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German tuning house Abt Sportsline brought everything and the kitchen sink to the Essen Motor Show, and rather than present it piecemeal, we figured we’d put the whole megillah out for you in one shot. From A4 to Touareg, the latest hardware from VW and Audi has been worked over with appearance and suspension mods. Most boast notable power upgrades as well. Yes, we’ll even revisit the (unfortunately) red-and-green-trimmed Abt R8, which we first talked about last week. If you’re looking for a Christmas-themed supercar, or if you’re a really nostalgic New Jersey Devils fan, it might just fit the bill.

Follow the jump for the rundown on all things Abt at Essen.

[Source: Abt Sportsline]

Gallery: Abt Sportsline: Essen 2007 Lineup

Abt AS4

Click image for photo gallery

• Based on the new Audi A4
• Abt body kit, suspension, brakes,

… Read the rest of this entry

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This is not just rumormill, this is rumors of hints and suggestions made by anonymous people. Just last week we wondered whether Mitsubishi’s Concept-RA would lead to a new — and proper — Eclipse. What Car? went further, and although citing nothing more than “insiders,” said that the red zinger “could be a forerunner for a new Eclipse coupe, which could go on sale in Europe.”

True, that’s a lot of coulds. But it wasn’t so long ago that the Eclipse was an object of desire, and there can’t be any doubt that Mitsubishi would love to see those days return — especially after watching rival Nissan revive brand lust by slowly reinjecting its products with feeling.

Mitsubishi’s attempt to mainstream the Eclipse robbed it of the fan… Read the rest of this entry

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What happens when you take a Jetta Wagon, give it GTI-topping power, a stereo to wake the dead, and 4Motion all-wheel drive? You get the Golf Variant RaVe 270 concept that VW’s showing off in Essen. The car’s name is derived from its hopped-up GTI engine’s 270 horsepower and the techno beats being emitted from its 13-speaker 1400-watt audio system. (Get it? Techno…Rave. Yeah, we rolled our eyes, too.) A full body kit including an aggressive new front fascia lends the RaVe some visual presence to go along with its extra ponies, with 19″ five-spokes and a pair of double-barreled exhaust tips finishing off the lowered wagon’s visual upgrades.

Strip out the ridiculous audio/video system and you’ve got something that seems pretty doable from a production standpoint. An AWD sportwagon… Read the rest of this entry

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It seems that Speed TV is looking to expand its NASCAR broadcast lineup (as the series has yet to take up all 24 hours of available time). The net has placed a casting call on its website for passionate and charismatic NASCAR fans with extremely flexible schedules. From the description it looks to be a bit of a marketing grunt position. The job calls for such tasks as executing scheduled race weekend events, interacting with race fans, distributing marketing material and developing a rapport with the SPEED on-air team. They left out the part about fetching coffee and dry cleaning, which are tasks normally associated with unpaid internships. It is unclear whether the chosen candidates will be a part of an all new NASCAR show or whether they will be additional cast members for existing programming. If it sounds interesting to you then get your video application in before December… Read the rest of this entry

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There’s a variety of flavors of in-car networking standards that corral the large number of embedded computers and nodes present in the modern automobile. BMW Research and Technology, an R&D division of BMW, has found Internet Protocol up to the tasks that the other standards currently perform. BMW engineers used a standard PC and connected it up to the expected gear — ECUs, engine and chassis control systems, even a multimedia server for the entertainment system. The reasoning behind using IP versus the more specialized protocols is to anticipate future needs and requirements, as well as reducing costs. Costs drop because fewer specialized components are needed, and the new version of IPv6 is even better than the more than fine performance from IPv4. It’s a little spooky to think that your fly-by-wire throttle could be trying to chat with the engine using the same technology that we use to send… Read the rest of this entry

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After we mourned the departure of Spinelli from his Postfather position at J-nik, we were enticed to check out one of his newest endeavors at Garage419, a video site dedicated to opinionated banter on the auto news of the day. It’s kind of like a flame-war, but less civil and more informed. Matt Farah, from the New York Motor Club, and Mike get into it over the rumored Ferrari Dino, a possible revival of the Lamborghini LM002, how ugly the Porsche Panamera is and Farah’s undying love for the DeLorean. They also take a few minutes to discuss street-racing and whether or not the laws governing our roadways accurately reflect what our machinery is capable of.

It’s good, clean, wholesome entertainment for a lazy Saturday afternoon and you can check it out after the jump.