Audi A3 Sportback and S3

It’s very common for an automaker to fraction an important product’s release, with the simple reason of wanting to attract bigger attention. It’s a matter of taking advantage from the fact that each “event” of the car world gets almost the same attention from the media, which results better to take the spotlights one novelty at a time rather than sharing only one time among several products. Audi did that showing at first the 3-door A3, to now also enjoy everyone giving those two following versions their own 15 minutes of fame.

Considering that this blog’s articles usually start commenting on the mentioned car’s design, this one can be started in a very expressive way if we quote Warhol one more time. After all, we’ve looked so much at Audi’s current visual identity that it does seem to have lost its meaning. To be clear, this so-called complaint doesn’t go to the company’s design structure at all, but to its excessive repetition. Every single latest Audi carries black backgrounded headlights with a LED line, with large air intakes beneath them and a trapezoidal central air intake between all that, carrying the license plate at half-height. The sides use square windows visually connected and rounded by a chrome line and two big folds at the body to make the same light-and-shadow effect, while the rear end uses horizontal tail lights with more LEDs forming different shapes and the other license plate among them. The other brands use different interpretations of their current style rules, like Chevrolet and Ford, but Audi only adapts the same ones to each car’s size. Sure, this makes sure everyone knows there comes an Audi, but nothing more than that. From the front end, at least, it’s getting each time harder to distinguish an A1, A3, A4, A6, A8…

However, after that the compliments begin intensely. Hatchbacks usually offer their two possible body options as the same product only with two or four doors, but A3 makes a bigger difference between them. The Sportback version has increased at length and between-axles distance in order to give bigger trunk and internal space. This impression is confirmed by the exterior, who takes inspiration at its own previous generations by using three windows at the sides, LEDs at the trunk and even a roof rack, which is much more common at station wagons and minivans. Since all the sports potential has been concentrated at the three-door A3, the family parents who want to spice their Sportback a little must settle with the S-Line package who features the car at the pictures. This version also uses the brand new MQB platform, so the technical part mustn’t be different from its smaller brother. Using gasoline, Sportback’s diesel engines are 1.6 TDI with 105 hp and 2.0 TDI with 150 hp or 184 hp, with the main highlight going to the smaller one’s fuel consumption of 3,85 l/100 km. Among the gasoline options, there’s the TFSI team starting with the 1.2 and its 105 hp and followed by the 1.8 with 180 hp and the 1.4 with 122 hp or 140 hp – this one has a cylinder deactivation option, which brings itself the 4,76 l/100 km consumption.

While Sportback is the most familiar variation of A3, it was also revealed the other extreme of this line. The new S3 never took too much attention because of exclusive design parts, and now makes it even less with its accessories being sold to any A3 through the S-Line kit. The interior has special seats with better body support and several name logotypes to spice up a sy-equiped room, but this car is correctly observed opening the hood. It was made an entire new 2.0 TFSI with technologies like 1,2 bar turbo, variable valve timing and direct injection to achieve 300 hp. There’s a new magnesium manual transmission with six speeds, but S-Tronic is still availabe as optional. S3 also brings Drive Select system, to adjust several driving parameters according to five modes: Auto, Comfort, Dynamic, Efficiency and Individual. All this power takes it from 0 to 96 mph in 5s1, while the top speed couldn’t escape from the German cars’ electronic limit. Even with high performance oozing through many details such as the four exhaust pipes, all those cutting-edge technologies allow it to acheive the 7,14 l/100 km consumption. At Germany it’ll cost € 38.900. Until now there’s nothing known about the new RS3 or even a Sportback version of any of them.

Holden Commodore SSV

This one is for those who liked the VF Australian sedan unveiled just a couple of days ago, but would really prefer to change Calais’ black-tie to a more casual luxury. The sedan once again honors Holden’s sporty version, so that’s why there are beautiful wheels matching exclusive bumpers, which have bigger intakes and two twin exhaust pipes. The interior shares Calais’ top-notch equipment list, but coming in a black-with-silver combination only broken by the red lights. This car is expected to share Chevrolet’s V8 6.2L.

Volkswagen Golf R Cabrio

Sometimes, the “recipe” for creating a successful vehicle doesn’t demand millions of dollars invested in projecting new models from scratch. Complete renewals are always necessary after a certain time, but there are moments when it’s possible to make interesting additions to the showroom using mostly creativity and common sense. And since everyone likes to have good results and loves to have them without spending much money, that’s why VW decided to satisfy a popular request, now releasing this impressive convertible.

