Steve Q

McLaren insists it is happy to sit and wait for Audi to make a decision over its Formula 1 future before evaluating a potential tie-up. The Woking-based team has been linked as a contender to join up with Audi if the Volkswagen Group-owned company enters grand prix racing when new engine rules come in from 2026. It has held exploratory talks with the German manufacturer but it suggests that the ball is now in VW’s court about what happens next. It is understood that VW is considering two options for an F1 assault: an Audi push with McLaren or using its Porsche brand with Red Bull. Speaking at a media event at McLaren’s Woking factory, Brown cheekily suggested that the Red Bull option appeared to be moving forward while the Audi situation remained unclear. “I'm hearing they're going to do something with Red Bull on the Porsche front,” said Brown. “I think they've spoken with a handful of people on the grid and, as you would imagine, we have conversations. “But in the short term, and medium term, we're very happy where we are [with Mercedes]. So we're going to just wait and see: are they going to enter the sport? Because I think that's not been definitively decided. “If they do, we have a contract through this term. And naturally, we're going to evaluate where we are and who's in the sport, and then take a decision on what we're going to do in 2026 in due course.” McLaren switched to Mercedes engines last season as part of a long-term deal, and will stick with the German manufacturer until the end of the current rules cycle. While it has long been questioned about whether or not a customer team can win a world championship, Brown is convinced about the possibilities. I think we can win with a Mercedes engine,” he said. “I know for a long time there's been this view you can't win with a customer engine. I think you can and we're very confident that our Mercedes power unit is identical to theirs. We've not seen anything to say otherwise. You are at a little bit of a disadvantage from an overall design concept, because they understandably get a view of what the architecture looks like. So there is a detriment to being a customer team. But it's not the power unit itself. It's the knowledge that you get by kind of having a first look [at the engine design].” https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.autosport.com/f1/news/mclaren-happy-to-wait-over-audi-f1-future-decision/7413137/amp/

2025 will be the year when Audi is going to launch its final new model powered by a combustion engine. The next A4 will be arriving before that, effectively meaning the B10-generation model will serve as the swan song for TFSIs and TDIs. Given the typical life cycle of around seven years, it means you still have until around 2030 to get the midsize luxury car with cylinders and pistons. The revamped A4 is expected to debut towards the end of the year or early 2023, and in the meantime, it's been spotted testing in snowy northern Europe. We are pleasantly surprised to see the car has a smaller singleframe grille attached to what looks like the full production body. The disguise could be playing tricks on us but the front fascia appears to have a cleaner design. For example, the vertical air curtains in the front bumper are quite thin and the fog lights have likely been integrated into the main clusters. Speaking of which, the sleek headlights are the production ones and already show different LED graphics than the current A4's. Those basic taillights are certainly not the final ones. A small, rectangular cutout in the tailgate's camouflage reveals where the reverse lights are positioned and also gives away the true width of the rear lights. There seem to be horizontal lines between the taillights, suggesting the new A4 will have an LED light bar or at least a wide trim piece. The dual exhaust setup hints at a potent powertrain for what appears to be a larger vehicle. Images of the inside are not available in this batch, but we can already notice there's (thankfully!) no infotainment sticking out from the dashboard anymore. Judging by the license plate, it's the same test vehicle caught in early December 2021, but now with winter shoes to tackle the snowy climate. We are a bit puzzled as to why the sedan hasn't been spotted yet, but surely Audi will unveil the A4 in saloon guise first. There's also the possibility the Four Rings plan to show the more practical Avant from day one to mirror Mercedes and its latest C-Class, but that remains to be seen. Head of technical development Oliver Hoffman has announced the next A4 will get Audi's best combustion engines to date, complete with "more electrification, for sure, to meet the regs." Back in September 2019, the peeps from Ingolstadt revealed the next RS4 Avant will be a plug-in hybrid. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.motor1.com/news/561762/2023-audi-a4-winter-spy-photos/amp/

