New Audi A3 Black Edition S-Line

First of all, I’m pretty sure this has nothing to do with Barack Obama becoming the US President. The new Audi A3 Black Edition is available in all three Audi A3 bodytypes, namely the 3-door, the 5-door Spotback and the Audi A3 Cabriolet. Available powertrain options are the 1.8 liter and 2.0 liter TFSI engines, and two different 2.0 TDI engines.

The A3 Black Edition is based on the S-Line trim level and features a de-chromed front grille, black surrounds for the roll bars and shoulderline for the Cabriolet, 18 inch S-line alloy wheels with a dark titanium finish, privacy glass from the B-pillar to the back, and also Brilliant Black paint. If you want, Phantom Black is also available at extra cost. Audi is even allowing you to choose a non-black premium colour if you pay more - Misano Red and Monza Silver. But what’s the point of a Black Edition car when it’s no black?

Even on the inside, the black theme carries on. The interior features high gloss Piano black inlays, and the Cabriolet version is specced with a black acoustic hood.

And the Cheapest Car in America, Today, is…

The 2008 Nissan Versa!

While some manufacturers are trying to come out on top with the best looking, or fastest vehicle for their customers buck, others try to starve their overall package just enough to literally come out with the cheapest vehicle on the market.

As of today, which is November 18th, 2008, the cheapest buy for an American would appear to be the 2008 Nissan Versa sedan, which comes to us at an amazing $9,990.00 (without tax, handling, and shipping)… which is about $9 less that what we were expecting. $9,999.00 just flows off the tongue a little easier we think.

The Versa beats out GM’s Chevrolet Aveo, which the last time we reported the cheapest car in America, was holding up at around $10,300.00. So how did Nissan do it? What could they possibly have left off (that we don’t really need) to get down to such an all-time low for 2008?

Well, the Flintstones cut-outs were considered, but later dropped for the ideal of installing one of the smallest engines that has ever been offered here in the states, a 1.6 liter. The previous 1.8 liter bare bones package Versa came in at around $13,685, but take off .2 liters, air-conditioning, automatic transmission, and strip down all traces of what could be perceived as “accentuating trim”, and suddenly you’re in the history books.

Similar to the bare bones Chevrolet Aveo package, you are not looking at too much over a few seats, steering wheel, windows for air-conditioning, a hood to keep the engine from falling out, and of course 4 wheels, so the thing actually rolls.

The only grudge we can think of, is a mpg rating of 26 city and 34 highway, just seems awfully inefficient if you take into account that it has just a little over 100 horsepower of juice. So is the juice worth the squeeze on the new bare bones 1.6 liter Nissan Versa?

Actually, all jokes aside, the word from most reviewers is that this is not a bad deal if you are really wanting a reliable brand new car at a used car price. It’s got that new car smell, has its warrant fully intact, and if you can do without the creature comforts of plush seats, climate control, traction control, etc., then this would certainly appear to be of respectable value.

Nissan Versa SL 2008 & Mont Cosmos Observatory, originally uploaded by digitalpingouin.