Each week, our German correspondent slices and dices the latest rumblings, news, and quick-hit driving impressions from the other side of the pond. His byline may say Jens Meiners, but we simply call him . . . the Continental.
Little over 20 years after reunification, just 45,488 vehicles from the former communist East Germany still remain, out of about 50 million total vehicles registered modern in Germany. Most of them—33,726 are Trabants and 7485 are Wartburgs—are still registered as well. Both models were powered by two-stroke engines for the majority of the time they were in production, but near the end of the line, VW supplied four-cylinder engines. And they did not survive the free market for long. The Wartburg wasn’t bad looking when launched in the late 1960s, but thanks to a lack of development it was completely outdated at the time of reunification. In the overall picture of Eastern Bloc vehicles, Germany’s contributions were especially uncompetitive. Czechoslovakia’s Skoda, the USSR’s Lada, and Yugoslavia’s Zastava (they made the Yugo) at least had some success in the West as entry-level vehicles.
My favorite Eastern Bloc car is the Czech Tatra 613, a Vignale-styled luxury sedan with sort of a fastback and a rear-mounted V-8 engine. You’d have to be a pretty major figure in the Communist Nomenklature to drive one. Believe it or not, 145 Tatras are still registered in Germany.
Audi’s Q5 Hybrid and Some History
While I went to the incredibly exciting 24 hours du Mans, my friend Matthias Knödler drove the Audi Q5 Hybrid. Audi had originally planned to launch the Q7 as a hybrid but went for the Q5 instead—not least because its hybrid system with an E-motor hidden in the 8-speed automatic—can more easily be applied to the A6 and the A8. “You will hear an announcement on the A8 hybrid shortly,” he was told. He found the Q5 Hybrid to be sporty and remarkable free of the prominent “eco” badging plastered all over competitors’ hybrid entries. Unlike the Lexus RX400h, the Q5 doesn’t cut off the internal combustion engine at the first chance: It is about efficiency, not maximizing the “electric” experience. Chances for a diesel hybrid are slim, and with respect to this gas one, Matthias was told: “The hybrid is mainly for the US and China.”
Audi has worked on hybrids for a long time. One of the first press launches I attended was the Audi duo III’s in the fall of 1996 in Berlin. (That’s not me with the beer barrels on this historic Audi press picture.) The A4-based duo was powered by an 89-hp 1.9-liter TDI and a 29-hp electric motor, both of which drove the front wheels alternatively. You were able to choose between purely electric, purely diesel or the “hybrid” mode, in which the computer made the either/or decision. The e-motor never was used as a power booster, but as an alternative means of propulsion for city driving. With the e-motor alone, the Audi duo was able to reach 50 mph and achieve 20 to 30 miles of range. The driving experience back then was interesting, rather artificial, and the added weight of the lead-acid batteries made the hybrid handle more clumsily than did the regular A4 TDI. Around 60 vehicles were built, then Audi ended the experiment—only to see a sustained, Toyota-led hybrid frenzy take off shortly afterwards. But the engineering experience hasn’t been lost: The leading engineer of the duo III, Marius Lehna, recently was responsible for the concept phase of the Q5 Hybrid.
On the topic of hybrids, a Porsche engineer told me at the Panamera Turbo S launch that he believes in the potential of flywheel systems even for series production. The packaging is still an issue, but there could be a future for flywheel systems beyond racing. Other carmakers are looking at flywheels as well, and a British consortium—which includes Ricardo, Prodrive, Torotrak, Flybrid and Xtrac—is conducting extensive development work.
How to Lose Weight, By Ingolstadt
There’s more Audi stuff: In Le Mans, I had the opportunity to discuss the R8 GT Spyder in detail with Joachim Radde, head of Audi Sport. It tips the scales at a whopping 3616 pounds, but that’s a significant 187 fewer pounds than the weight of the R8 V10 Spyder, on which it is based. The seats, made from composite material, shave off 68 pounds, the biggest chunk; the rear bumper is made from carbon fiber, and so is the rear spoiler, which is fixed on the GT. Suspension components are made from aluminum, like on the racing version. There’s a trick with the gas tank: This one can store only 19.8 gallons of fuel instead of the standard car’s 23.8, but the bigger tank can be ordered. Another 33 pounds are saved by throwing out the magnetorheological “magnetic ride” damping system. You can save more: Opting for carbon fiber seats saves an additional seven pounds, while “Corsa” tires save 11.
But there are also a lot of carbon fiber elements that are purely decorative, such as interior parts and the windshield frame cover. It would have been possible to save even more weight, says Radde: “But an extremely purist concept, such as on the Porsche GT3 models, was not our goal.” Thus, the R8 GT keeps its air conditioning and telematics system, there is no lithium-ion battery option, and—this is bad—it doesn’t come with Audi’s perfect six-speed manual, which would have saved at least 55 pounds compared to the six-speed automated manual gearbox that’s standard on the R8 GT. It mystifies me because the regular R8 V10 and its Spyder derivative come standard with the manual. Audi seems to believe that the manual is a losing proposition, but I spoke with a British owner of the R8 GT coupe in Le Mans who has owned other R8s before. This gentleman is disappointed: “If they had given me a choice, I would have chosen the manual.”
The R8 GT Spyder will be sold in the US, but hurry: There will be only 333 units altogether globally. But I wouldn’t be surprised if a more “purist” model arrived in the future—contrary to what Mr. Radde says.
Fiat and Mazda Hit the Skids
Fiat has launched the Freemont here, its version of the Dodge Journey. It comes with diesels only: two versions of a Fiat-supplied 2.0-liter four with 138 and 168 hp. (Fiat-supplied? Wait, the badge says that this is a Fiat.)
Mazda is recalling over 11,000 units of the Mazda 3 in Germany because the wipers might malfunction due to a loss of electrical power. In my recent Mazda 3 test cars, I noticed something else: On the regular Mazda 3, the wipers were slowly pushed towards the center of the windshield at speeds above 110 mph. And on the Mazdaspeed3, the front hood started vibrating visibly over 135 mph (which is a speed easily attained in this small rocket.) What’s that, you don’t drive your Mazdas at 135 mph regularly?
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Source: http://blog.caranddriver.com/the-continental-remnants-of-the-evil-past-audis-r8-gt-spyder-and-the-new-fiat/
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