TimeOut

As usual, Ive been missing from the horological world for a while now..........

Have been very busy with cindered brakes and burnt rubber meantime!

here's the new monster coupe from Audi - The new RS5. All wheel drive + V8 + high revving 450hp engine with double-clutch gearbox and bucket seats!

The launch event was for Audi in SIngapore but because we dont have a permanent track here, all the guests were treated to a launch event up north in Malaysia @ sepang International F1 circuit.

Here is the RS5 up close and personal, displayed in the paddock club VIP area of Sepang.....

enjoy the pictures

In conjunction with the Audi RS5 launch in Sepang, Audi Driving experience was offered also. Klaus Demel the head of Audi Driving from Audi AG was on hand at the Sepang itself to oversee the event.

Audi AG even shipped in a Q7 V12 TDI to unleash on the track. This is no ordinary Q7 - it is the fastest and most powerful production SUV class car of it kind in its category. the V12 TDI puts out 500hp and 1000Nm of torque - the acceleration of this Q7 is sportscar like with a 0-62mph time of 5.5 seconds. To stop the Q7 it was fitted all round with Audi Ceramic Brakes!

Here are the pictures of the amazing drive event that featured the R8 V10 Spyder, R8 V10 Coupe, TT-RS, TT-S, S5 Sportback, Q7 V12 TDI and obviously the star of the day the new flagship coupe RS5.

Am addicted to looking at the digital clocks on the Audi dashboard nowadays.

PS: word of advice...dont ever test drive anything that is V10. you will be hooked on it and words simply cannot describe the appeal of a V10. once you drive and experience it for yourself there is no going back.......the force is strong!

here we go.......

... fantastic pictures ....

IMO the RS5 can be seen as the ultimate sports-tourer ... a lot of power and acceleration, great comfort on the highway, 4-wheeldrive. It may be heavier than the M3 or even less nimble but it sure has loads of character ... .

Thanks for this post.

Filip

sadly they are only a dream unless i go for an old RS6, but my dreamy eyes are currently on the new RS6. 5l V10 twin turbo with 580bhp. the performance figures of a supercar in a 5m long estate car, which for the UK is quite a big car.

i have no need of an estate car, but who cares. i'd have one if i could, preferably the RS6 'plus' as it comes with a few more horses and is derestricted to about 180mph. i suppose it has a few other little bits as well, but they arent as important as raw power even if you cant use it.

on the 'plus' side it does have the room to put a spare set of wheels and sticky tyres in the back and take it on track days

its free to dream

Graham

Wow, that RS5 does look pretty cool. I especially like the brakes, the ceramic brakes truly make this car unique because it will be the only car that offers ceramic brakes in this segment. Despite these ceramic brakes, are those sliding calipers on the rear brakes? If they are indeed sliding calipers, I hope they are not sliding rear calipers.

I like cars with fantastic brakes. I often care more about the handling, brakes, and the transmission than the actual engine!

On the brake thing. But I'm more interested in the pedal feel with ceramics. I've driven an RS6 with the Iron brakes which felt great. (but wondered where the power went?? It was a strange car...I think the Audi Australia may have fiddled with it...)

As for the sliding calipers on the rear, I don't really care. Opposed piston calipers look better and (can) perform better, but rear brakes aren't super critical on this kind of car. As long as they're stiff enough...but that goes for any brakes. In any case, the likes of M3s use them....

I haven't driven the Audi with ceramic brakes, but I have driven Ferraris, a Porsche, a Mercedes, and a Bugatti with ceramic brakes. The pedal feel of the ceramic brakes are a little bit vague at first - when the brakes are cold on some of the vehicles I drove, but after a few applications of the brakes, all the vehicles exhibited very superior braking performance and very good pedal feel compared to steel rotors.

In one case, I had accelerated more than I had intended to and I hit the brakes. The car did slow down, but the pedal feel was not very responsive which was discontenting because the car wasn't slowing down as fast as I would have liked to considering I was depressing the brake pedal with fairly moderate force. However, after that, the car's brakes "woke up from its nap" and the car had better braking power, better brake "bite" and response, and overall better brake feel.

Overall, I think ceramic rotors are good for track use, but not for daily use. In daily use, you might have to warm up the brakes to get satisfying brake pedal feel. Furthermore, I've been told that ceramic rotors are somewhat fragile. Little rocks and gravel supposedly chip up the rotors. I haven't driven a car with ceramic brakes for a long period of time, but I wonder what it's like.

As for the BMW M3, I truly love the M3. I think the M3 is a great car. However, there are two caveats to the BMW M3; (1) the engine's lubrication, the E46 M3 had a high redline but a conventional oil delivery system. In certain turns with high g-forces, there would be a small chance that the engine would be starved for oil. The E92 M3 has rectified this situation by having a partial wet-sump oil system. And (2) the BMW M3 has sliding calipers both front and back. Personally, I would prefer large opposed piston calipers as I believe that you somehow get better brake pedal feel with opposed piston calipers. And if anything else matters, they look nice aesthetically.

But you are absolutely right regarding the mounting, the mounting of the calipers must be extremely stiff to ensure proper brake feel.

Thanks for the comments, Patrick. Sounds like I suspected, but I wonder whether it's down to the pads required for Ceramics..? Plus the issue of fragility...I'm not sure you'd just take the discs down to your machine shop to get skimmed either...

In a former life, I used to play around a lot with the brakes on my race bike. There was a whole bunch of us racing RS125R Hondas so plenty of spares to mess about with.

