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2015 Audi A3 configurator is up and running

Potential customers for the new Audi A3 should set aside some time during their lunch breaks to head over and build their ideal example of the new sedan. The official configurator, complete with pricing and options, has gone live on the Audi website.
Customers can choose from three trim levels (Premium, Premium Plus and Prestige), while each trim can be had with either the Volkswagen Group's familiar 2.0-liter, turbocharged, 220-horsepower four-cylinder or a 1.8-liter, turbocharged, 170-horsepower four-cylinder. Buyers of the 2.0-liter will enjoy Quattro all-wheel drive while power for the 1.8T is channeled through the front wheels only. A six-speed, S-Tronic dual-clutch transmission is standard across the range.
You can check out full pricing on the A3 right here, but as a means of recap, the base Premium trim with the 1.8-liter engine starts at $29,900. A Premium Plus 1.8T starts $32,800 and the Prestige 1.8T will cost $38,700. Adding a 2.0-liter turbo and Quattro increases the price by $3,000, regardless of trim. Those prices don't include an $895 destination charge.

Audi's next-gen "matrix beam lighting system" under threat from Washington

Automotive News reports Audi may have a hard road ahead of it when it comes to convincing federal regulators to allow the company's new matrix beam lighting. The system uses small cameras to detect other vehicles on the road and darkens specific elements of the high-beam pattern to provide maximum nighttime visibility without blinding other drivers. Audi has been displaying this technology on its concept cars for a couple of years now (including the Crosslane Coupe Concept shown above at its 2012 Paris Motor Show reveal). Audi hopes the technology will effectively do away with the industry's current high and low beam settings, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration doesn't allow such a system under its current laws. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108 specifically says headlamps are not to shine in this dynamic of a way.
Audi has asked has asked NHTSA for more clarification to determine what, if any elements of the matrix beam lighting technology can legally be used on US-specification vehicles. But American buyers may have to settle for systems that automatically dim their high beams until the rules get a bit more clarification.

Audi 4.2-liter V8 to live again in next-gen R8

Fellow auto enthusiasts, it looks like the car gods have smiled upon us. Word is that Audi's stupendous 4.2-liter V8 will once again be available in the next-generation R8. Rumors pegged the trusty 4.2 as a dead engine revving, thanks to Audi's newer 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8 found in models like the S6 and S7.
We expected the 4.0-liter to be the go-to engine in the next R8, but according to Car and Driver, there have been some issues cooling the force-induced mill in the mid-engine R8. The issues are so severe, in fact, that the 4.2 is going to be retained in the car's second generation.
It's more than just practical matters like cooling that are keeping the R8 from going turbocharged. C/D reports that even with the current state of forced induction, a turbocharged R8's throttle response and its resultant exhaust note would suffer too much to be feasible.