Not long ago, I was crushed to hear that Audi would be dropping their excellent 4.2-liter V8 engine in the S5 for a similarly capable but less enthusiastic supercharged V6. While the forced induction V6 can haul the car along just as well as the V8, there’s just something about that engine’s smoothness, power delivery, sound, and personality that no V6 can match.

The plans were to scrap the V8 for 2011 model year in the S5, but word just came through that Audi might be reconsidering. I’ve voiced my opinion personally to an Audi product rep in the past, and he (as well as many of his Audi coworkers) agreed that the stupendous V8 could not be matched, but Audi was basing the decision on logical reasons. Since when was car enthusiasm based on logical reasoning?

Based on growing enthusiasm from consumers and enthusiasts, Audi decided it might be smart to keep the 4.2-liter V8 we all love for at least through the 2011 model year. The S5 coupe will be the primary victor here, and expect the S5 convertible (bleh) to stick to the supercharged V6 plans. That’s alright, I’ll pass on the drop-top.

Critics – argue all you want about power output and weight advantage from a smaller, forced induction engine matching or beating that of a higher displacement version, and I’ll agree with you. But you can’t argue the audio. The S5 has one of the best sounding V8s on the road, and no V6, no matter how powerful can beat that. Sound is a very important purchasing factor in performance cars, by the way.

Audi navigation system with traffic lane guidance

Audi is updating their already good navigation system in the A3, TT, and R8. The new nav system plus MMI features a higher, 800×480px resolution displayed on a 6.5-inch screen for improved readability and graphics. Route calculation is now much faster due to an upgraded 600 MHz processor.

The new system will display the speed limit on your current road as well, and will allow for more dynamic scrolling and navigating along the screen. In the optional Audi music interface, they’ve also updated the display of music information such as title information, making it easier to browse through your music on external storage. A bluetooth adapter can be used to stream music to the car wirelessly from your phone or MP3 player, and updates to the system can be downloaded yourself and applied via a USB stick.

The back of the folding display features two SD card slots that can hold up to 32 GB of music – enough to never have to change it out again. Lastly, the new optical parking assistant displays distance between you and an object on both front and rear, and in the R8 can be integrated into the rearview camera.

Self-Driving Audi A8

If these spy shots from AutoExpress tell us anything, we might not be driving our own cars in the near future. The shot above clearly shows three different cameras – one in each foglight position and one mounted behind the rear-view mirror of an A8 test car. The cameras will scan in front of the car, detecting obstructions, helping avoid a collision, or possibly driving the car around turns for us so we can take a nap.

Not exactly a new thought or technology, but they’re serious enough about it to do real-world testing, which means that we might see this in our cars within the next few years. Honda has already implemented a similar technology – a safety feature that helps to keep you in your lane – and Infiniti has Lane Departure Assistance, which tugs you in the right direction if you drift out of your lane.