AutoComplete: Audi RS6 is coming to the US and Ford's finally (maybe) unveiling its Mustang-inspired EV
Cars
Welcome to Road Shows Auto Complete.
You're weekly around of the biggest news in the automotive world.
This week, we have news on James Bond's DB5, self piloting scooters from Ninebot, and Ford's mustang inspired electric SUV.
But for, First lets start with the Audi RS6 wagon.
Audi RS line of cars has been coming to the US or a few years.
But there is one that's not made the jump across the Atlantic much to the shegran of are more enthisius and that's the RS6 avant.
Surely there are plenty of reasons why Audi would have kept its fast wagon out of our dealerships, probably mostly because wagon sales are a tiny fraction of overall sales.
But hey, sometimes there are more important things than that to consider.
Namely, those pencil pushers from Sturgaurd and Lauterbach have had the fast wagon segment to themselves for.
Far too long and the boys from english dot are ready to pee in their metaphorical wheaties.
The 2026 a month will have a twin turbo VH that makes 592 horsepower, and 590 pounds of torque massive breaks bulls you will arches.
And the biggest exhaust tips this side of a coal rolling cummins.
What do you do if you're a die hard Audi fan and then you and your family decided to go on vacation leaving your precious quatro all wheel drive sporting Uber bargain behind.
Are you just supposed to turn up at the airport car rental stand and drive a random midsize sedan from a American manufacturer.
Well if you're a new Audi, buyer or lessee, you don't have to go through the indignity of driving anything without four rings on the hood thanks to the alleys Audi program.
Basically it tosses in a week's worth of silver car rentals in with your purchase, thereby assuring you that the only sacrifices you'll be making on vacation will involve Lego Land.
And your wallet.
Electrified scooters are big business now, with companies like Bird and Lime, and even Uber and Lyft getting in on the action.
But that's not how you roll, you're an independently minded person and so you are buying your own scooter and only the techie scooter will do.
Well Nine Bird has good news for you because it's been working on an electric scooter.
That can pilot itself to and from a charger like some kinda real world roaming rumba.
The company isn't super specific about how it's going to romange that kind of autonomy but it will be really cool if it worked.
Still we bet it can't do a sweet tail whip at the skate park.
One of the best parts about Monterey car week is seeing the bananas auction prices.
For weird cars.
One that really jumped out at us this time was the sale of one of three extant Aston Martin DB5s built to full James Bond spec, with working gadgets.
How much did it go for?
How about $6.38 million?
This particular example is probably the best of the bunch because it underwent a major restoration in Switzerland.
And all of its gadgets work as they did when they were new.
We can only imagine what kind of a special hell it must have been trying to get all that 60s technology working.
The Honda Civic Si used to be the hottest civic we got here in the US.
But just because that's no longer true doesn't mean it's not worth a look especially now the 2020 S.I. is getting a bunch of upgraded tech features for only a tiny price increase over 2019 and that coupled with its excellent gearbox and tractable fund to rev engine mean that it's one hell of a bargain.
Among the new features are LED headlights, Honda Sensing as standard as well as a shorter final drive ratio for peppier acceleration, you know.
For just 25 grand, it's worth a look if you're shopping for a practical and affordable car that's not a total snoozefest.
Ford's been teasing it's controversial Mustang inspired electric SUV for well over a year now.
And with the recent announcement, it looks like that teasing is gonna continue, at least until November.
Now, while Ford has said that it will give the world a look at the new model in November, it isn't clear if that will be another teaser image or, and we feel like this is more likely, a reveal at the LA Auto Show.
Those of you with particularly keen memories may recall that Ford initially planned on calling this thing the Mach I, until the internet started sharpening pitchforks and lightening torches.
At which point it pivoted to the name Maki, which you know actually sounds cool, but we're not sure if that'll make it to production.
Fingers crossed.
Harley's Live Wire electric motorcycle is a big deal for a lot of reasons, not the least of which Which is the fact that it brings all kinds of new tech to a brand not necessarily known for that.
Case in point is the fact that Harley will be bringing its HD Connect Service to most of the models in its lineup.
The service works through a phone app that lets you monitor a number of features from your phone, even if you're not near your bike.
You know, provided that there's a cell signal.
It's kinda like OnStar but for wheels.
Also in the trickle-down agenda, and this is truly a big deal, is the reflex defensive rider system or RDRS.
RDRS is Harley's peak for electronically linked brakes that means, when you pull the front brake lever, it acts on the rear brake too.
Lean sensitive anti-lock brakes, crash control, vehicle hold control, helper for stopping on hills, and tyre pressure monitoring.
RDRS will be available on all models, but you can get it on most of them as standard or in some cases as an option.
Ford is not the only one getting in on the teaser game.
Aston Martin has been playing as well, though in that case, it's for its forthcoming DBX SUV model.
Thankfully, we now know when to expect that probable cash cow from the brand, and that is going to be December of this year.
What else do we know?
Well, well it was initially envisioned as being an EV, we now know that it will be powered by good old fashion dinosaur squeezings, at least traditionally.
Largely due to the resurgence of Aston Martin sister brand, Lagonda.
Aston has also quick to point out that the DBX will be a real Aston Martin.
Which is something we've heard from other manufactures that are dipping their toes in to the money heavy waters of SUV manufacturing.
Still we bet it'll be decent and probably a reasonable rival for offerings from brands like Bently.
And Lamborghini.
Care by Volvo was arguably the first vehicle subscription service to truly capture the interest of the automotive buying public but it's implementation hasn't been trouble-free.
In fact, it seriously rubbed some.
Dealers the wrong way, and several dealers in California have decided to do something about it.
What exactly?
Well, they've gone and narked to the California DMV, alleging that Care by Volvo is in violation of a number of state regulations and statutes.
The coalition of new car dealers that sparked the investigating asked the DMV to have its results back within 180 days, so it'll likely be a while before we see any results.
Mercedes is building an electric fan based on it's a V class of internal combustion engine powered vans that we know as the Metris.
The electrified version will be known as the EQV and should pack a range somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 miles though, keep in mind that's on the European WLTP cycle, which is a bit more generous than our own EPA cycle.
Still with all the practicality that we experienced in our own long term Metris, aka Wu Tang Van, we can't think of too many ways to improve it that would be as transformative as an electric drive train.
We cannot wait to drive this thing.
One of the The less convenient aspects of owning an EV and having to charge it on the go isn't necessarily a lack of charging stations anymore.
It's that many of them are on separate networks with separate billing and separate membership plans.
It's kind of lame, however EVGO and electrifying America to the largest nationwide networks are now working together to simplify that process by sharing their networks with each other.
This effectively opens up 3000 DC past chargers and around 1000 level two chargers around the country to EV owners.
It's awesome that we help that more networks go this route.
Hyundai is working on a new EV concept called the 45, and it's gonna pull the sheet out of it at the Frankfurt Motor Show next month.
For now though, we're only seeing its backside, and it definitely looks like something that would be right at home in cyber punk 2077.
Hyundai says that 45 will be a taste of its future styling direction, and provided they don't make the front end look like, I don't know, a Pontiac Aztec or something, we're probably gonna be pretty into it.
That's it for Auto Complete this week.
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