Could An Audi R4 Roadster Be As Big A Hit As The R8?

Not if any of the versions are FWD... FWD has no place in a luxury manufacturer's lineup - End Of Story!

Agreed..

I don't know which comment is further from the truth. The one from DaHarder or the one from david969!
True luxury is not something that's necessarily recognized by the masses. Reminds me of a scene from the movie "Working Girl" where Joan Cusak's character, upon seeing a simple black Armani dress with a $5000 price tag, exclaims "Five thousand dollahs! It's not even leathah!"

And look at all the features you get on a Timex watch. Surely a Pateck Philippe cannot match it.

First they dis the Porsche 911, now the Boxster.

And they are the same company.

What's up with that?

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Sometimes I wonder whether those "journalists" who have been employed to manufacture portal content about motoring do have any clue what are they talking about.

Excerpt from the news:

" engines [...] would be placed mid-section like in the R8. [...] while the lesser versions get FWD."

Rear mounted engines and front wheel drive? That would have to be the most idiotic drivetrain setup in the world, small wonder no one has ever built such thing yet. Drive shaft and the space robbing chassis mid tunnel are mandatory (which is expensive) yet the car would suffer from excessive understeer because of front wheel not being laden enough (engine in the middle) and simultaneously having grip stolen for the purpose of propulsion.

The only reasonable way for Audi to engineer this car is to recycle (maybe next gen) Boxter guts and offer it a bit cheaper. Otherwise it would not make any sense to purposely build an entirely new mid engine setup for a not that expensive (Audi can't charge that much as Porsche because of the badge) low volume seller which won't be a promotional halo car like the R8 is. TT does the small coupe job better than anything else and is very cheap to make as it's just a Golf with some go faster toys.

I just don't get where this vehicle would be slotted? Would it not cannibalize the sales of the TT? I cannot imagine that this would be smaller than the TT, and it does not looking like it would be larger...

Can someone please tell me which market niche this vehicle would slot into...

The above car is not the likely upcoming R4. I am not sure where you get your information Inspirion7, but the R4 will be a mid-engined sports coupe that will either replace the iconic TT or become the next generation TT (which is very likely based off recent focus groups by Audi). The above would be a complete separate model line if Audi even decides to do it which is unlikely as they are going for th R4 concept instead.

I wouldnt say as big as the R8..... But I WOULD say BIGGER. Consider how the R4 is probably first of all not going to be over 100k... And second of all the TT was a very hot car.. atleast I thought it was. So maybe this R4 should live up to its name as well.

"Could An Audi R4 Roadster Be As Big A Hit As The R8?"

NO.

Rear Engine/FWD? LOL!!!

Audi is on crack!! Why not just make the "lessor" models RWD and the other models Quattro? Seems really retarded.

I'll bet that Audi knew the car in RWD, would actaully be a better driver than the AWD version. So instead of exposing the AWD system as not really being needed, they decided not to compete with themselves. Either that or Audi just loves FWD.

Either way, having all of their vehicles FWD or AWD makes the brand look like all of their cars are designed to be FWD cars. Not good for a premium make (might as well be Volvo). Does Audi even make a RWD vehicle? Audi seems so hell bent on FWD that they are spending an additional cost routing the drivtrain from the rear to the front, when they could have just made it rear-wheel drive and not have to deal with the routing the drivtrain to the front?

What the hell is wrong with Audi?

If you really believe that Audi will make this car Mid engine and FWD.... you are a lost cause...

Audi is the lost cause. Because if they do not make this car Rear-engined then all it is, is another TT. What will make this model different than the TT? Why would Audi produce 2 different cars that are virtually the same?

And oh yeah... It's not a matter or not of weather I believe what "worldcarfans" have written about the new Audi. Maybe you should address your concerns to them?

Mid engine and FWD. Wow. Also most probably there won't be '1.4 litre' mid engine. Article/source is clueless. Only Photoshop photo is good, rest is only stories.

JUGNU

I would first reference the article for information. Secondly, why would this not work? True the market for coupes are limited, but it could be produced in limited numbers being that most of the engineering would have been done by VW. I'm sure Seat would have a model as well. The TT is 164.5 in., in length compared to the 157in. for the BlueSport Roadster. This could be marketed like Porsche did with the Cayman/ Boxster/ and 911 models. The Audi R4 could be a pure sports coupe while the TT goes after the avante garde types that like to wear "stretchy pants". Could you image the car with 350 hp S model?!!! Shazam!