En route home, I stopped at the Audi dealership to have a quick glimpse at the 2008 Audi A4 that was just released. Which is a stunning car, with a great new look and awesome new console and features list and undoubtedly does justice to badge!

A good friend of mine, walked in shortly afterwards to pick up his car, the Audi RS4 Cabriolet!

After admiring it for a couple of minutes and his suggestion to test drive it, I jumped in and started this baby up to the sound of a soft V8 purr. Dropped the top and adjusted the windows before slowly leaving the premises with 4.2litres of 100% pure German engineered power at my right foot.

The softest touch of the accelerator throws you deep into the full racing seats at paces that are capable of stopping a man’s heart! Driving from robot to robot with high revs and pouncing off the mark each time, I had barely changed from 1st gear, before being forced to find the brake pedal as the roads are just not long enough!

Standstill to just under 90km/ph in first gear and a huge pull through on second as the needle smiled at the 140 mark. I drove the Audi down a lonely road and managed to thrust the needle to 190km/h in about 20 seconds, before the road ran out! I don’t think that I could have done this with a bigger smile on my face!

Most of the power is found at 2200 rpm all the way through to about 7400 rpm without it feeling as if things got weaker as the engine’s purr turned into raging screams!

The seats kept me in place as the Cabriolet RS4 gracefully engulfed corners with a high pitched scream toning down to a soft mellow purr that would excite anyone! Steering and handling was managed by Audi’s Dynamic Ride Control (DRC) and auto-adjusted sensitivity as the speed increased, but was an absolute dream around a corner as the ride height and HUGE wheels kept the car plastered to the road!

In summary, this car is capable of bringing a smile to my face on any day and with so much power on tap, makes for the ultimate whiplash inducing Audi without a roof!

I think that I have just fallen in love with Audi all over again!

I’ve taken the time to clarify that I am an ardent Audi fan by previously posting articles about my love for Audi and everything that they represent.

Last year I purchased a 2007 Audi A4 and at the time, it was the most amazing car available for its price range and its class. Both its major competitors, BMW 3-Series and Mercedes C-Class, certainly didn’t make it easy though, but Audi has certainly raised the bar with their newest A4 offering!

The 2008 Audi A4 has just hit our streets as version 8 of the A4 and many of you have already seen the brilliant advert on TV, with the engineers building a car out of rope, if you haven’t heres it is:

The new car is outright sexy, with a line of 14 LED daytime running lights bracing each eyelash of the car, a much wider and longer stance gives it a sportier look, bigger wheel arches highlight the sportiness and a new refined all-in-one chromed grill smiles at you through your rear-view mirror as this beast of a car drives behind you with a graceful finesse only found in synchronized swimmers!

Considering the current South African economic climate, one would be quick to write-off the launch of the A4 during these times as a bad move on Audi’s part, but a quick glance at the pricing line of some of the models, it is no surprise that the German confidence/arrogance of launching the new model now is makes all the sense in the world.

The car is almost as big is the A6, clearly outsizing its predecessor. An increased feature list to include a lane migration warning system, LCD control centre that controls every setting in the car, button-type handbrake, variable distance cruise control that paces the car ahead and side radar systems to account for blind spots.

These prices are as found on a popular motoring website owned and managed by IOL.

PETROL ENGINES
1.8T FSI
Attraction (118kW) R269 000 – June 2008
Ambition (118kW) R285 000 – June 2008
Attraction a/t (118kW) R284 000 – June 2008
Ambition a/t (118kW) R300 000 – June 2008
2.0T FSI
Ambition (132kW) n/a – October 2008
Ambiente (155kW) n/a – October 2008
3.2 FSI
Ambiente quattro Tiptronic (195kW) TBC – August 2008

DIESEL ENGINES
2.0 TDI
Attraction (105kW) R289 000 – June 2008
Ambition (105kW) R305 000 – June 2008
Attraction a/t (105kW) R304 000 – June 2008
Ambition a/t (105kW) R320 000 – June 2008
Ambition (125kW) n/a – October 2008
3.0 TDI
Ambiente quattro Tiptronic (176kW) n/a – October 2008

If you have ever used Vista, you would know how helpful the little scope windows on the taskbar is when you hover your mouse over it. But, if you have any ounce of self respect, you would probably be using Firefox as your browser of choice.

Tab Scope is a browser plugin that mimics this functionality and also extends on it, with the tabs having back, forward, zoom, reload and close functions as well.

I’ve found this plugin to be SUPER useful as I am a tab junky with at least 15 tabs open on each browser window. So, in my quest to configure the ultimate browser, I wholely endorse this plugin and it gets the HoTsTePPa stamp of approval!

If you don’t have Firefox yet, its honestly worth it! Download it here by clicking on the firefox logo above!

So, literally 2 weeks after I have started working at MWEB, the CEO sent out an email requesting a company gathering today at 1pm for an announcement.

Naspers, the holding company, has received a few offers for the purchase of MWEB recently. After a review of their portfolio and their overall strategy, it seems like a good idea to Naspers and MWEB that the company be sold as a strategic move to further enhance MWEB as a force to be reckoned with in the ISP arena in Africa.

I must be honest, I have come to realise that the company is not as a stuffy as its previous image. Its very much a young dynamic company with lots of GREAT TALENT. The ideas, the technology, the service, its just plain amazing to have SO much talent under one roof!

Anyway, I think that this is a great move for the company and I assume that the company will select its buyer based solely on the benefit to MWEB’s strategy. Cash is not a problem for MWEB and the CEO clearly stated that this nothing but a strategic move!

So, don’t believe the rumours in the news!

I wonder if Google will buy the company? I wouldn’t mind those cool desks and chairs )