2018 AUDI Q8 VS Porsche 911 TARGA 4 GTS

AUDI Q8 VS Porsche 911 TARGA 4 GTS
AUDI Q8 2018 VS Porsche 911 TARGA 4 GTS 2018
2018 AUDI Q8 VS 2018 Porsche 911 TARGA 4 GTS

2018 AUDI Q8 :
Audi’s recent SUV product offensive shows no sign of letting up and the firm has an new 4x4 in the pipeline for 2018, which will sit right at the top of the range as a flagship vehicle and a rival for the likes of the Range Rover. It’ll be the all-new Q8, a car previewed in concept form at two of this year’s biggest motor shows so far – the Detroit show in January and Geneva in March. Judging by the styling of the concepts it’ll be a large but rakish SUV, sitting above the Q7 with a slightly more coupe influenced side profile similar to other premium SUVs like the BMW X6 and Mercedes GLE Coupe. When the Q8 goes into production it’ll be built at Audi’s Bratislava plant in Slovakia, sharing a production line with the Q7. The concept shares a similar footprint to the current Q7 – it’s over five metres long and has a wheelbase of three metres – but is 40mm lower. A sloping roofline and tapered rear end mean the concept only has four seats, however the production version is expected to be available with a five-seat layout. The Q8 concept has a 630-litre boot. Showcased as a plug-in hybrid e-tron model, the Q8 concept is powered by a 3.0-litre TFSI engine paired with an electric motor, which runs from a 17.9kWh lithium-ion battery. The powertrain develops a combined 438bhp and 700Nm of torque. Audi claims 0-62mph takes 5.4 seconds and the car has a top speed of 155mph, while it emits 53g/km of CO2. Power is delivered via an eight-speed automatic gearbox and quattro four-wheel drive. There’s a good chance the petrol-electric powertrain will be made available in the production model, because Audi says: “Their use in the study demonstrates their importance once again.” On electric power alone, the Q8 concept can travel up to 37 miles, and the lithium-ion battery takes two and a half hours to fully recharge. Those wanting more performance will eventually be able to upgrade to an Audi SQ8. The high performance model is likely to use the same 4.0-litre bi-turbo V8 diesel as the SQ7, developing 429bhp. When asked about the SQ8 in Detroit, Audi’s board member for sales and marketing, Dietmar Voggenreiter said, “That’s something I would like to do.” The concept adopts a wider version of Audi’s single-frame octagonal grille, which is flanked by new matrix LED headlamps.

2018 Porsche 911 TARGA 4 GTS:
If you’ve driven along the edge of Donner Lake in Truckee, California, anytime in the past 15 years, you’ve noticed that turbocharged, all-wheel-drive automobiles parked along the side of the road aren’t exactly an uncommon sight. The Euer Saddle, marked as Donner Summit on I-80, sits at an elevation of 7239 feet and the lake itself at 5936. To the south, Echo Summit on Highway 50 reaches 7382 feet, while the Carson Pass on State Route 88 hits 8574. Even Reno, just down the mountain—and the former home of Porsche’s North American arm—lies at a 4505-foot elevation, not a whole lot lower than Denver. Up there, forced induction is a must to maintain performance in the thin air. Donner Pass also holds the distinction of being one of the snowiest places in the country, at least when California isn’t suffering from a drought. Until recently, the only Porsche 911 perfectly suited to the high-altitude sports-car mission was the extra-spendy 911 Turbo, which has featured four driven wheels since the end-of-the-aircooled-era 993 generation. Now, of course, every 911 except for the GT3 has a pair of charge-enhancing snails bolted to its flat-six engine. We predict a lot of 997 and 991.1 Carrera 4 models will find themselves listed on Reno/Tahoe’s Craigslist in short order, with a number of them, undoubtedly, replaced with a 2018 911 Targa 4 GTS...
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