RE: Torsen Tech

[audidudi@mindspring.com (Jeffrey J. Goggin)]

>This is the part that makes me think that the torsen and audi chassis are
setup for fwd character
>instead of rwd, given the customary street car engineering preference to
>understeer than oversteer.  

The March '88 Performance Car article I referred to earlier in this thread
goes on at some length explaining that most manufacturers want their AWD
cars to retain the character of their 2WD cars ... as such, BMW's AWD 325ix
behaves very similarly to their 325is and it stands to reason that AWD Audis
behave similar to the FWD versions of the same car.  Personally, I find that
treating my quattros like FWD cars, in terms of both setup and driving
style, seems to work very well... 

>Sound complicated?  It is.  And audi added to this torsen persona, the
>seemless and remote feeling of security as you play below the dark side
>threshold (7/10ths), read:  Very little feel as to the consistent What and Why
>of it's character. I have yet to see a torsen car that has been mastered on a
>track.  In an exercise?  Sure.  But the world in which we all drive is filled
>with constant varying exercises, and the torsen adds a sense of security for a
>lot of drivers up to a point.  Beyond the threshold, it can be ugly and mean.
>You play there, have lots of room, fun can turn costly quickly.

I agree with this statement completely but let's not forget that Audis are
built to be street cars, first and foremost.  That some of us also enjoy
flogging them around racetracks is nice but largely irrelevant.  Audi's
designers/engineers clearly have the knowledge to set them up properly for
this purpose but most people don't want to buy a racecar or drive one on the
street ... except me, of course.  :^)
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