quattro digest, Vol 1 #2979 - Driving type 44 TQ's

[Larry C Leung]

I'd tend to agree with Doyt, with one addition, I do left foot brake
around slower turns, allows turbo spool up while waiting for the turn's
exit. 1st gear is generally useless, you use it up much too fast. So far,
I've seen up to 110, and it has absolutely no problem accidentally
getting there.Traffic and sanity around here dictates that's about as
fast as it's possible to go without attracting too much attention. It's
quite the opposite of my GTi, which is very quick to go off the line
(okay, it's 2200 lbs, me in it!) and peters out about 90 or so.

LL - NY


>Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 13:49:15 -0500
>To: Graham Thackrah <gthack at geog.ucl.ac.uk>
>From: "Doyt W. Echelberger" <Doyt at buckeye-express.com>
>Subject: Re: driving a type 44 turbo
>Cc: quattro at audifans.com
>
>At 02:03 PM 2/20/2002 +0000, you wrote:
>>Hi list,
>>
>>I've mostly been enjoying my 89 100tq (twin knock sensor MC) saloon
>since
>>December when I bought it. I wanted to ask a few things.
>>
>>My other quattros have been NA ones, and I used to heel and toe to
>smooth
>>downchanges, particularly when driving, er... enthusiastically. It
>doesn't
>>work as well on the turbo motors (minus a bypass valve) does it? I'd
>also
>>imagine it isn't quite the way to drive these cars quick, anyone got
>any
>>hints?
>
>.......................I try to get out of first gear as soon as
>possible,
>wind it out in second and third (for entering tollway traffic from an
>on
>ramp), and I cruise on thruways in 4th gear if I have to move in and
>out of
>city rush hour traffic. I save 5th gear for cruise control travel on
>long
>trips where there is little traffic.  The turbo lag is considerable in
>5th
>gear, so I stay in gear 3 or 4 in heavy traffic, where I may want to
>change
>speed quickly. If you need to change speeds, gear 5 is NOT a good
>place to
>be at legal highway speeds, such as 65 mph here in the USA. On the
>rare
>unlimited speed highways that I have encountered, gear 5 works
>increasingly
>well beyond 80 mph, and the car settles down and runs very easily
>between
>90 and 100. I cannot report on driving characteristics beyond 100. My
>local
>highways do not allow such adventures. Top speed is reported to be
>about
>140mph, and I suspect that the car runs easily and quickly all the way
>up
>to that mark, from 100. I suspect that the turbo feature is
>responsible for
>the easy power availability above 90 mph.  Performance of my NA I-5
>car
>declined beyond the 90 mph mark.
>
>Doyt Echelberger
>87 5ktq  1.7 bar  223k miles
>86 4kq RIP
>
>>  Also, with no bypass valve, does it do the turbo much good to slam
>>the throttle closed at high revs when changing gear? Or are they
>designed
>>to take the jolt of suddenly having nowhere to blow all that air? Or
>do
>>folks change gear with a slightly open throttle?
>>
>>Lastly, these really are great cars, mine cost bugger all really, for
>a
>>car, considering that it originally cost more than I can dream of
>>affording now, let alone back in 1989, and there's _no way_ I'd
>substitute
>>it for a new small car on a payment scheme, apart from at the petrol
>>station that is;) I mean, it even tells me when I've been driving for
>2
>>hours without a decent break, that's neat:)
>
>........................full agreement here, Graham.
>
>
>>Cheerio,
>>
>>Graham.
>>
>>'89 100tq
>>23.2 mpg and 38 mph averages... so far