It’s interesting to observe that although Golf is a very traditional car, the families it generates on each generation never are. The sedan, for example, has followed it since the beginning but always with exclusive designs and different timing. The station wagon came only at the third phase and the fifth even had the Plus minivan variation, but the less common history surely is the convertible’s: adapting a conventional car to become roofless demands structural reinforcements and the entire removable roof system, which always raises the car’s cost. Therefore. in order to never have this cabrio too expensive, VW has used some special strategies. The second generation simply skipped this version, receving once again at the third. The fourth, in turn, was a very crafty facelift to give the new car’s front and rear styling to the older convertible. The fifth generation skipped the convertible again, and the sixth one receives it at the exact time when the seventh arrives. This doesn’t look like bad timing, though: since the new car uses an entirely different project, it seems like VW is trying to compensate the convertible’s higher costs by producing it on an already proven base. Anyway, the fact is this convertible only begins to describe a very nice example of what this article begins to comment.

In other words, besides the opportunity to keep selling Golf’s old platform for some time, since VW was releasing this very charismatic variation, why don’t take more advantage of it? Now it’s time to adapt the R version for the roofless version. There are the same elements of the hatchback, such as exclusive bumpers with more aggressive intakes and double exhaust tips, rear spoiler, 18” exclusive wheels (with an optional 19” set), lower suspension and the typical blue tone of the R line. The black fabric roof can be activated while driving at up to eighteen mph and takes eleven seconds to open or close. This car’s interior won’t be very different from what has been seen at this Golf’s phase, but once again the equipment list will be complete, including items such as bi-xenon headlights with daytime LEDs, performance seats and black-painted calipers, but the most awaited powertrain specifications to know definitely weren’t those: this car will bring once again the 2.0L TSi. There are 261 hp of power and 258 lb-ft of torque, paired to DSG transmission in order to achieve 6s4 from 0 to 60 mph and the electronically-limited 155-mph top speed. These numbers are so good that give this car the title of fastest VW convertible ever produced… along with a 8.26-l/100 km consumption, and the reminder that all of this was achieved with the exact opposite of projecting from scratch.

Volkswagen Gol e Voyage 2013

E mais uma vez chega esse momento. Quatro anos depois de ganhar seu segundo reprojeto profundo, os carros-chefe da VW alcançaram a fase em que se faz necessária uma re-estilização de meia-vida para continuar atrativos frente à ofensiva cada vez maior dos seus rivais. Suas mudanças foram mais profundas do que uma mera atualização visual, e procuraram encaixar-lhes melhor nas tendências mais recentes. Aliás, é de se esperar que a VW mantenha a prática desses 32 anos e já declare que a linha Gol chegou à ata geração.

Continuando a falar do esperável, hatch e sedã se converteram à atual linguagem de estilo usada pela marca. Mas não é um exagero especular que eles tenham sido os últimos VW em todo o mundo a fazê-lo, salvo exceções como o Beetle e a nossa eterna Kombi. Ou seja, a dianteira ganhou farois retangulares escurecidos com detalhes brancos, unidos por uma grade preta que faz o conjunto parecer uma faixa preta, situada acima de outra que por sua vez abriga os farois de milha. As laterais ganharam a coluna entre as janelas em preto e novas rodas, e por fim as lanternas mudaram um pouco. Essa descrição já se torna cansativa porque atende a uma enormidade de modelos da marca com excessiva semelhança. Agora temos modelos de base como o Gol, medianos como Golf europeu e Jetta e luxuosos como Passat ou mesmo o topo-de-linha Phaeton, todos com um desenho tão parecido que fica cansativo de ver. É claro, fica fácil de se perceber nas ruas que se tratam de carros de uma mesma marca, mas essa aparição massiva traz desvantagens que não são tão desprezíveis como se possa imaginar num primeiro momento.

O problema é que os lançamentos da VW se tornam previsíveis demais. O estilo atual nasceu com o Golf de ata geração, que por sua vez curiosamente veio na mesma época em que o nosso Gol virava G5 e ainda recebia a tendência anterior. Esses quatro anos de modelo após modelo chegando a um mesmo resultado acabaram por retirar toda a sensação de novidade que as marcas tanto almejam nos lançamentos. Claro, as lanternas do Gol trocaram a disposição de luzes e ficaram bonitas. Já as do Voyage ficaram mais largas e estreitas, aproveitando a tendência de invadir o porta-malas difundida pelo Fiat Siena. Mas não são nem um pouco diferentes, em nada. São carros que em poucas semanas já vão passar despercebidos nas ruas, em especial pelas vendagens massivas dessa linha. E toda essa exposição ainda tende a prejudicar os modelos mais caros, porque se levar um modelo de luxo da mesma marca de uma Kombi ou um Gol já é desmotivador, a situação só piora quando ele também passa a ter tanta semelhança de desenho com modelos que custam várias vezes menos.

Vale lembrar, aliás, que o Golf de nova geração chega em muito breve, e dessa vez os alemães têm planos de trazê-lo ao Brasil o quanto antes (ou deveriam ter, pelo menos). Então, a linguagem de estilo que ele trouxer vai voltar a pôr esse processo em prática… e o Golzinho aqui visto vai ficar desatualizado em tempo recorde outra vez. É inegável que as vendas da VW satisfazem a ponto de ela manter aquele plano de liderar a indústria automotiva mundial em poucos anos, mas valerá a pena consegui-lo através de ignorar a originalidade de estilo que vem imortalizando uma incontável diversidade de modelos há várias décadas?

