s1 or s2

[Dave Eaton]

"car" magazine in october 1990 did what i consider to be the best comparison
of the 20v ur-quattro and the s2.  right on the money ime.  i have included
some of the text of the article below (apologies to those who consider this
a wob).

hth,
dave
'95 rs2
'90 ur-q

-----Original Message-----
From:	Alan Pritchard [mailto:Alanthecelt at Alanthecelt.screaming.net]
Sent:	23 July 2001 8:31 PM
Subject:	Re: s1 or s2

aha, i always thought s1 was the urq, it appears im wrong, i actually was
after a comparison of the urq and s2 in that case!! Lol



The all-or-nothing turbo motor is a horror of the past, Audi's intercooled
blower starts working effectively at little more than idling speed, and
torque - a muscular 2281b ft of it - peaks at a lowly 1,950rpm.  Lag when
lugging is there if you seek it, though tardy throttle response is never a
problem.  With 2,000 or more on the tacho, the car takes off with terrific
verve.  What's more, the urgency of the thrust is sustained until close to
red-line revs.  As the S2's gearchange is light and loose - no Audi I've
driven has had a better shift - the temptation to blip the throttle and
change down, even though it's not really necessary, is irresistible.  The
clonkier, notchier gearchange of the older Quattro served only to highlight
the S2's excellent shift.

On performance, then, the two cars feel evenly matched, as you would expect
on Britain's speed-restricted roads, though the S2 bullet is capable of
cruising above the Quattro's maximum on the German autobahns.  It is also
quieter.  Driven with restraint, the S2's engine is no more than a distant
hum; a Jaguar Sovereign is no sweeter or quieter.  Extend it through the
gears, and the S2 wails as excitedly as the Quattro does, but at a slightly
lower decibel level.  Superior refinement is also evident in the chassis
department, the S2 riding bumps and coarse bitumen without the intrusive
thunking and drum-roll that gives your ears a constant drubbing in the older
Quattro.
The Quattro is not a noisy machine, but it is a comparatively raw one of
great tactility.  It draws you into the action as intimately as the S2
detaches you from it.  The reason for this awful regression, which serious
drivers will abhor, is speed-sensitive steering, dubbed Servotronic by
Bosch.  Away with it! There is some merit in a steering system that gets
heavier the faster you go, provided the weighting is right in the first
place.  That of the S2 is not, it's far too light and lifeless.  The lines
of communication through the Quattro's small, thick-rimmed steering wheel
are as subtle as they are clear, but there is no communication at all
through the S2's wheel, all the worse for being larger.

Parking is very easy, of course.  But then it's no sweat in the Quattro.  If
anything seriously undermines the S2's claim to its predecessor's crown, it
is steering that denies access to the car's soul.  In all honesty, not much
else does.  Without Servotronic, the S2 would run the Quattro very close
dynamically.  If its cornering powers are lower because of slightly narrower
tyres - 205/55s against 215/55s - you would be hard pressed to tell outside
the confines of a test track.  Ditto braking performance, which is
startling.  The pedal is well weighted - not too light - response
progressive, as in the Quattro.

Both cars have prodigiously high limits that are breached in the dry only
through gross error or deliberate provocation.  On wet and slippery roads -
and we found plenty of them on Exmoor- both these imperturbable cars
displayed uncanny tenacity.  On frozen slush, or worse, it is possible to
induce wheelspin, punting hard in first.  We also got the inside rear wheel
to scrabble momentarily on one of Porlock's notorious hairpins.  Under
normal circumstances, though, both these tarmac titans are pretty well
immune to any form of wayward behaviour, be it wheelspin, torque steer or -
perish the thought - breakaway.

What separates them cannot be measured objectively.  It is a subjective
issue, perhaps an emotional one, called in our language 'driver appeal'.
Behind the Quattro's wriggling wheel you feel like a key extension of the
machinery.  The softer S2 feels like an automaton, guided by remote control,
its Servotronic steering conveying as much feedback as knicker elastic.  It
denies the S2 - softer, slightly lurchier than the squat, square-to-the-road
Quattro - the touch sensitivity of its predecessor.  Only as an autobahn
flyer, when quietness, speed and smoothness come into their own, is the
newcomer superior dynamically.  As a B-road fun-car, it is outclassed.

......

The old warhorse is always going to be the better car dynamically - the more
entertaining car, that is, for Britain's give-and-take roads - but I have to
concede that the further I drove the S2, the more I liked it.  Given decent
steering (Audi should ditch its Servotronic system forthwith), the S2 would
run the Quattro very close on driver appeal.  and comfortably out-rank it on
value, since it is significantly cheaper.

......

A worthy successor, then? Not on looks or involvement, no, but the S2 is
still a formidable car, less the raw driving machine, more the civilised
express.  Sad, really, to see loin cloth give way to pinstripe suit.