Anyone know how the Quattro works on the A3 3.2? I know on the A4 its permanently engagedall wheel drive but I heard on the A3 it is predominatly front wheel drive that goes toward 50:50 when necessary. When I test drove the 2.0T and 3.2 models the 2.0T had noticeable torque steer, wheel hop, wheel spin and understeer especially when powering out of left and right turnsbut I didn't notice any of this with the 3.2 Quattro. I'm not keen on FWD.I've driven RWD cars for most of my live and am a "spirited" driver with a heavy right foot. My current car (for the past 5 years) is a BMW330i (RWD) with sport suspension. Am I going to be OK with the A3 Quattro? Is it going to tend to understeer toward the limit(I'm used to oversteer)? Or would I be better off with the A4 2.0T or 3.2 Quattro?

 

Hi. I went from a 540i to my A3 and love it. I test drove a 330i while I was shopping around for a car and ended up with an A3. You had mentioned that you test drove the A3 3.2 - that's a quattro. What did you think?
The best advice I can give you is to test drive them and see what you like or don't like. I can't really say what you would or would not like.

 

If you're a real performance driver and care about real handling, no front wheel drive car will do it for you. Even cars like the Acura Integra and Mini Cooper, regarded as the best handling FWD cars of all time, just don't have the dynamics and control of a AWD or RWD car.

I've taken an extensive test drive in a 330i with the perfomance pacakge, and it handled much better and was much more balanced than my A3 3.2 Quattro. However, the Quattro is no frills when it comes to grip and off-the-line stability. It's probably not as fun in the summer, but come winter and snow, it'll be a blast. The 3.2 Quattro does understeer at the limit, but it is nowhere near as much as a FWD car.

The strange thing is that when you're understeering close to the limit, a little more throttle will quell that understeer for a while. It's a strange sensation, the more gas you give it, the more it just grips. If you punch it hard out of a corner in the wet, it'll oversteer.

Plus the interior appointments are far above the BMW. If you are all about 100% no compromise performance, stay with BMW. Otherwise, get the Quattro.'

 

And a RSB will greatly reduce the understeer problem should you go w/ the 2.0T.

 

You can upgrade the Haldex 2 controller, as I did in my A3, and get something like permanent 60/40 front/rear, instead of the standard FWD-biased configuration. The upgraded Haldex 2 controller seems to reduce understeer noticeably, although until I install the selector switch for the controller, which will let me select stock mode again for comparisons, the jury's still out. There are threads at vwvortex on this, notably <http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3403529>, as well as a thread or two over at audiworld, and prolly here as well...

 

I wish the Haldex 2 controller wasn't 1,000 dollars. Lord! 500 and I would have one.

 

Thats nottotally true, If you are just going in a straight line it definitely is, but for real performance driving (includes turns) front wheel drive holds its own up to a point, Also for snow and slick conditions fwd is better then RWD. Many performance oriented drivers have traded in ther nissan z's, porsche'sand bmw's for mini's because of its superb handling. they will never accelerate as fastas allwheel drive or rear wheel drive, but they do perform very well.

 

I don't think you'll get any argument that for snow and slick conditions fwd is better then RWD but I have doubts that many performance oriented porsche and bmw drivers are flocking to minis in droves. I sure haven't. In fact, outside of considering the A3 and A4 Quattros as my next car, I've even been considering getting yet another RWD BMW even though I live in CO where RWD is notthe drivetrainconfiguration preferred by most.As for FWD holding its own up to a point...unfortunately when you cross that point you tend to understeer off the road. ;-)
Just my 2c. No offense intended.

 

Yea, I doubt hardcore BMW drivers are getting Minis for the handling. Even if a Mini has more grip than, say, my A3 Quattro, it still doesn't drive like my A3 Quattro. Regardless of power, a FWD car is going to understeer at the limit unless you handbrake or really, really, really throw it into a turn... and even then it isn't as controllable.

A FWD does have it's advantages... less weight, cheaper, better control in wet/snow (better than RWD at least). But when it comes to a dry track, even if there is tons and tons of Mini-like FWD grip, it's just not as good as a decent RWD car... defentially not as good as the lowest Porsche or a Nissan 350z.

And the Mini isn't really a good example anyways, it gets it's grip and handling from the fact that it is Mini... hence the name. A stock 2.0t FWD A3 would be slower around a track than a 2.0t Quattro A3, even with the weight difference.