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    2020 Alfa Romeo 4C Spider Gets a 33 Stradale-Inspired Special Edition

    Alfa Romeo is sending off the 4C Spider with a special-edition 33 Stradale Tributo model that honors the 1967 33 Stradale mid-engine sports car.
    The 4C Spider 33 Stradale Tributo is finished in a new, exclusive Rosso Villa d’Este (red) with carbon-fiber trim, gold wheels, and a black and brown interior.
    They’re limited to 33 examples in North America and will cost $81,590 when they arrive in February.
    Alfa Romeo has discontinued the 4C coupe, and soon the 4C Spider is going to say goodbye, too. Alfa is sending off the little rear-wheel-drive targa with a special-edition model that honors the 1967 33 Stradale mid-engine sports car. Production is limited to 33 cars bound for North America, and they’re finished in an exclusive red with gold wheels.

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    Alfa Romeo

    The unique exterior color is called Rosso Villa d’Este, a new color specifically reserved for the 33 Stradale Tributo. Alfa Rosso and Rosso Competizione are the other red exterior color options available on the standard 4C Spider. The special red looks great paired with the gold five-hole wheels and the black suede and tobacco leather interior. It also comes standard with carbon-fiber trim and Italian flag mirror caps. And it wouldn’t be a limited-edition model without plaques on the dash, doorsills, and center console.

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    A 237-hp turbocharged four-cylinder engine powers the 2020 Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, and it sends power to the rear wheels through a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. During Car and Driver testing, a 2015 model launched to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds on its way to a 12.8-second quarter-mile at 107 mph. In 1968, an Alfa Romeo 33 coupe reached 60 mph in 6.0 seconds in our testing. The 4C Spider 33 Stradale Tributo comes with an Akrapovic dual-mode center-mounted exhaust and a race-tuned suspension.

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    Alfa Romeo

    The 2020 Alfa Romeo 4C Spider 33 Stradale Tributo will arrive in the U.S. in February, priced starting at $81,590. The special-edition cars come with a matching, numbered book that highlights the 4C’s design, technology, materials, the Modena factory, and the history of the 33 Stradale.
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    Mini Countryman Gets a Boardwalk Edition, Coming Spring 2021

    Mini is launching a new special-edition Countryman called the Boardwalk.
    The Countryman is the company’s best U.S. seller. The new-for-2021 version of the Countryman went on sale in July.
    U.S. pricing and quantities on the Boardwalk are expected closer to its spring 2021 launch.
    Mini is launching a new limited-run, special edition Countryman called the Boardwalk. The company says the name comes from “the promenades of traditional seaside resorts in Britain, home of the Mini brand.” It is available in Cooper and Cooper S versions, starting at the equivalent of around $42,000 in the U.K. (Here in the U.S., the regular 2021 Countryman starts just over $27,000.) Mini plans to offer the car here, but an official told Autoweek the automaker is “a bit of a ways” out for the U.S. model, so details are scarce.

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    U.S. production is set for a March time frame, with the first vehicles expected to arrive April/May, the official told us, adding that U.S. pricing and product details are still being worked out. “We’ll do a U.S.-specific announcement sometime in the first quarter closer to market launch that includes such details,” Autoweek was told. The Countryman is the company’s best U.S. seller, and the new-for-2021 version went on sale in July.
    For now, we know that the European version of the Boardwalk has sharp-looking Deep Laguna Blue metallic paint, rides on 19-inch alloy wheels and has a contrasting black roof and black roof rails as well as a power hatch and LED front and rear lights.

    Inside, the doorsills, the cockpit fascia, and the roof sport unique Boardwalk logos. For the Europe market, Mini is offering more standard equipment including a number of options from regular Countrymans as standard—mood lighting, illuminated handles, and external logo projections from the mirrors are among them. The interior also has piano-black detailing. A digital cockpit is included, too, alongside cruise control with automated emergency braking, automatic climate control, and heated seats. The Navigation package includes an 8.8-inch display, Apple CarPlay capability, and real-time traffic information. There’s also park assist, front parking sensors, and front- and rearview cameras.
    Remember, though, that this is the equipment Europe is getting. We’ll know more about our specs next spring.

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    Audi Design Chief Details 'Project Artemis,' Future Premium Autonomous Vehicle

    Audi’s head of design, Marc Lichte, says the upcoming autonomous vehicle that will come out of the automaker’s Project Artemis effort will be a “revolution.”
    The vehicle, rumored to be code-named Landjet, will be built on the PPE architecture that will underpin high-end electric vehicles from Audi, Porsche, and Bentley.
    It is expected to be unveiled in 2024 and is targeting offerings from Tesla with a focus on long-distance traveling.
    We asked Audi design chief Marc Lichte in an interview how the company’s future vehicle designs will evolve thanks to electric powertrains. In response, he shared a few more bits of information about the automaker’s Project Artemis, its effort to build an autonomous vehicle. The upcoming car “will be a revolution,” he said.
    The vehicle in question is in a super-high-premium segment, according to the designer, and its use case is long-distance traveling. “We will come up with a radical new concept. This car looks completely different,” Lichte said. At its core, it will be an autonomous vehicle that would remove any need for controls, and that gives the designers at Audi the ability to pursue a new approach to how a car should look.

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    Rumors have circulated that the vehicle being developed under Project Artemis, which is being helmed by former Porsche race-car engineer Alexander Hitzinger, is code-named Landjet. Whatever the internal name, the vehicle is expected to be unveiled in 2024 and will be based on the modular PPE EV architecture developed by Audi to be used in Audi, Porsche, and Bentley vehicles.
    Lichte’s comments line up with what we’ve already learned about Project Artemis, the automaker and VW Group’s future weapon to take on Tesla. Volkswagen wants to address Tesla’s EV market dominance and also to have a self-driving car on the road as a competitor to its Autopilot.
    The car is currently in progress in Lichte’s design studio. He tells us that Audi will completely change the layout of the interior, while the exterior will be equally different than what we’re used to seeing from the automaker. We’ll look forward to seeing it.
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    The Most Iconic Engines: Window Shop with Car and Driver

    Unlike most of the challenges we face as Window Shoppers, this week’s contest has less to do with cars than it does what powers them. We set out to find the most iconic engines, engines that helped define a brand, made a mark in history, or were just spectacular. The car is important, but the engine is king. If you watch, you may wonder why no one chose a Chevy small-block V-8 or a Mopar Hemi. That’s a fair question, and the answer is that each of us incorrectly assumed someone else would pick them.
    Instead, we presented slightly less obvious choices. Contributing editor Brett Berk found a sedan with the engine from the 1950s Mercedes-Benz 300SL. Deputy testing director K.C. Colwell also found a transplant job, selecting a four-door with the heart of an Audi R8. Contributor Jonathon Ramsey decided that infamy could make an engine iconic and put up a 2011 Volkswagen diesel for judgement. And we couldn’t argue with that logic, particularly when you consider how far-reaching the media coverage and consequences of Dieselgate were.In addition to engines, we discuss car phones, German chancellors, the ideal buyer for a car with fold-flat front seats, Ford Aerostar crash-test results, and things that can go wrong on the last of Porsche’s air-cooled flat-sixes. We even dig into why Colwell hates sunroofs. Clearly, this episode goes off the rails, but you’re used to that by now, right?
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