Audi

In times as tumultuous as these, we’d be shocked, to say the very least, if the majority of statisticians didn’t report a noticable uptick in bank heist attempts over the past couple years. And while we obviously don’t endorse criminal activity of any variety, we can’t help wondering if there is such a thing as the perfect getaway car for such a task. Thankfully, it turns out we aren’t the only ones suffering from this perverse curiousity. In fact, the German hoons at GRIP were very, very interested in answering this question.

How do we know this? Well, for starters it appears they commendeered a disused military base complete with town-like sections of buildings and streets to test a vehicle’s agility, plus some long, wide runways for high speed running. Secondly, they’ve assembled a superstar collection of getaway vehicles (tuned models from Audi, Dodge and Porsche), plus one very special police car with which to play the game of cops & robbers about which young gearheads can only dream. So grab some poppin’ corn and make the jump for the video and an explanation of what’s going on, since all the dialogue is auf Deutsch. (Our friends who took Spanish instead in high school are totally jealous right now...maybe.)

If you had to pick one American car introduced in the last 36 months that is truly impressive and within spitting distance of the world’s best, you could do much worse than the second generation Cadillac CTS-V. It’s definitely raised the sport sedan bar, and GM is hoping the new coupe version will do the same in the premium high-performance two-door segment. But how will we know how this flashy fastback stacks up against two of its biggest rivals from Germany, the BMW M3 and Audi RS5?

That’s where well-established enthusiast publications Motor Trend and Car and Driver come into play. Contrary to popular belief, they are quite aware of the existence of the Internet and the additional capabilities it offers over ultrathin wafers of pureed trees. How do we know this? By the two nicely-put-together HD videos after the jump, of course.

Say “station wagon” to the average American and chances are the first picture that pops into his or her noggin is a big, Disco Age American land schooner wearing green paint and mouldings and veneers made from only the finest plastic trees. With so many of today’s car buyers having spent their formative years in these motorized mastadons, is it any surprise contemporary wagons seem to be such a hard sell over here today? (The shortage of manufacturers willing to take the risk of selling them in this hemisphere makes it a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation, but bear with us.)

In Europe, however, the honeymoon with the station wagon (or “estate cars” or “kombis,” depending on where you are over there) hasn’t ended. In fact, wagons are so popular in the Old Country that many manufacturers offer high performance versions thereof. But in the mid-‘90s, the species Stationwagonus Wickedfastimus as we know it today didn’t really exist. It took a collaboration between two then-distant (now less so) corporate cousins from the Fatherland to create this category. And the Adam/Eve of the segment they came up with – the Audi RS2 Avant – was a real humdinger.

Senner Tuning AG, a German aftermarket tuning company, has just released their version of the Audi S5 Sportback which, unfortunately, isn’t going to be coming to America. However, it is going to be available just about everywhere else where the A5 Sportback is sold.

Senner started by increasing the output of Audi S5's already powerful V6 engine from 333 hp to 375 hp. The performance boost is achieved by incorporating a new air filter along with some software sorcery. Additionally, a brand new cat-back exhaust system with four tips was specifically designed for their S5. This is the ideal package for tunnel blasting with the windows down—all the way down. However, Senner Tuning AG didn’t stop there.

Some opinionated car enthusiasts could argue that the “murdered out” theme on cars has become a bit overused in recent years, but if any car deserves this treatment, it’s Audi’s mid-engined R8. SR Auto group transformed an already striking Audi R8 V10 into what should be Bruce Wayne’s next vehicle.

The car was treated with a flat black wrap, as well as some front and rear aero treatments. Then it was lowered on H&R springs and set on some nice 20” mesh wheels. The interior also has it’s usual updates with carbon fiber trim and what SR Auto calls, a “Custom SR Executive Interior Reupholstery,” which looks like a nice mix of alcantara and leather and brightly colored stitching- a nice match to the large brake calipers, which happen to have eight pistons paired up to large cross-drilled rotors.

Ever have one of those days where nothing is going your way, and you just want God to answer one little request? This video is the antidote to one of those days. Our favorite source of high-end car porn, Top Gear, is still on sabbatical. That usually means creating a shootout by pushing our Micro Machines across the floor, resulting in burned knees and the absence of a girlfriend. But today Motor Trend has brought us all a present comparable with the finest motoring videos online.

Led by the regally-named Arthur St. Antoine, three of MT's finest take on a Nevada highway with three of the best cars available today: The 2011 Porsche 911 Turbo, Audi R8 V10 and Mercedes SLS AMG. The voice-overs are kept to a minimum, leaving your mind free to enjoy the sounds and sights of 1500hp ripping up the highway. To make it just a little better, the Highway Patrol shut down an epic set of curves for them. What followed was a high-speed blast into the mountains. Driving any of these cars would keep me happy for a month, but the MT guys had to pick a favorite. Make the jump to enjoy this triple-showdown, and find out which one they all wanted to drive back to Vegas.

One of the unfortunate truth’s about the blockbuster racing game Gran Turismo 5 is that, if it were a spouse in couple’s therapy, its mate would almost certainly describe it as “distant” and “uncommunicative.” Other than a few updates here and there (some from series creator/director Kazunori Yamauchi, some not), the gestation of the latest and rumored-to-be greatest installment in the groundbreaking franchise has been kept under more wraps than a sumo wrestler attending a toga party where deep-fried Double Downs are merely the appetizers.

However, with the gimongous industry pow-wow that is the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3 to its friends) kicking off tomorrow here in Los Angeles, Sony and developer Polyphony Digital have decided to throw the fans a bone in the form of a new GT5 trailer. Well, “new” in the sense there's some heretofore unseen clips of tracks on the streets of Rome and the hills of Tuscany. Mixed in with these vignettes are previously seen looks at the likes of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG and the Ferrari 458 Italia, as well as NASCAR at Indianapolis and Super GT at Tsukuba Circuit. Make the jump to see it all in glorious motion.

With the exception of the Corvette ZR-1, the $250,000 mark is where cars start crossing over from supercar to hyper car. We can all agree a Porsche 997 or Audi R8 are super cars, but at just over $100k MSRP, they're far from unique hyper car status. $250,000 on the other hand, will put you in a car that is equal parts fast and special. This is a club reserved for only the best the automotive world has to offer, and right now, that's quite a lot. The caliber of car you can get for $250,000 is simply incredible. For that money you can buy a car that will walk over a hyper-car from 5 years ago that costs twice as much. Some think it's a ridiculous amount of money to spend on a car, but I see it as the performance bargain of 2010.

For this list we picked the 5 high-end powerhouses that will become available this year; the Audi R8 GT, Ferrari 458 Italia, Aston Martin V12 Vantage, Mercedes SLS AMG and Porsche GT2 RS. Make no mistake, although these exotic cars placed from 1st to 5th place, this was not a blow-out. These cars are all incredible. Choosing a winner wasn't simple. This isn't high-maintenance Goldilocks being choosey about her porridge. This was pitting the 5 Iron Chefs against one another and having to pick a winner. And we couldn't be a delusional mom at a soccer game cheering, "They're all winners!" We had to pick one...