a7

Wow, where did this car come from? Audi's new A7 has audacious styling, cutting-edge technology, and great performance you can use every day. Brian Cooley takes you for a drive to check the tech.

(Read the full CNET review of the 2012 Audi A7 to see why we gave it an Editors' Choice.)

New York taxis move into the automotive future...Google street view is coming to VW dashboards...we take a look at the best low-tech car tech...and we roll in the amazing Audi A7 Sportback.

• CNET drives the 2012 Audi A7 3.0T

• Google Street View coming to VW dashboards soon

• New Sirius XM channel lineup

• What Satellite Radio 2.0 will look like

• Slideshow: CNET's picks for low-tech car tech

• CNET's LOLcars gallery!

Spending a good chunk of change on a luxury ride usually means sacrificing fuel economy. But the 2012 Audi A7, which starts at $59,250--plus $875 shipping charges--promises to offer top fuel economy for its class.

The A7 rides on an aluminum-hybrid lightweight construction, with aluminum body panels and a steel frame, which allows for a U.S. EPA rating of 18 mpg in the city and 28 mpg on the highway, a combined 22 mpg.

Inside the A7 is an Audi first: a heads-up display with a high-resolution, full-color display, which were also recently introduced in the Audi A8. … Read more

The competition for the luxury coupe-style sedan market just got a little thicker, as BMW gave its Gran Coupe concept the nod.

The sedan will go head-to-head with other four-door vehicles with coupe styling, such as the Mercedes CLS, Audi's upcoming A7, and the Porsche Panamera, according to AutoWeek. The Gran Coupe, which is slated for production in 2012, will use the same power train as the 5, 6, and 7 series, which opens the door to a hybrid option. However, that has yet to be confirmed.

(Source: AutoWeek)

Chevy prices the Volt - gulp. How to just about steal a Volt or Nissan Leaf. A first drive in the new VW Jetta, Ford Explorer & Mitsubishi electric car. And the James Bond car museum is gonna' be where?

• Cooley takes you for a spin in the Mitsubishi i MiEV

• Chevy prices the Volt. Too expensive?

• First drive in the new 2011 Jetta

• New 2011 Ford Explorer is a different SUV for different times

• Nissan Leaf

• James Bond car museum to locate south of Chicago. Way south.… Read more

Considering all the interesting forms that loudspeakers can and do take, the latest pair from Snell is almost inexcusably boring. Then again, this is the same company that has deliberately tried to conceal other products, so maybe it's just not interested in appearances.

Electronic House gushes over the Reference Tower A7 Loudspeaker's "dual 5.25-inch magnesium midranges mounted over and under a silk dome tweeter, combined with twin 10-inch long-throw woofers for exceptional smoothness and dynamic range." Still, at a price of $35,000, one might expect a little more effort applied to the aesthetic factor. … Read more

One of the major themes of this year's CES is mobile TV: yesterday, Verizon confirmed it will be bringing live full-length television programming to selected handsets, and then Samsung revealed it had developed a technology to enable local TV stations to broadcast digital programs to cars and mobile devices. For those road warriors who can't wait for either of the these solutions for their fix of Regis and Kelly, the answer might just be KVH's TracVision A7.

Developed in collaboration with DIRECTV, the A7 enables drivers to pick up 185 channels, including local network stations. To do … Read more