German Car Blog, Performance, Tuning, Motorsport, and Modification News

Wow, talk about some bold statements. Audi Motorsport boss Wolfgang Ullrich stated the following to CAR magazine, "There’s a very good reason why we are not in F1. There’s no relevance to the road. Audi has always been engaged in motorsport that’s relevant to our customers such as rallying and touring cars, which brought quattro, FSI and TFSI to our road cars. This is why in 1999 we decided against F1. Instead we decided to take on the greatest race in the world. We went for Le Mans." ...

HPF has unlocked its AEM engine management system for all customers. Well, they have unlocked it for an extra $1000. That 1k buys you the ability to tune for different hardware than what HPF provides, larger/smaller turbos, as well as E85. So, they are mimicking what the Pro-EFI does except with a monetary penalty. Would this have come about if the Pro-EFI was not stealing a bit of thunder? We seriously doubt it. With the $1k it costs to get this feature from HPF, it may simply be better to go Pro-EFI to begin with. Still, this is a nice option and one that should have been available a long time ago although we understand how HPF would be apprehensive about novices blowing up their motors. ...

Our friends at GT spirit sent us a message earlier today that they had done a road test of the new F10 Alpina B5. GT spirit has put up several of our articles over the past year and now we can finally return the favor. The Alpina B5 features a modified N63 V8 twin turbo similar to the unit in the B7 with larger turbos and new tuning raising output from from 400 horsepower to 507. The suspension is lowered for a sportier look and ride with a restrained Alpina body kit adding subtle aggression to the exterior. Unlike the F01 B7, The F10 B5 is not currently scheduled to come to the US. ...

Mercedes continues to expand its lineup in a manner appealing to enthusiasts. The car has been given an internal development codename and is set to slot in around the $100,000 mark. It will be launching in 2014 and be powered a V8. We assume the M156 will be nearing the end of production if not out of production at that point which means it will likely be powered by an M157 twin turbo V8. The SLC is likely to share much of the drivetrain from the next generation SL. A big thumbs up to Mercedes for offering so many different performance options. ...

Big surprise, AutoNews reports the 5 series GT is a failure. Sometimes creating too many niches can bite you in the behind and that is exactly what happened to BMW with the 5 GT. Head of BMW North America, Jim O'Donnel, said he wishes the company had not stopped selling the 5 series wagon instead of the 5 series GT which he thought wagon owners would switch to, "The disappointment I have is that I thought a lot of our 5-series station wagon customers would go with the GT. In point of fact, that is not happening. We have lost those customers to the competition, mainly to Mercedes-Benz." ...

Mercedes has been testing the upcoming 2012 SLK55 AMG on the ring and photographers have captured the newest test model. The sideskirts and front fascia are more aggressive as expected along with the typical oval shaped quad exhaust. The question remains, what motor will it have? The current rumor is that it will have an M157 twin turbo based variant just without the turbos. We find that a bit disappointing as if going the naturally aspirated route at least give it the M156 out of the C63 AMG. This little car has a lot of potential but Mercedes holds the SLK back to prevent it from stepping on the toes of its big brother AMG's. ...

The overall BMW 60-130 record has been broken by a twin turbo E36 M3. Yes, this car belongs to Mert Dastan. Not the most credible source in the BMW world and someone who has accrued a questionable reputation. Therefore, we advice readers to keep these questions of credibility in mind when reviewing the provided details of this run. The car is a Euro spec E36 M3 with twin 68 mm turbos, custom intercoolers, and an 8900 rpm redline. The car was run on C16 at 27 psi. There is no video of the run and the owner admits there is nitrous on the car although claims it was not used. ...

The 2011 Spanish Grand Prix had Sebastian Vettel continue his dominance. Vettel won, again, after starting second when teammate Mark Webber took the pole for the first time. Hamilton and Button finished in second and third respectively for McLaren-Mercedes. The Spanish Grand Prix was the first race in which Michael Schumacher finished ahead of teammate Nico Rosburg. Michael Schumacher finished sixth and Nico Rosberg finished in seventh which is the best result for the duo this season. ...

Eisenmann is a factory supplier for AMG which often means they do not produce aftermarket exhausts for Mercedes AMG models. An exception in this instance has been made and Eisenmann has wrapped up its sport perforamnce C63 AMG exhaust prototype. The exhaust should be officially available soon and features 120x77 mm tips. A race exhaust system will also be available after the sport. As always, the exhaust will be available for purchase through BenzBoost premier vendor IND who is the official North American Distributer for Eisenmann: www.eisenmann-na.com ...

