Re: '91 200 and '92 S4 trannies

[John Karasaki <johkar@teleport.com>]

At 12:06 PM 1/14/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Once upon a time I said:
>
>>Hmmm. I was just about to reply to a recent question (Bruce?) about the
>>distinction between the 200q and the S4 trannies. It was my understanding
>>that these are _not_ the same. I believe the S4 introduced a "newly
>>designed Getrag transmission" (according to material quoted by the S4
>>Registry website). That they are not the same might be supported by the
>>difference in relative reliability between the 200q and the '92-'93 S4
>>versions. Of course, it's conceivable that there is some degree of
>>interchangability.<
>
>
>Now having reread the S4 Registry spec sheet referenced above, I do _not_
>see any such mention of tranny. But I _know_ I did not dream it up. So I
>must regretfully withdraw the sentence that relates to "material quoted by
>the S4 Registry..." Sorry. Can anyone provide clarification?
>
>Phil
>(So confused... I might as well be in Bucksnort. I'm not, am I?)
>
>Phil Rose		Rochester, NY
>'89 100			pjrose@servtech.com
>

This is the gossip I've heard from reliable sources:  The S4 in Europe has
a 6 speed transmission.  Our cars here have a 5 speed.  This is because the
EPA doesn't (or didn't) have fuel economy testing standards that accounted
for this transmission.  I've heard that their doctrine mandates that the
fuel economy ratings are done in a certain gear(s) and because of this the
Audi 6-speed transmission was penalized or stood to be penalized for not
meeting some fuel mileage standard.

So what did Audi AG do?  Instead of fighting the EPA, they took one of the
gears out of the 6-speed tranny   to make it a 5-speed!  Thus the
transmission case is the same as the 6-speed euro, but the gear sets are
different.

I don't recall which gear they dropped; those with USA S4's should be able
to tell us as there should be a noticeable drop in RPM on the up shift into
either 3rd or 4th gear.  Might also explain why it's reported that a '91
200 tq brought up to S4 specs. is quicker in the 1/4 mile than an S4...

I don't know any more than this.  BTW, the "reliable source" is a lurker on
this list...