I guess that's important when this is at the back of the engine?So?
They‘re nowhere near as effective as the Mercedes linkage.
When I say vertical, I mean straight up. 90 degrees.
No prop rod can accomplish that.
Or when "remove the engine" is the second step for many repairs? Taking that hood off all the time would be annoying!
Anyways I'm just grinding your gears, I'm glad you enjoy driving and maintaining your german cars, they are pretty unique and not ever going to be built again.
I'm not in the market for them, but when I see Audi put something like the above in a car, I always think that modern pushrod v8 is a better in almost every measure, except perhaps power at high revs... Mileage, power, weight, overall size, is all very close with much less complexity.