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Sure on a wet road even the most
simplistic AWD system will beat
a FWD or RWD car.
I have no doubt about that.
What I dislike about both the Haldex and the
Torsen systems from Audi is that both produce
lots of understeer at the limit.
As you say the Torsen system from Audi sends the
power where torque can be used, but torsen diffs
have one interesting feature... they only work
if at least one transmission end can transfer torque...
Thus on very slipy surfaces they tend to transfer
power 50/50 anyways... as a center diff they are
thus less good then a biased viscous coupling, but they
are great as rear end diffs and many race and
high performance cars use them there.
And I love AWD... this is why I own
a Lancia Delta EVO2c with one of the
better AWD systems that reduces understeer
to a minimum.
With its biased rear power delivery, a rear torsen
and a center viscous that fine tunes the power
delivery should the rear tires have traction
problems the lancia keeps moving when the AUDI
quits. Even better are newer cars that also
have front torsen or limited slip diffs as they
suffer even less from understeer.
You see when your AUDI with Torsen has both one front
and one rear wheel on ice... the front and rear diffs
will simply send the power to the wheel with no traction
and you go nowhere.
The Lancia however will have its rear torsen deliver 50/50
to the rear wheels and if the front has no traction it
will send most of the power to the rear where at least one
wheel should still have some traction.
You do have to drive one of these at the limit to feel
the difference between the Quattro system and the
Rally proven Lancia system.
Sure enough on a freeway even my Aero is faster then the
1993 Delta, but on a twisted road the Lancia rocks
achieving rather fun high speed drifts at slight
angles and being lots of fun around hairpins.
I have driven quite a few Quattro cars and what
anoys me is their tendency to understeer when you
accelerate through hairpins and sharp turns.
This comes simply from the absence of a rear
limited slip diff. as this makes it impossible
for them to bias the rear to combat understeer.
Regards,
Coolknight
posted by 212.77.4...
, Sat, 19 Jan 2002 19:20:26, Sun, 20 Jan 2002 18:24:19
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