More Quattro's are Great Ramblings

[Jad.Duncan@GAT.COM (Jad Duncan)]

I thought some of you might enjoy a little more Quattro's are great 
rambling...  I spent a lot of time with my parents in Tahoe until I moved to 
San Diego 5 years ago.  I have always loved Porsche's so never had a need 
for Quattro.  When it snowed, I drove my parents Toyota 4x4 (tin can truck) 
or their s15 Jimmy (little quality there either), my 944 other times.  About 
a year ago, I got engaged to another ski buff, so we decided to trade her 
Sentra for a 4X4.  We got an Isuzu Amigo as we thought the removable top 
would be fun in San Diego.  After driving the truck for about a month, we 
sold it as it was a suicide vehicle.  You could see over traffic, but with 
big tires, live axel, drum brakes, etc you would just have a good view of 
the accident you were about to be in as stopping or turning in 'normal' 
conditions was even scary.

We then looked elsewhere, including BMW 325ix and Subura, but the 90q was 10 
times the car the others where.  Ours is red/tan with leather, S/R, 10 disk 
CD, i.e. loaded.  The only question remained the traction in snow.

This X-mas we went to Tahoe the day after they got 8 feet of snow!  The 
roads were all closed or chains required.  All of the cars with chains on 
going 5 mph are really annoying when you are in a quattro.  I of course 
decided to take the back roads despite the conditions and really test the Q. 
 As a bonus, the tires it had when I bought it are very cheap and 75% worn 
out.  Not ideal, but new tires just before X-mas did not happen.

Driving down the roads the underpans were dragging substantially, but the Q 
just kept going with no sliding.  At one point I looked in the RVM to enjoy 
the spinning Subaru behind me.  The truck coming toward the Subaru in the 
other snow covered lane did not seem to enjoy the sight as much as me!  
There was some sliding trying to cross large streets, but the diff lock 
button helped a lot and in all fairness, the burms were 10-12 feet high 
where not plowed and about 1-2 feet where they had been plowed or driven on.

The best part was leaving during another storm.  I quickly drove past all of 
the cars putting on chains with all of the "cool" 4x4's.  But about half way 
down highway 50, the snow became rain and the road became a very fun twisty 
highway.  The trucks that had been cool became top heavy gas guzzlers as I 
took off having a great drive through the twisties.

I think I have convinced my parents to trade the Jimmy for an A6q and I plan 
on trading the 90q for an A4 in about a year.  While I still love my Porsche 
for autocrossing, the Q makes a great second car and holds skis much better.

Hope someone enjoyed this, I know I enjoyed living it.
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*** Jad Duncan ***********************
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*** General Atomics *****************
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