ALLROAD (2.7t) OWNERS, I have questions...

[Brett Dikeman]

At 9:39 PM -0400 7/24/02, R. Mair wrote:

>#2 I wasn't impressed with the power.  I thought it should have a little more
>smoke.

This is probably because the allroad is -very- heavy.  Let's put it
this way..in the S4, that very same engine is good for 5.9s 0-60
runs.  You have two choices...chip the engine, or wait for a V8 in
2003(which will -not- have a 6-speed as an option), which will
probably carry a VERY expensive pricetag; let's put it this way, Audi
felt the A6 4.2 commanded a rather healthy premium over the A6 2.7tt;
I suspect the same "premium" will show up in the allroad branch of
the family tree.  Not to mention you're now trying to buy the
latest/greatest, instead of the leftovers...


>  I do realize that the demo car only had 100miles, likely had old fuel
>and the AC was on, plus it's heavy and yanking all 4 wheels.

...actually, quattro and Haldex both impose little in the way of
drivetrain losses.  In certain cases, its actually more efficient due
to reduced torque at each wheel(I forget the explanation, sorry.)

>  Question is, has anyone chipped these cars and what was the result.

60 additional HP is the end result.  Honestly- find a dealer that
openly says that either they do it for customers, or they don't
mind...because AoA is getting -very- nasty about chipped engines.
One gent was told by a certain north-eastern mass. Audi dealer, after
the oil bled out of his A6 2.7tt's 6-speed tranny(during a
cross-country trip, right after he bought it), to never come back to
them for service again(they found a K&N filter and a chip.  The
tranny was fixed, but they told him to get lost.)  Do you think a 911
twin turbo owner gets that kind of BS from the Porsche side of the
same dealership?  Somehow I don't think so.  Half of me thinks the
reason Audi and Porsche are trying so hard to get their dealerships
to split is because they don't want all the Audi owners(riff raff) to
see all the shoe-licking that goes on in the Porsche side.  Buy a
Porsche, get treated like a king; buy a Audi, you're a diseased
peasant- this has been a problem at Audi for years.  The image is
changing thanks to corporate policies regarding dealership buildings
which look all nice and shiny, but I suspect it will be a while
before owner treatment improves.  It will never match the treatment
given to Lexus owners, for example.


>  One of the companies make an 4 level chip (valet, stock, sport and
>race setting) for what seems
>to be a reasonble price. I'm just wondering if these motors have reacted
>favorably and reliably to being chipped?

For the most part, yes...the 2.7tt is a heavily chipped engine
percentage-wise...but beware problems with some dealers, who will
happily rat you out to AoA.  Oh...btw, I think the chip you refer to
can hold UP TO 4 programs...each program costs +$.  Check the pricing
carefully...and I wouldn't bother with the "race" program...


>#4 I'd love to have the xenon lights, but I'd need to buy into the premium
>package which adds $2k to the price. Can anyone say these lights really are
>that awesome, compared to the standard projection lights, that they'd be
>worth the extra cost of getting all the other options I really don't need? I
>know they are better, but by how much?

I personally -severely- dislike HID lights, so I recommend you drive
a such-equipped vehicle at night on some small, back country roads;
the kinds with old street signs, not much in the way of street
lighting, etc.  On the S4 which I test-drove, I ended up on a back
country road near-completely unable to find a turnoff point because
so little light was thrown out to places it should have been...and
the cutoff was way, way too sharp.  Wouldn't have been so bad except
that...yes, you guessed it...the lighted areas were so bright.


>#5 Any other suggestions are welcome. If the wife doesn't agree with me
>wanting an Allroad, I'm affraid we may be shopping for a cheaper SUV :-(

The new VW suv looks mighty nice, although you've got a bit of a
wait...especially if you want the TDI version, which gets about
24mpg(can't remember city or highway...damn impressive either way for
that big a vehicle) and has a rather impressive amount of torque.
Tiptronic only, I believe.

B
(not an allroad owner, btw, but I felt I could contribute anyway.
Hope my comments were of some help.)
--
----
"They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin
http://www.users.cloud9.net/~brett/
http://www.apple.com/switch/