New 2.0T Quattro ranked 1st in AWD Sports Sedan camparo.
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3rd Gear
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,667
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RE: New 2.0T Quattro ranked 1st in AWD Sports Sedan camparo.
ORIGINAL: pturbo
I saw a report on some new AWD vehicles last night on tv. Part of the test was comparing the AWD sedans to their RWD counterparts for Lexus, BMW, Infiniti, etc. on an ice rink. Needless to say the AWDs outperformed the RWD on slick surfaces. The testers weren't very hot on AWD though unless a person lived in an area that got a lot of snow. They said that otherwise it made no meaningful handling difference - then they conceded that it would help some in the rain...but not enough to matter. They argued against the extra cost, weight and maintenence on more moving parts in an AWD system. What do you think of that?
I saw a report on some new AWD vehicles last night on tv. Part of the test was comparing the AWD sedans to their RWD counterparts for Lexus, BMW, Infiniti, etc. on an ice rink. Needless to say the AWDs outperformed the RWD on slick surfaces. The testers weren't very hot on AWD though unless a person lived in an area that got a lot of snow. They said that otherwise it made no meaningful handling difference - then they conceded that it would help some in the rain...but not enough to matter. They argued against the extra cost, weight and maintenence on more moving parts in an AWD system. What do you think of that?
I haven't test driven all of those cars, but I got to believe that an advanced AWD system that is moving torque independently to each wheel has some handling advantages in almost any road condition.
3rd Gear
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,580
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RE: New 2.0T Quattro ranked 1st in AWD Sports Sedan camparo.
That's odd, because SPEED, R&T's bastard child tuner magazine, gave the B7 S-line a big "Meh" in its AWD sport sedan shootout.
They compared a 2.0T quattro tip (lame) S-line to the Subaru Legacy GT Spec B and the Mazdaspeed 6, gave 1st to the Mazda, 2nd to the Subie, and distant last to the Audi. Overall, 190.7 points out of 200 to the Mazda, 189.2 to the Subie, and 167.9 to the Audi. Said it was slow, heavy, and understeered piggishly.
They compared a 2.0T quattro tip (lame) S-line to the Subaru Legacy GT Spec B and the Mazdaspeed 6, gave 1st to the Mazda, 2nd to the Subie, and distant last to the Audi. Overall, 190.7 points out of 200 to the Mazda, 189.2 to the Subie, and 167.9 to the Audi. Said it was slow, heavy, and understeered piggishly.
4th Gear
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 4,388
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RE: New 2.0T Quattro ranked 1st in AWD Sports Sedan camparo.
ORIGINAL: QuattroGT74
I agree with that assessment. There is a significant weight and price penalty for awd. However, Quattro is pretty much unbeatable in the wet, sleet, or snow. A true RWD car certainly "feels" better, and usually handles better (in terms of real numbers), but that is not always the case - proved by such cars as the 911 Turbo, STi and Evo etc etc. But I agree that RWD usually "feels" better to drive in dry conditions.
I personally agree with this. As I said above, RWD seems to give you that intangible feeling that you don't get with AWD but when it comes to hard handling numbers, it's really hard to argue against cars like the Turbo, STi, and Evo. I'm a big fan of AWD
ORIGINAL: pturbo
I saw a report on some new AWD vehicles last night on tv. Part of the test was comparing the AWD sedans to their RWD counterparts for Lexus, BMW, Infiniti, etc. on an ice rink. Needless to say the AWDs outperformed the RWD on slick surfaces. The testers weren't very hot on AWD though unless a person lived in an area that got a lot of snow. They said that otherwise it made no meaningful handling difference - then they conceded that it would help some in the rain...but not enough to matter. They argued against the extra cost, weight and maintenence on more moving parts in an AWD system. What do you think of that?
I saw a report on some new AWD vehicles last night on tv. Part of the test was comparing the AWD sedans to their RWD counterparts for Lexus, BMW, Infiniti, etc. on an ice rink. Needless to say the AWDs outperformed the RWD on slick surfaces. The testers weren't very hot on AWD though unless a person lived in an area that got a lot of snow. They said that otherwise it made no meaningful handling difference - then they conceded that it would help some in the rain...but not enough to matter. They argued against the extra cost, weight and maintenence on more moving parts in an AWD system. What do you think of that?
I haven't test driven all of those cars, but I got to believe that an advanced AWD system that is moving torque independently to each wheel has some handling advantages in almost any road condition.
