Test drove the new B8 on the track Monday

[swoardrider]

Went to the Audi Driving Experience at Infinion Raceway this past Monday and got the low down on all the new 2009's. I was like a kid in a candy store. They had fleets of A4's, TTR's and R8's. The new A4 is really nice. More rear leg room due to the chassis being 4.6 inches longer, a better balanced car at 56/44, better torque split, and better steering with a new rack and pinion position and better suspension mounting.
Coolest feature though was the Magnetic Ride Suspension. With the touch of a button on the dash you can go from a soft comfy ride to a stiffer sporty ride. You can also leave it in auto mode and it will adjust itself, like automatically stiffing up around corners, etc. Or you can customize it with an individual setting. It will be interesting how upgrading this design to aftermarket suspension will happen.
They gave me 3 laps on the big track at about 80% of full speed. Car handled very well for stock, although they only had 3.2 A4's which feel smooth, but slow compared to my chipped 2.0T.
On the paddock, they had 2 auto x tracks set up and had the A4, Lexus AWD 250, BMW 325ix, and an AWD Benz to test drive for comparisons. The Audi had the best brakes by far with the Lexus being scary. The Bimmer had great handling, maybe even better than the Audi?? The Benz had the best computer interface, but the new B & O stereo with DSP in the Audi rocks. No more shitty Bose!! Even though the Lexus sucks on performance, I had a hard time not wanting to be in it. The leather was as soft as a baby's butt, a killer white on dark blue car, and the best part was that its the only one with air conditioned seats! It was over 100 degrees that day and my balls were perfectly iced down. If I wasn't into performance, I'd take the Lexus, the interior's fit and finish was beautiful, plus it was $4k cheaper than the rest of the cars. But all around, the new B8 was the clear winner.
Overall the new line up was jaw dropping. The new W12 A8L walks all over the 750i. The TT-R is no longer a chick car, with a killer new interior and 265hp 2.0T. The S6 and S8 have the new 510hp V-10 and leather/carbon fiber interiors that I thought were getting close to Ferrari's in style. Also nice to see was the Q7 3.0 TDI which gets 25 plus MPG. The Audi reps claimed the A4 would get the same 3.0 TDI sometime in '09 as well. I guess R10 technology is now here.


Here are a few shitty pics from my cell phone:

New A4 with some kind of OEM body kit




B8 A4 drivetrain and suspension


Front suspension


Crazy cutaway of the whole car


Tranny in clear plastic


S6 interior (pics does the CF no justice. Amazing deep large weave)

[Raymax_2.0t]

Sounds great! Did you get to drive a TT-R? it sounds like a great car, but haven't seen any first hand reviews of it.

[A4 KiDD 810]

Wow, real beautiful cars. The headlights are sick, and that magnetic suspension sounds so cool. The only thing im not a fan of is that lip spoiler.

[johntesi]

Don't you mean TT-S? Not to pick nits, but I think the TT-RS is still a year or so out. It will be truly wicked! Did you get to drive it??

[extremesport3]

How was the new interior of the A4? Were the seats any better than the B7s'???

[Tiesto]

Wait a minute, no AC seats in the B8? What about the B8 S4? My next car must have that.

Fucking love that S6 interior though.

[swoardrider]

Sounds great! Did you get to drive a TT-R? it sounds like a great car, but haven't seen any first hand reviews of it.

We could only drive the A4's and its comparable from the other manufacturers. The instructors got to drive the new TT on the track all day long. I wish they let us drive R8's. They had a whole hanger of them, bumper to bumper!

[swoardrider]

Don't you mean TT-S? Not to pick nits, but I think the TT-RS is still a year or so out. It will be truly wicked! Did you get to drive it??

I swore they said TT-R, but you could be right. They could have said TT-S. I wasn't paying that much attention. Too busy drooling all over the S6. It definitely wasn't TT-RS. Only had one letter after TT-

[swoardrider]

Wait a minute, no AC seats in the B8? What about the B8 S4? My next car must have that.

Fucking love that S6 interior though.

None of the display cars had AC seats. Which sucks because I've been bitching about it since I could drive. Stupidest thing in the world. Everything's cold but your back is sweaty wet all over your now wrinkled shirt

Hopefully will be an option if Audi gets smart.

Sad to say, but the seats are the same shitty one's in our cars.

[AlexK]

Crazy cutaway of the whole car

Looks like a different seat to me. I'll be blown away if Audi does not upgrade the seats on the B8.

