[V8] 4.2 V8Q at Winter Driving School

[Carter Johnson]

Well, I have to say, the old lady surprised me.  I
took the 93 up to the Tim O'Niel winter driving school
this past weekend.  Conditions were less than ideal -
not much snow at all, but the weather was beautiful -
mid 30's both days, plenty of sunshine.  The V8 ran
like a champ, and felt right at home drifting through
corners.  Locking the tranny in 1st gear provided all
of the torquey throttle response I needed along with
lift-throttle oversteer engine braking.  Quite nice! 
There were only three problems with the V8 - Steering
is still suffering, likely from a buildup of air in
the lines?  It is very difficult to steer quickly lock
- lock.  Made the slalom interesting.  The ABS doesn't
work, nor does the handbrake, so if I got into a big
understeer situation, I was going for a ride.  And,
like all good V8's, she smoked like a crack house in
Harlem.  Aside from that, the V8 surprised a lot of
people by being both nimble and quick - something you
wouldn't expect out of a 4,000 lb. automatic.  I
managed to catch other instructors in 1) 1994 S4, 2)
2004 S4, and 3) 2003 A6 4.2 Quattro - all running on
snow tires.  I also took a very nice student's B6 S4
(the same one) out through the slalom - what a ride! 
The electronic throttle, though, takes a lot of
getting used to.  I have some in-car video, and should
have some nice out-of-car video of some major
powerslides soon.  If anyone wants to see the other
videos, drop me an off-list email and I'll send some
pics and video.  Wowza!  Torsen is coooooooool.

Thanks,
Carter 

=====
W. Carter Johnson
University of Rhode Island
401-874-4947 office
401-699-3994 cell


		
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