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Cars have been getting bigger, faster, and arguably less efficient with every iteration. No, the Audi S4 isn't a reversal of all these trends, but it shows that things will be different.
Though the car is still larger than the previous S4, it has lost a bit of weight, some 100 pounds at most, its body shell being 10% lighter. It is faster though, but not by leaps and bounds, the previous car was already quick.
It is, however, for the first time in a long time, the first car to be powered by a motor smaller than that of its predecessor. It has less power, too. It's supercharged to ensure that performance will still be comparable to its competitors, but the car can attain better that 20 mpg efficiency, 20% better than the V8 that would have otherwise been used. A V8 that is still used in the S5.
As trick as its direct injection, supercharged, V6 is, it's at its best because of an equally trick assortment of transmissions. Six and seven speed (DSG for the seven) transmissions ensure the motor can be at its most efficient over a wide range of scenarios.
Our take? The significance of all this of course, is that manufacturers are looking to other means to provide the performance so desired by consumers. The problem is of course, that so long as people desire such a thing, over say, simply fun to drive, cars won't be able to take the next step. Remember, a slow car emphasizing driver involvement like a Miata can be as much as fun as an STI in everyday use, more fuel efficient, less costly to the environment to produce, and meet 90% of most people's daily car usage. It won't however, stroke your ego.
via Auto Racing Daily
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