Re: Quattro vs Volvo V70 AWD

[AUDIDUDI@delphi.com]

> speaking of torsens, i have a miata with a rear torsen which i enjoy
> breaking loose often.. :)  there is definitely no "unsmooth" effects in
> its operation.  i.e. when i pop the clutch on damp pavement, i simply spin
> both rear wheels.  pretty smooth here.  if i'm powering out of the turn i
> can feel the worm gears at work transferring the power to the outside
> wheel.  yes, there is some discrete gear grinding steps that can be felt,
> but the acceleration is nice and smooth.

Torsens working side-to-side (front or rear diffs) work very well indeed but
in front-to-back (center diff) appliations, I've found they can make the car
VERY difficult to balance when driven at 9/10 or 10/10 ... for normal street
use, though, they work very well and since only a small handful of the Audis
sold worldwide will ever see a track, Audi was probably right to switch over
to them from the lockable center diff setup used on earlier quattros.

     _             _             
    / l       l o l  \       l o   Jeffrey Goggin
   /__l l l / l l l  l l l / l l   AudiDudi@delphi.com
  /   l l_l \_l l l__/ l_l \_l l   http://people.delphi.com/AudiDudi