Porsche unveiled its new addition to the 911 lineup last week, the 911 C4S GTS. This now means the offiical number of 911 variants in the lineup is about 743,183. We may be off by a few, but it feels like that is accurate The car has a 3.8 liter flat 6 putting out 408 horsepower and 310 pound-feed of torque mated to either the PDK dual clutch or a 6 speed manual. Base price is a steep $110k which would definitely have us leaning toward a GT3, but that's us. ...

We all know BMW and Audi are slugging it out to try to be the number 1 luxury automaker. BMW currently holds this position but competition is tight with Audi only being slightly behind. To make up the volume, the answer is more niche models. Audi seems jealous of the success BMW has had with the Q6 and now wants a piece of the pie with the Q6. What is interesting is that Auto Swiat.pl is reporting a Q4 is in the works as well to compete with the yet unannounced (but widely expected) BMW X4. Check out the renderings and let us know what you think. ...

When we posted the dyno numbers for the M157 Performance Package twin turbo we were blown away. Over 500 horsepower at the wheels? Over 600 wheel torque? Ridiculous power indeed. The question was how it would transfer to the dragstrip and we have an answer. Insideline ran the car hitting 12.3@116. We expected a bit more out of it but putting the time in context with the S65 AMG that they tested to 12.6@115 and you see the new S63 AMG is actually quicker and faster than the S65 AMG. Remember, this is a 5,000 pound car. ...

Last week we reported it was the 75 year anniversary of the BMW 328. BMW decided to honor the milestone with a modern concept based on the original 328. Obviously the modern design take has a lot of the Vision concept in it but that is fine, it looks great. Yes, that is a carbon fiber body and yes those are leather straps on the bonnet an obvious throwback to the original. Well done BMW, well done indeed. ...

Most folks will agree the M3 looks more aggressive than its standard 3 series sibling. Many folks try to mimic the look with the hood and sideskirts but without the wider fenders they are missing the key ingredient. Prior Design now has M3 wannabe's (sorry, couldn't resist) covered with their new M3 look bodykit for the E93. We aren't big fans of the hood, but we do admit, the kit is well done. The only thing is, don't use the M3 badge on your fenders for a non-M, that just makes you a poser. ...

We reported not too long ago that the M156 was rumored to be confirmed for the Black Series C-Class. With this latest round of spy photos M157 twin turbo V8 rumors have started up again due to the sounds heard from the car when testing. Could it just be a photographer imagining things? Sure, as all signs are pointing to the M156 right now. It could be that Mercedes hasn't made their own minds up yet. ...

Congratulations to Audi for taking home an ward in the 2011 International Engine of the Year Awards. The Audi 2.5 liter turbo 5 cylinder, used in the Audi RS3 and TT-RS, takes the award for the second straight year. The 2.0 to 2.5 category is very competitive, with over the past 13 years of the competition having awarded 9 different motors in this category. ...

The International Engine of the Year award competition is incredibly interesting for automotive enthusiasts. The competition awards the engineering that goes into motors in a variety of categories. This is a competition that BMW has traditionally dominated being the most awarded manufacturer in the competitions history. BMW has twice as many awards as the second place competitor, Honda. This year, 2011, the BMW N54 continued its run winning its fifth straight title for best 2.5 - 3.0 liter engine. The S65 V8 won for the 4th straight year in the 3.5 to 4.0 liter category. BMW also won in the 1.4 to 1.8 liter category as well as the 1.8 to 2.0. Mercedes was knocked out completely. ...

Audi has delivered as promised, here is the new Audi A6 Avant. They announced last week they be showing it today which is why we had renderings of the RS6 Avant done. The car looks as we expected but weighs a lot less than we thought it would. The base 2.0 tdi is only 3,616 pounds. There are four motors, two of which are diesels and two are gasoline units. The gas motors are a 2.8 FSI with 204 horsepower and the 3.0 TFSI supercharged motor out of the S4 that in the avant puts out 300 horsepower. No word on if it will come to the United States. ...

The M156 has received plenty of accolades over the years, deservedly so. However, its run in the International Engine of the Year awards has come to an end in 2011. The M156 won the Best Performance Engine of the Year category for the past 2 years (2009, 2010) as well as the best engine over 4.0 liters of displacement taking the place of the BMW S85 V10. The Ferrari 4.5 liter V8 from the 458 Italia has knocked the M156 out of both spots. It was a good run and 63 AMG owners with the motor should be proud that it took an engine in a car over $250k to beat it out. ...