In what I hope is a website bug, the Audi USA website A4 configurator has the new B8 Audi s4 sporting one of the most expensive paint jobs cashing in at a whopping $46 000 for the “Imola Yellow”. I’m a massive Audi fan and while I totally dig this colour, I highly recommend you check out the “Lava Grey”. I just bought my second A4 in that colour and I’m still totally in love with it!

Pls click on the pic to view larger image

This is a really good advert by VW for the launch of the VW Polo Vivo. I could be wrong, but I think that Ogilvy manages the VW account. Well done guys!

I was recently invited by Audi Cape Town to join them on their MVP Day by the great Chris Rawlinson of HuddleMind. The basic promise of the day was that a few of us would be given a few cars, we would drive out somewhere and stop for breakfast, relax, chat and then drive back in time to arrive for lunch. All the while swopping cars on the way ensuring that we get to drive each model of Audi that was on the trip with us.

We arrived at 9am (some of us at least, @CapeTown_girl showed up late!) and offered coffee and tea while we were briefed on the days plan. We were welcomed by Chris, Grant and Wernich of Audi Cape Town.

We were then introduced to the cars:

• Audi Q5 2.0T
• Audi A3 2.0T
• Audi A5 3.2 Quattro
• Audi A5 3.0 TDi

I paired up with Athol Price of BrandScape and jumped into the Audi A5 3.0 TDi passengers seat as we took off from Audi Cape Town in the Waterfront to our first meeting point, the Shell garage at the foot-end of Sir Lowry’s Pass. We stopped on the N2 highway to swop seats and I took the helm of the A5 from there all the way through to meeting point.

The A5 is a beautiful car! It’s a dream to drive and the comfort levels inside the car are well specced. I love the driving position, the centre console setup, the steering responsiveness, the MultiTronic gearbox and the ease of which this car goes from 100km/h to 160km/h to overtake slower traffic.

We were the first to arrive at our meeting point and relaxed while we waited for the other 3 teams to arrive. We quickly swopped cars and headed toward Betty’s Bay for breakfast. The only place in Betty’s Bay that was open at the time actually. A small, quirky tea shop!

We drove the Audi A3 2.0T next, and oh boy did I drive it! If you know the route, you’d know that its pasted up against the side of a mountain with sharp cliffs dropping into the sea on the other side. It’s a tight bending, single lane, windy road that is any driving enthusiast’s dream. I was not shy with the A3. It does have the same setup as the VW Golf GTi which has a reputation of being a boy racer. I hammered the car into corners hard and held nothing back on the short straights with quick hard gear changes on the 6 speed manual gearbox. It was nothing but the most exhilarating, fun drive that I have EVER had. The Audi A3 2.0T stands out for me as the most fun car that I have driven yet!

On the last stretch, I went up against @AmandaSevasti in a straight shootout run to the finish in the A5 Diesel and the A3 did its job of making the task tough for the lady!

Breakfast was a scone and tea. We sat around and chatted for a bit. Chris and Grant then had a lucky draw of two prizes, an Advanced Driving Course in an A5 and a day with an R8 out on the streets of Cape Town.

The truth is that I don’t remember who won the R8 drive, but what I do remember is ME winning the Advances Driving Course ) #Buya

I drove the Q5 back to Gordons Bay and while everyone else enjoyed driving the SUV, I didn’t. I guess that I’m too much of a boy racer and wanted to plough the lumpy beast into corners under heavy breaking and pull it out of corners as quick as possible to plough it into the next corner. I hated the body roll but totally enjoyed the superior driving position of being so high up.

I didn’t get to drive the A5 petrol due some chop smashing into the back of it coming down Sir Lowry’s Pass while @JohannSchwella was at the helm, so I had another go at the best car of the day, the Audi A5 3.0TDi.

It’s completely convinced me to upgrade my A4 to a A5 on my next Audi purchase.

To Chris, thank you dude. You are a royal legend and I have mad love for you. I have the utmost respect for you and your work and your most notable humility.

To Grant, thanks a mil for spending the day with us out on the road and explaining the cars so well.

To Wernich, this was all you. You are a real champ to recognise the value of leveraging social media and you have a great guy to back you up on that front. Chris won’t let you down. You run a smooth operation there and your coolness about the little accident did nothing less than impress all of us. Thank you for the treat and a HUGE thank you for the Advanced Driving Course, I’m stoked about it.

The Audi MVP Day rocked and I REALLY hope that I get invited back!

Be sure to join our Audi Run, which is a group of us that get together every now and again for a breakfast run in and around Cape Town. Our Facebook Group has more details.

With the massive collapse of the motor industry last year, Lamborghini found itself in a spot of bother when demand for their cars dropped substantially throughout the year and the value of the US Dollar was slapped around with a trout. One can not ignore the value of the US market for the Italian luxury super car manufacturer and the hit to the US economy had the Italians eating crackers and cheese for dinner to save costs.

