'92 - '94 100 CS advice

[Fisher, Scott]

Duane Hale asks:

> thinking 'bout replacing one of our two 5000 TQs with 
> a '92 - '94 100 CSQ wagon or sedan.  Anyone out there 
> have any experience with them?

We've had a '93 100CSQ sedan for the past 8-9 months.  Short answer: we love
it, and would not hesitate to get another, and in fact have considered doing
just that, with a few appropriate changes if it were going to be my car.

Some specific likes: quattro, but you know about that.  The 174 bhp 2.8L 12V
is a sweet motor in its way, with an almost Italian feel to it -- that is,
it's soft off the line but 80-100 mph passing manoeuvers are handled
rapidly.  Ours has an autobox, which would not have been my first choice,
but I've learned to love it.  On the '93 at least, there are five different
shift programs stored in the electronic control for the box; what this means
is that when I start driving it after my wife has had it for the past few
weeks (it's her car), it takes about three quick corners before it seems to
figure out I'm driving, then it almost anticipates my shifts.  On a
moderately fast mountain road (hwy 17 for Bay Area residents), the autobox
feels like a win because it just always does the right thing, dropping down
a gear almost the instant you press on the throttle as you transition out of
the corner.  On the negative side, there's a big, BIG hole in the gearing
between about 30-45 mph; flooring it at that speed does NOT kick the gearbox
down and you're stuck at 3000 RPM for what seems like forever.  Not much
happens with this engine below 4000, but above that point the acceleration
is quite pleasant if not exhilarating, and the autobox will hold it up to
the redline before shifting if you keep your foot buried.  It will kick down
at 80-85 mph, too, which assists in the ease of passing.

For such a big car, it doesn't feel bulky or ponderous -- high praise
indeed, remembering that my idea of The Perfect Automobile is the Lotus
Seven, an 1100-pound tube frame with basically nothing that isn't involved
in making the car go, turn, or stop faster, shorter or quicker.  At about
3500 pounds, the 100CSQ not much (if any) heavier than an A4 in spite of
being appreciably larger inside, so behavior on "sports-car roads" is
phenomenal for a five-passenger sedan.  And it really IS a five-passenger
sedan; two of my kids are pretty big and the third has a bulky car seat, and
we all fit in it easily.  At the same time, it's a wondeful -- make that a
WONDERFUL freeway cruiser; last week we put 1500 miles on in essentially
four days of driving, punctuated by massive consumption of turkey and sweet
potatoes, and while the kids were starting to get on each others' nerves
(something they do even when they're at home, I should add), my wife and I
remained comfortable and serene even when blazing through the Siskiyous at a
really indecent rate of speed (more than once, my wife would comment, "Dang!
Sure doesn't feel like we're going 90 miles an hour, does it?").  And the
trunk is truly immense: we got a Fender bass, two biiiiig suitcases and one
smaller one, a tenor sax, a clarinet, a small cooler, 6 bottles of water, 4
bulky jackets, and two large birthday presents for a 7-year-old girl (the
Polly Pocket Heart of Darkness Pet Shop Equipe from Hell, as my wife put it)
on this trip, and could have squeezed in a bit more.

Dislikes: that damn 35-degree cutoff of the A/C compressor documented at the
beginning of the week.  Though I understand its purpose now (it avoids
freezing the condensate on the A/C evaporator coil), nobody should drive one
of these cars in winter without understanding in advance that at precisely
35 degrees Fahrenheit, the A/C compressor (which normally runs in defrost
mode) shuts off.  This causes any condensation left on the evaporator coil
to be dispersed throughout the cabin, resulting in an immediate whiteout.
Quite alarming when it happens unexpectedly at 75+ mph, with one's wife and
three kids in the car.  If you'd called me on my cell phone at about 10 AM
on Saturday, Nov. 18, you could have bought mine for, oh, ten bucks and a
ride to the bus station.  The workaround is to keep the fan blowing at full
speed and modulate the temperature -- too high and the condensed moisture
will vaporize worse, too low and it doesn't evaporate; with all five of us
in the car the sweet spot seems to be about 71-73 degrees F on the automatic
climate control system.  We also determined that it helps to open the front
windows for a few seconds (the kids eventually enjoyed this, screaming in
mock terror and hiding under the quilts we'd brought along) to cool the
interior and also wipe down the front windows.  

Other dislikes: If you've enjoyed the tunability of the turbo engines on
your 5000s, say a fond farewell.  Likewise, if you're thinking that new
Audis are getting more powerful and can be easily chipped/modded to produce
more power, prepare to be disappointed.  While the 2.8L V6 is a sweet motor
(I'd LOVE to have it in my 2500-lb CGT with that car's 5-speed), it's not
well supported either by Audi or by the aftermarket for power enhancement.
There are apparently two, maybe three bolt-on tweaks -- a chip worth
something like 8 bhp, a throttle body worth allegedly 12 bhp, and various
free-flow exhaust setups worth maybe 10 bhp.  If they all worked as
advertised, and you did all of them, and they all worked together, and the
amount is cumulative... well, okay, 30 bhp isn't a pittance, but it's not
like what you can squeeze out of a 1.8tq or an MC turbo.  You'd better be
able to live with the car's modest power, or look for an ur-S4 which has 227
bhp in factory trim and can be pumped up from there.  Otherwise more power
will only come the hard way -- cams, porting, compression, etc.  (Though
after riding in Miq's 2000 S4, it *has* occurred to me that I could
probably, without too much trouble and only a cubic yard or so of crisp
hundred dollar bills, insert the 2.7tt engine and gearbox from his car, or
one like it, into mine... yeah, with 307 bhp, the quoted figure from the
chipped motor -- and even before Miq told me he'd chipped it, I commented
that it felt like his car had a LOT more than 80 bhp more than mine -- that
car would romp and stomp.)

That's about enough, I suspect -- Duane, if you've got specific questions,
ask me and save bandwidth.  And no, that $10 and a ride to the bus station
offer is no longer available... :-)

--Scott Fisher
  1983 CGT
  1993 100CSQ