A4 30V test drive

[Eliot Lim <eliot@u.washington.edu>]

douglas was kind enough to take me out in the 30V this afternoon.
some impressions:

as with BMW, the 12 valve version of the engine is sweeter.  those of
you who have experienced a VR6 know what's special about it.  the very
silky purr even when extended.  when i tried the 24 valve BMW with vanos
variable valve timing, i complained that it was surprisingly coarse. 
the 30V audi unit is only slightly less disappointing.  

i have a litmus test w/ regards to engine sounds.  if you turn up
the radio in response to it, it is noise;  if you turn off the radio
just to listen to the engine, it is music.  this is completely subjective
of course, but for me, the 30V makes noise, not music.  my V8 makes
music, so does the VR6 and 12 valve audi.  i think that once again
the variable valve timing mechanism rears its ugly head.  there is no
consistency to the sound.  at certain rpms one hears a very high
frequency buzzing, at others one hears the six cylinder hum.
there is a type of grating sharpness to the sound that does not sooth
in a manner expected of a good six cylinder.

ok, so much for the soundtrack, how about the delivery?  for a car
with just 50 odd miles on the clock it would be wrong for me to
pass any kind of judgement as audi engines invariably take at least
8000 miles to fully loosen up.  there is however a very noticeable
urge that builds up quickly at 2500 rpm.  i did not rev beyond 4000
as this was a very new and very tight engine.  in any case it was
not an engine that encouraged any kind of spirited driving.  it was
a "i'll do anything you want" kind of engine.  a bit of an appliance
in character, i'm afraid.  

rest of the car:

the brakes were light and powerful, but the pedal was surprisingly
soggy.  perhaps this was just a QC problem that can be solved by
bleeding the brakes.

i've not noticed this in orin's 1.8T or douglas' 2.8 12V but the damping
is way too soft for anything faster than 30 mph.  douglas sez that they
are all the same.  it didn't feel that way to me and i would like to take
the 1.8TQ and the sport suspension optioned 2.8 on the same route
sometime.  the damping is truly awful in this car.  even the japanese cars
have better damping nowadays.  the other car that comes to mind with
similarly inept damping is the GTI VR6.

even going gently at 35mph or so one could feel the car bob up and down
like a boat.  thank goodness for the $400 sport suspension. it is a must
have. perhaps they made the non-sport suspension car extra boaty to cater
to the poseurs?  are there bilsteins for the A4 yet? 

so i took the car round a series of 3rd gear S bends.  the underlying
message is that the fundamentals are all sound, with just a crying need
for proper damping.  roll is not significant, the car just does not settle
into the turn, so there's certainly a lack of confidence on my part to
push it hard.  quite different from say, a 4000 CSQ

i stomped on the gas in a 1st gear tight corner and it was incredible how
there was absolutely no discernable torque steer felt through the steering
even though the tires were squealing.  this car will fool you into
thinking it is RWD.  there was also no understeer whatsoever in a move
that would have a FWD scrubbing like mad.  so i think that there's a very
good chassis trying to escape. 

i hope that i will get to try a a4 w/ sport suspension one of these
days. consider it a must have.  even my v8 with worn boges (only last
40K miles) has better damping than this car.


eliot