With last years turnover down to 281 million Euro from previous years 478.8 million Euro and reduction of manufactured cars by a whopping 37.7% which saw 1 515 units being built instead of the 2430 built the previous financial year, the Italian super car manufacturer definitely did feel the financial crunch.

Now if you know anything about the way these guys decide how to roll their cars out, you would know that when it comes to super cars, they always manufacture less cars than the general demand. This helps maintain its prestige, keeps pricing high & creates a shortage which drives demand even further. It’s a trick out of the late great Enzo Ferrari’s playbook and one worth keeping in mind if ever you get into any kind of business.

BUT, and this is a huge but… while Lambo turnover dropped, car sales plummetted and the Americans all moved out of their picket fenced houses into motor homes, the Italians have thrown more money at R&D and will increase their spend again this year from last years increase of about 33%.

Lamb will continue to kick out a new model a year and will remain committed to being a long-standing prestigious brand that represents brutal power. Expect the Lamborghini to roll out the Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera, which will help them balance their Galardo and Murcielago ranges with a drop-top, coupe and high performance model in each stable.

Speculated to be 2010’s most anticipated game, Gran Turismo 5 or more commonly known as GT5 is expected to hit shelves later this year and so far has no arrival date. The game manufacturers have done a good job of leaking info about the game over the last few months and GT fans already have a good understanding of what to expect. A full list of the cars has already leaked and so has information about the “damage engine” and a few other cool things that GT5 packs like full online play.

The PSP version of the game is out already and if you have played it already, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Here are a few screen shots of the game.

It’s not new news that GM has been considering selling Hummer for a little while now. It seems that among the other brands that GM dragged with it through financial nightmares, GM has now decided to shelve the brutally yank car as it is financially unfeasible to maintain the brand.

GM did try to pawn it off to the Chinese recently, but the deal fell through when Beijing decided that it was too much of an environmental risk to allow the brand to be purchased by a Chinese company.

This follows the previously GM brands of Pontiac, Saturn and Oldsmobile and finds itself stacking up in the losers corner where car brands are sent to die!

So with cost-cutting still part of the strategies of many companies, especially the car manufacturing industry, Puma has taken it a step further and have commissioned that a Formula 1 car be built out of shoe boxes.

Here is the video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa8HFEeh2FA&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

We are just under a month away from the kick off of the 2010 Formula One Race Calendar which is scheduled to start in Bahrain this year on March 14th 2010. Heres the full race calendar to help you schedule your TV time:

14 March           – 12:00 –         Bahrain           – Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix

28 March           – 06:00 –        Australia        - Australian Grand Prix

04 April             – 08:00 –         Malaysia        - Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix

18 April              - 06:00 –        China               – Chinese Grand Prix

09 May               – 12:00 –         Spain               – Gran Premio de Espana Telefonica Grand Prix

16 May               – 12:00 –         Monaco           – Grand Prix de Monaco

30 May               – 11:00 –         Turkey            - Turkish Grand Prix

12 June              - 16:00 –         Canada            - Grand Prix du Canada

27 June              - 12:00 –         Europe            - Telefonica Grand Prix of Europe

11 July                - 12:00 –         Britain             – Santander British Grand Prix

25 July               – 12:00 –         Germany        - Brober Preis Santander von Deutschland

01 August         – 12:00 –         Hungary         – Magyar Nagydij

29 August         – 12:00 –         Belgium           – Belgian Grand Prix

12 September  - 12:00 –         Italy                 – Gran Premio Santander Italiano

26 September  - 12:00 –         Singapore      - SingTel Singapore Grand Prix

10 October       – 06:00 –         Japan              - Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix

24 October       – 05:00 –         Korea              - Korean Grand Prix

07 November – 16:00 –         Brazil                - Grande Premio Petrobras de Brasil

14 November  - 13:00 –         Abu Dhabi      - Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Note: All times displayed here are UTC Standard Time. In South Africa, please add +2:00 hours.

The 2010 VW Polo’s have hit the South African streets and I must admit that I am pretty impressed with the design. They certainly are sexy cars and I’ve been told by previous Polo owners, that the Polo brand represents reliability and practicality. Something which we have come to expect from VW afterall.

The VW Polo GTi has always been the entry level hot-hatch from the VW stable and plays the role of little brother to the infamous VW Golf GTi. The latest version of the Polo GTi is no different from the last and promises to fulfill the shoes of its predecessor as being the reliable, practical hot-hatch.

The aggressive front end is complimented by the dark tinted headlamps, sporty wheel arches and black glass roof. The angle of the front fog lights definitely add to the aggressive design of this sleek and sexy hatch-back. Regular GTi styling sees the Polo fitted with the red-lined grilled, red brake calibers and GTi style 5-blade rims.

Said to pump out 178bhp from its tiny 1.4TFSi engine, VW says that it is it’s, “fastest, most focussed and cleanest performance Polo ever produced.” With a standstill to 100km/h sprint seeing the little beast in 6.2seconds and capping out at 230km/h, the VW Polo GTi will definitely be a firm favourite with boy racer market.

s

This is brilliant and I think that we should get one of these!

Thanks Steve!