SUVs and V8 engines have always gone well together, but because of gas prices people have gotten it in their heads that only V6 engines or diesels make sense because the offer better economy. The one saving grace of big power in big SUVs came when BMW and Mercedes started making M and AMG versions of their monsters. But when Audi decided to do the same somebody at Ingolstadt must have though “No, no, no. We must make sensible car” and so they put a TDI diesel… a V12.
It was one of the craziest ideas in contemporary automotive history. It cost a fortune to buy, had 500 PS, nearly as much as a BMW M5 of the time, and most importantly had a mountain of torque.
Despite having the aerodynamics of a house and well over 2 tons to carry around, it will blitz just about anything if it’s wet on the road, which, let’s admit it, is most of the time in Europe.
“Want to see it drag racing?” somebody might ask. Yes please! We found just the right crazy clip for you. It’s a bit old, but so is the car, so that doesn’t surprise us one bit. The clip contains just the kinds of things you’d expect to happen at night when the roads are empty. There’s drifting in an intersection, sprints and just good ol’ hooliganism. 170 km/h on a public road – no problem whatsoever… for the Russians.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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