any car’s suspension system. Ride and handling specialists sweat untold hours over them, and engineers have painstakingly improved shocks with friction-reducing seals, gas pressurization, electronic valving, and even magnetic fields. While it’s hard to argue with a 3-series BMW’s poise or the comfort strides Ferrari has achieved of late, the damper’s best days may lie ahead. Credit Australian Chris Heyring for inventing a superior means of controlling wheel and body motion and Tenneco for developing that technology into its Kinetic suspension system.
The BMW M5 looked like it had just fudged its pants. The cooling fan was gulping air, the hunky Michelin Pilot Sport tires were frayed at the edges, and the handsome aluminum wheels were runny with brake soot.
Over the sun-dappled mountains of Santa Barbara County, an ink-black mystery sedan had nipped incessantly at the M5′s back bumper for three hours. The interloper’s gaping meshed air ducts were never more than one turn away from inhaling the M5, even though to slip away the BMW had summoned every last tittle of grip, torque, and brake in its voluminous reserve.
We were aghast. The 394-hp BMW M5 is the king, the picture next to the word "car" in our dream dictionary since its introduction in 1999, when it began draining our reservoir of superlatives. We’ve hurled fine machinery at it, including the Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG and the Jaguar XJR ("Battle of the Best," March 2000), and watched the M5 grind them into the soil. It’s an O’Neill drama, it’s Whistler’s mama, it’s Camembert.
But as sure as Captain Cook’s first words were "What rocks?" when he sailed into Botany Bay, there is a car from the Southern Hemisphere that has all the requisite fixings to be a challenger. It has four doors, a 402-hp V-8, a six-speed manual cog box, rear drive, and independently sprung wheels at all the corners. And the lucky Australians can be jitterbugging on its drilled stainless-steel pedals for about $24,000 less than what an M5 costs here.
Even more stupefying is the fact that the HSV GTS R 300 — is your inhaler standing by? — initially comes out of a General Motors factory only a couple of chromosomes off a Cadillac Catera. Yes, the Caddy they can’t
give away.
Article source: http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/comparisons/01q3/holden_hsv_gts_r_300_vs._bmw_m5-comparison_tests
You can picture the Audi product planners checking off the boxes as they continue their run against BMW and Mercedes. Small, medium, and large sedans:
,
,
.
Check . Sporting versions of same:
,
,
.
Check . Super-sporty sedan:
.
Check . Mid-priced sports car, medium SUV, attention-grabbing flagship, convertibles, stations wagons.
Check. Check. Check. Check. Check.
The only missing model is a big coupe, something to compete with the likes of the BMW
and and the and . Presto: With the 2008 S5—Audi’s first coupe with adult-size rear seats since the demise of the Coupe Quattro in 1991—that hole in its lineup has now been plugged.
And it has been plugged by a machine that delivers the sex appeal that is a coupe’s major reason for being. The S5′s combination of big grille, rakish roofline, and artfully sculpted character lines will turn heads with regularity. And inside, the S5 provides perhaps the most engaging experience since the original
.
Our test car was finished in black and deep-red leather and brushed aluminum, and in the current world of mostly monochromatic interiors, the effect is striking and luxurious. A new dashboard arrays all the controls and displays toward the driver, enhancing comfort and usability. Details like the metallic vents and the subtle red stitching on the black leather shift boot and steering wheel enhance the posh atmosphere. Even Audi’s control-everything MMI knob falls readily to hand and eye.
The S5′s exterior appeal is more than skin-deep. The keen observer will notice that the front wheels seem closer to the car’s nose than on most other Audis. This reduced overhang not only enhances the S5′s looks but also reflects some major changes under the coupe’s sexy skin.
The S5 is the first Audi to arise from the company’s B8 architecture, which will also underpin the next-gen A4—scheduled to appear at the Frankfurt auto show in September—as well as future A6 and even A8 models. Besides the usual improvements in structural stiffness and crashworthiness, there are two major areas where the B8 differs from the current A4/A6 platform. That reduced overhang at the nose reflects a transaxle whose front differential is about six inches farther forward than in other Audis. The engine is still completely ahead of the axle, but only just. The front differential is now adjacent to the transmission bell housing (on the right), and the cross-shaft that feeds the left half-shaft barely clears the flywheel. In fact, the clutch is attached to a
second flywheel behind this cross-shaft.
The second key change is the migration of the steering rack from behind the engine to a more conventional position below it, which helps lower the car’s center of gravity. Otherwise, the front suspension is a sophisticated aluminum control-arm layout with two separate links forming the arms to achieve superior geometry. The rear wheels are attached to a multilink suspension that’s similar to what is used on current A4s and A6s.
Article source: http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car/07q4/2008_audi_s5-road_test