What is "good" Handling ? - : new A4 2.8q 30V

[Pat James <jamesp@sk.sympatico.ca>]

> >Cornering is nimble, but not as nimble as I'd like; I get boaty feelings
> >in hard cornering at around 30mph. (Note this is with the normal wheels
> >and Conti tires.) Road feel and bump absorption at 60-70mph is excellent
> >with the stock suspension.
> 
> Body roll feels acceptable, but you're right....when pushed hard at slow
> speeds, the lengthy suspension travel begins to show itself.  I too, am
> looking to improve upon this...

I am bit confused on what is "handling" for the street. I believe in
long travel linear tracking suspension. The springs should be firmish
but the shock absorbers compression and rebound should be tuned to
ensure the tire is in constant contact with the road during
irregularities. 

The current extreme tuning for suspension is to lower the car too far
and put the suspension off it's optimum design range. The much shorter,
stiffer springs and larger heavy tires make handling feel "gokart" like.
But is this handling the that cars require to be safe and rapid on the
street or highway ?

Experience has shown me that a proper sport sedan from Europe can 
easily stay with a F-body GM car on  mountain road. The Firebird or
Camaro 
driver has a higher skid pad number but in real life this is not
attainable
without tossing safety to the wind. A short travel overly stiff
suspension
with high unsprung weight makes a car able to step out on regular and
too frequent
road irregularities. After an hour the driver is fatigued from trying to
get the car
around without launching it off the road.  (I'm rambling here)

To get back to the A4 owners .. is a bit of boating on tight corners
worth the 
little quattro bouncing off the frost heaves and culvert dips ?
If cars had adjustable compression and rebound shock absorbers the low
speed bobbing
could be tuned out.

So the first question is : Can you get good handling without stiff
springs and monster tires?
 
The second is question is the A4 quattro 1.8t overtired ? Does 150hp/4
wheels require
this large traction area in comparision to the scrub, tramlining , drag
etc ?
-- 
 Patrick James
 jamesp@sk.sympatico.ca
 "Education can not be substituted for intelligence"