[quattro.it]

Great write up and pics, thank you! I love the body kit on the A4 and the dual exhaust. I would guess you saw the TTS. Audi has some really exciting models coming up, don't you think? Audi would be very smart to start bringing diesel models to the US. But honestly, don't you think the A4 looks like a 3-series?

[Sharkfin]

Sad to say, but the seats are the same shitty one's in our cars.

Wow that sucks, that is one of my few complaints about the b7's. Nice pics and write-up. I'm happy with my b7 for now though. Maybe after a year or two when they update the b8 I will be ready to jump on it (or an b8 s4/s5)

[Six Speed Turbo]

Nice write up and pics. I agree with most people though about the AC seats. Audi should really consider it.

[swoardrider]

Looks like a different seat to me. I'll be blown away if Audi does not upgrade the seats on the B8.

The one's in the test vehicles had a new look, and shaped head rest, but were the same shitty overall design as ours.

[A4natomical]

that is one serious trunk spoiler.

i love the new b8 look.

[Slo.Mo.Shun.]

The valence and the chin spoiler are awesome

[redlabel81]

Nice nice!! But what the hell have they slapped on the trunk on that B8?!?!?!? Divingboard???

[sevenstarz]

Damn!

When did the S6 and S8 get 510hp V10's?

Peace

[Glassnpowder98]

Did you pay anything to do the driving experience? From what I understand, they have two different programs... The regular one is free and you just get to drive the new B8's. However, if you pay $500 for the "enthusiasts driving experience" you get to take the R8 and the TT-S out on the track (used to be the RS4 but they recently changed it on their website). It's coming to my area in August and I haven't decided if I want to pony up the $500 to drive an R8... I think I'd rather have the money to get the AWE quad tip exhaust right when it comes out, but R8's are sweeeeeet.

[Auditude2.0T]

If the new S6 gets a 510HP V10 compared to the 435HP right now than i think i know what my next car is going to be.

[ArmanB7]

Very Nice

[swoardrider]

Damn!

When did the S6 and S8 get 510hp V10's?

Peace

In '09. The RS6 is supposed to get something around 580hp!

[swoardrider]

Did you pay anything to do the driving experience? From what I understand, they have two different programs... The regular one is free and you just get to drive the new B8's. However, if you pay $500 for the "enthusiasts driving experience" you get to take the R8 and the TT-S out on the track (used to be the RS4 but they recently changed it on their website). It's coming to my area in August and I haven't decided if I want to pony up the $500 to drive an R8... I think I'd rather have the money to get the AWE quad tip exhaust right when it comes out, but R8's are sweeeeeet.

I did the freebee. Its not worth me paying $500 to drive something I can't buy, nor afford to replace if I wreck it. Its definitely worth going to the freebee if your a car enthusiast. Loads of fun and information.

[swoardrider]

Also forgot to add that when I was up at Infinion I had to stop by Stasis to pick up some parts and they said they are going to unveil their bigger turbo kit at Waterfest for the A4. Its on their shop car now. Sounds like it might feature everything that is in their transverse turbo kit along with upgraded fuel pump. This maybe my next mod.

[Maverick]

I signed up to the same thing but I will be going to NHIS.
the sad thing is we have to pay to drive the S5 R8 or TT
did you test drive the S6?

[swoardrider]

I signed up to the same thing but I will be going to NHIS.
the sad thing is we have to pay to drive the S5 R8 or TT
did you test drive the S6?

You only get to drive the A4 and its comparibles with the freebee.

[tre]

I thought the B8 was going to have the engine on top of the front axle? It is clearly in front of the front axle like the B7. So much for a 50/50 balanced car.

[vwong]

swoardrider, what time was your session? I was there that same day, I was in the 9:30am session.

[swoardrider]

I thought the B8 was going to have the engine on top of the front axle? It is clearly in front of the front axle like the B7. So much for a 50/50 balanced car.

They were saying something like the B7 had a 59/41 balance and the new B8 was now 56/44. Achieved by basically a more cab forward design. This made the car 4.6" longer and gives it less overhang.

swoardrider, what time was your session? I was there that same day, I was in the 9:30am session.

3:00. That's why it was so damm hot and those Lexus seats were so sweet.

[toro]

I will go on this coming Friday. Nice to hear this is a good experience.

[gyroscope]

Nice review and photos. Went last year at Pocono and am going this year again nest month. Last year they let us drive the A8, A3, Q7, A6 and A4 for the saftery portion of the course, and 2 laps in the 3.2 TT's for the race portion. The instructors were driving RS4's and the most improved driver of the session got to ride in the R8 for 2 laps, which looked interesting because they were powersliding and drifting that thing all over the track.