A cabine mudou o revestimento dos bancos, o quadro de instrumentos adota iluminação branca para combinar com o vermelho usado nas telas de LCD. O sistema de som integrado ao console mudou, ganhando maior interatividade com a central eletrônica I-System. Um detalhe importante é que todo Gol ou Voyage agora traz vidros elétricos de série na dianteira e travamento central, além de alguns itens menores. Outro é que ele mudou a arquitetura eletrônica, e isso lhe trouxe novas funções. A Comfort Blinker, por exemplo, aceita o comando de seta com um toque mais leve na haste, enquanto o Emergency Stop Signal segue alguns carros de luxo: se o motorista pressiona o pedal de freio com muita força as luzes se acendem em forma intermitente, para chamar mais atenção, e quando ele pára as luzes de direção também acendem. Uma iniciativa curiosa é o Eco Comfort, que acompanha todos os exemplares com o I-System. Não traz nenhuma mudança, mas o computador de bordo passa a exibir mensagens que podem aparecer com o carro parado ou em movimento, como a de fechar as janelas quando com o ar-condicionado ligado, ou soltar o acelerador ao dar partida.

A tampa do porta-malas dos dois ganhou um interessante redesenho, ficando com aspecto mais limpo e elegante, mas não trouxe mudança na capacidade do compartimento. Já preocupação com a economia continua nos motores. O 1.0 passou por algumas melhorias e adota o sobrenome TEC, de Tecnologia de Economia de Combustível. Reduziu os índices de consumo e emissões, ao passo que potência e torque não mudaram. O 1.6 continua com a opção do câmbio automatizado I-Motion e também recebeu essas novidades, mas tampouco mudou estes últimos números. Ele não mereceu a tecnologia BlueMotion como uma versão mas sim como um pacote opcional, exclusivo para o 1.0 mas possível de se aplicar em hatch e sedã. Traz pneus 175/70 R14 de menor resistência à rolagem com calotas mais aerodinâmicas, e usa os indicadores de consumo instantâneo e troca de marcha surgidos com essa versão do Fox. O hatchback começa em R$ 27.990, enquanto o sedã parte de R$ 29.990.

Renault Fluence 2013

It doesn‘t take to be a car fan to notice the many levels of changes that can be performed into a vehicle. Since minor trim levels updates to a whole new project, this “science“ consists of considering several different factors to find the best possible combination to apply at each case. Some can‘t manage to collect the prize even with big investments, but there are others who have corrected only what was needed and therefore enabled themselves to an increased-sales future. Fluence now has definitely made its way to the second group.

What makes this topic very interesting to analyze is the variety of good and (specially) bad examples. Face-lifts should be only a short-or-medium-term update to boost the car’s sales at the second half of its current generation’s lifecycle, but they can only accomplish that when well done. There are some neutral examples, such as 1989 Fiesta’s updates for 1995 and 1999 or the 2005 Hilux’s updates for 2008 and 2011. However, looking to Fiat Multipla’s good sales from 2004 to 2010 gives the second reason to its facelift, following nothing more than meeting the 1998 car. Similar situation was faced by the 1978 Citroën Visa, which had only to change that hideous front design into a more conventional one in 1981 to see the sales prosper. Unfortunately, some cars end up losing the style harmony among the various attempts of looking modern and attractive, like the first Chevrolet Aveo: from a really neutral debut in 2003, it became a much more elegant car in 2006 but fall into the idea of being more sporty and came to 2008 with a very exaggerated design – similar fate was given to the Mexican first Chevrolet Chevy, which went from the widely known Corsa’s design to a particular one in 2004, and to what must be GM’s biggest front air intake ever made to a city car, in 2009.

When it comes to Fluence, despite of this one being its first official facelift it’s a fact that this car has already had its share of restylings. The car came in 2009 first as Samsung SM3 in South Korea, being restyled a few months later to receive Renault’s badge a few months later – in fact, some other Eastern markets decided to only rebadge the Korean car. The next year received the European’s electric version, and there came another different design to what was now called Fluence Z.E.. And to follow this pattern, the first facelift will be actually two “and a half”: there will be a new SM3, the new Fluence seen in this article’s pictures, and Mexico’s SM3 rebadged as Fluence – how many cars do you know that had seven different designs around the world in less than four years? The sedan enters 2013 with Renault’s new design identity, whose flagship car is the fourth-generation Clio. But it’s impressive to observe how it took only a new front bumper to finish this car’s natural opulence. The air intake became much wider to connect both headlights and a much bigger brand logo, resulting in a much stronger personality: Fluence now takes attention also from the front angle. And if it wasn’t hard to get a better-looking lower part than the 1990s-inspired one used by its previous phase, the new one brings the sophistication of the LED daylights along with grilles that give this car the elegance it has always deserved.