Tried different master cylinders (bore size), disc materials (stainless and cast iron) and calipers. From ISR 6 pistons (6 separate pads, very good initial bite (all those leading edges) but it varied too much, as did the general feel) to some sliding calipers (the opposite to the ISRs...camparitively not much overall bite or stopping power but very consistent).
In the end, I went back to the standard Brembo 4 pots with the std Cast Iron disc and EBC pads. Best all round deal (especially when it rained). Not that even the best system was going to help me out that much? But it all came back to feel at the lever.

Thanks Doc. Good to see you back here again.

- SJX

The S5 didn't impress me, at the exception of the melody of the roooooaring engine.

The feeling is too linear, compared to a 3.0 TDI, which seems funnier to drive ( well, I boosted mine to 300 HP and 600 nm torque ).

So, the RS 5 may well be the cherry on the cake!

Very cool car.

Any informations on the speed, and acceleration ?

Best,

Nicolas

331 kW (444 hp / 450 PS) and 430 Nm (317 lb-ft) of torque.

0-62mph in 4.6 seconds (usually underrated), it will hit 155mph limited and there is a option to remove the limiter up to 280kmh.
pretty sure the car can do more but the problem with nearing the 300kph club is always the tires, you need to equip the car with some insane rated tire to do 302kph.

the true test is a 0-200kmh and the RS5 does it in a decent 15.9 seconds.

my personal feel:
heavy car still, built as a very fast Grand Tourer. the electronic gimmicks and audi drive select are programmed to make the driver feel that the car is nimble (or at least that is the aim). good effort from audi, one helluva coupe and strong contender in the M3 coupe segment.

but when you sit in it and drive it...yeah, its pretty fast!

Most important of all, these feelings.

Will have to try it!

Best,

Nicolas

No message body

... you had your A5 tuned to keep up with me ? ....

Filip

It " pushes " strong, indeed, but the " before / after " difference, even if it exists, it not that impressive.

You gain a bit, that's all.

Best,

Nicolas

Well Nicolas,

i once had the chance to drive (and crash ) the Audi Q5 3,0 tdi. I don't believe it only has 240 hp ... it was actually really fast.
I've seen on some forums that VW-Audi's have more horsepower than they want us to believe. I've seen some before and after powercurves and it goes a bit like this: A new golfGTI has 210 hp (that's what VW says) but it already has 240+ .. and after tuning it goes to +/- 260-280 hp... so you actually pay 500 euros to have your car tuned from 210 to 280 hp ... but in fact it gets tuned from 240 to maybe 'only' 265 hp or so ... the difference is felt offcourse ... BUT ... after a couple of weeks you're already used to it ... .
This is the reason why i haven't any car tuned (all turbo-charged very tunable diesels) .... i more like suspension and brake upgrades .... makes you soo much faster ... .

Flying Bim

But I already have an improved chassis, borrowed from the S Line products.

The car is 10 mm lower, the suspensions are firmer, and the wheels are 18 inches, instead of ther original 17''.

So, I felt the need of a bit more of power, when, at the end, it is not as specatacular as I thought.

Cool, but not spectacular.

Best, Ze Flying Bimb.

Diabolo.

When i bought my Audi A3 back in 1996 it also had the Audi sports suspenion ... but after some years i upgraded to an unbelievable KONI-suspension which could be adjusted before mounting.
The guy who installed them told me he gave them 3 "clicks", i asked him how many clicks for the "purest" setup, he answered: 10clicks ......... i told him to take it of again and give it 8 clicks ... LOL ... and then i had the softest Yokohama tires mounted .... well, anyway, i survived ... .... .

It's good to talk about cars, but even better to talk about watches ... unfortunately all my budget for this year will be going to my soon to arrive new car ... :-( ....

Best mon amour ... errrr ... ami

Filip

I hope not!

I had these Koni suspensions mounted on another of my tuned car, a VW Corrado, by Ottinger, a 245 HP VR6.

New perfored breaks and airplane durits...

The suspension was hard as wood, and the brakes were hell!

Impressive, but too firm on a normal road.

Best, Satanas!

Diabolo.

This message has been edited by amanico on 2010-09-02 05:21:27

.. the RenaultSport will soon be delivered .... which means i have to pay for it :-( ...
You gain a bit and you loose a bit ... LOL ... .

My opinion on the Corrado VR6 ??? Well, it was probably the best car you ever had !
Best

Bimbo

Good sensations, superb look, and what an engine!

It was a pleasure to hear it roaaaring, with these whispers due to the modification on the escapement.

Well,, you come to see me with your Renault Sport?

I will show you one or two tricks...

))

Best,

Nicolas.

When my A4 gives up the ghost, I'll be looking at A5s.
I'll take Audi over BMW all day long.

but I cant wait for the RS5. I will bring it back to spain making my traditional night hillclimb of the Mont Ventoux, windows opened to enjoy the sound of the warm normally aspirated V8.

Are you going to be in Paris during le Mondial, Nicolas? I will be normally between the 28th of september and the 1st of october. Cheers. Luc

When you're in a tunnel, or in a narrow street...

A Feast!

Superb pics, my friend.

Yes, I will be stuck in Paris for a moment, I fear.

It will be a real pleasure to meet you here, finally!

Best,

Nicolas

pm me the exact date ... i'll be coming over too ... ... once again ...

Racing-Bim

Another small but great GTG to be prepared.

Moules Frites and V 8!



Best,

Nicolas

Moules-frites
V8

and ...

Renaultsport !!!!

Or let's call it a RS6 Avant. At least until the kids are grown up Thanks for sharing the pictures
Cheers
Hans
This message has been edited by hans_jorgen_1968 on 2010-09-02 14:14:07