Vehicles Axed in 2013

Five-cylinder engines are typically about as enjoyable as running a cheese grater across your genitals. They’re an off-kilter middle finger to physics and everything Newton stood for. The 2.5-liter unit Volkswagen recently euthanized was gritty, inefficient and moaned like a constipated camel. But they’re not all terrible.

The 2.5-liter fiver found under the Audi TT-RS’s hood belted out 360 turbocharged horses and screamed like a street-legal racecar. It was matched exclusively to a six-speed manual transmission. Power was sent to all four of the petite performance car’s corners via quattro all-wheel drive. Needless to say this was an enthusiast’s machine, and it sat at the top of the Audi’s TT lineup. We’re sad to see this steroidal car perish, but it’s a goner.