A twin-turbo V8 engine will power the Porsche and Audi LMDh prototypes under development for the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2023. Porsche has revealed that it is running what it described as "a large-capacity twin-turbo V8 unit" in its hybrid LMDh, which undertook its first shakedown tests earlier this month. The engine will be common to Volkswagen sister marque Audi's LMDh, which is being developed in parallel with the Porsche around the Canadian Multimatic organisation's next-generation LMP2 design. The capacity of the engine nor its origins have been released by Porsche, but the marque's new motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach indicated that the new motor is based on a production unit rather than being purpose designed for racing. “We were spoiled for choice with the engine for our LMDh prototype, because the product range offers several promising baseline units,” said Laudenbach. “We decided on the V8-biturbo, which we feel offers the best combination of performance characteristics, weight and costs." The only V8 in the Porsche road car line-up is the four-litre direct-injection twin-turbo found in both the four-door Panamera and the Cayenne SUV. The new race engine performed as expected during initial testing at Porsche's Weissach test facility, according to Urs Kuratle, overall project manager on the LMDh programme. "During these first test days at Weissach, the V8-biturbo impressed us in every respect," he said. "We’re convinced that we’ve chosen precisely the right unit.” Porsche stated in its latest LMDh announcement that the maximum power output of the engine is in the range of 480 to 520kW — or 643 to 697bhp — in line with the regulations for the new category. The combined power output of the internal combustion engine and the 40kW (53bhp) hybrid system developed by Williams Advanced Engineering, Bosch and Xtrac is capped at 520kW for the Le Mans 24 Hours and 500kW (670bhp) for other races. The only other details provided by Porsche in its latest statement were a maximum engine speed of 10,000rpm and that the engine together with its induction and exhaust systems weighs a minimum of 180kg as per the regulations. It is also fully compatible with the new biofuel WEC supplier TotalEnergies is introducing for the 2022 season. Also revealed in the latest statement was the name of the Team Penske-run factory operation that will represent Porsche in both the WEC and IMSA from next year: it will run under the Porsche Penske Motorsport banner. The roll-out for the Porsche LMDh with Frederic Makowiecki driving was the first outing for the new entity. "The squad worked well together right from the start: this shows a high level of professionalism in all areas," said Kuratle. "After all, the operational requirements for the safe running of a hybrid vehicle are very high. "In the next outings we will focus on going deeper into the required processes and procedures." Testing of the new Porsche was scheduled to move to a proper race circuit before the end of January. Porsche's announcement on Thursday morning was titled "The Porsche LMDh prototype enters active test phase". Audi revealed last year that its LMDh would run in the first quarter of 2022, but has yet to specify exactly when. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.motorsport.com/wec/news/porsche-audi-twin-turbo-v8-lmdh/7645033/amp/

I'd always go off the dipstick rather than the mmi one to be honest.

That's good then 🙂 glad you got sorted 🙂

That's not good! The average life of a battery is 5-7 years. Most come with a 3 year warranty. So might be worth seeing if you van get a refund on the current one.

My first port of call would be to get the battery checked for it's performance. As I failing battery can affected all sorts of electrical systems including stop/start.

If the option isn't in the mmi then that would lead me to believe it was an optional extra. You could always see if you could get it retrofitted. Or alternatively you could get an upgraded performance stainless steel exhaust.

Glad you got sorted 🙂

I'd get a second opinion from another garage but I wouldn't be cutting any corners where the braking system is concerned.

Glad this thread helped you 🙂

So glad we've saved you some money 🙂

The battery might need coding to the car. Once coded it should allow all systems to operate normally

I'd google car interior restorers or you could try local bodyshops as they should be used to replacing interiors.

Do t think the fix is available yet which is ridiculous.

I think it depends which radio you have. Concert is single CD. Symphony can have 6 CD.

It might have to go to a roof specialist or Audi.

I dont but I guess they'll base it on how many cars we have attending.

Definitely sone sort of phone holder.

Welcome to the forum you'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch 🙂 It might just be a different level of mmi. As it wwent in they should have done any required software updates on the mmi.

No probs at all. Surely it's just a seal that's gone? Let's fave it if it were more serious like a cracked diff you'd know about it. Might also be worth speaking to an audi parts department to see if they can tell you if there's a seal etc. They'll have schematics of the diff. Or should have.

Ive had a look for the individual recall codes but not found anything useful. If it's any consolation an update to the mmi or other software of the car is classed as a recall.

Audi should tell you whst the recalls are. Car washes seem to be dependent on the garage, often using covid as the excuse not to. My wife's jag gets a clean everytime at main dealer.

I suspect it can be refurbished. Your best bet is to speak to an audi specialist or a gearbox/diff specialist.

Definitely get the battery coded.