'91 200Q vs 850 Turbo (long)

[Arun Rao <rao@pixar.com>]

Fellow Audi nuts,
	Given the recent spate of odious comparisons, here's another, hopefully
less odious one.

	I took a colleague's '96 Volvo 850 Turbo out for a drive yesterday. 48K
miles, IPD chip upgrade to a claimed 270 HP (up from stock 222).  I've
only driven an N/A 850 before, but have a soft spot for Volvos in
general.  Here's what I thought.

	Power: Lots of it, esp. from 20-60 or so.  Not particularly quick off
the line, but no noticeable torque steer either. Surprisingly, engine
seems to peter out after 70 or so.  The automatic was probably too quick
to upshift, and somewhat reluctant to downshift.

	Handling: Lots of body roll, understeered like anything when driven
hard into an fwy entrance ramp.  Car felt "light" in some indescribable
way, but that's probably something you could get used to, and even like.

	Build quality: Good, but nothing spectacular. This is a fairly
top-of-the-line car, but the interior didn't reflect it. (I drove a '98
528 a couple of weeks ago, and that car felt *really* solid).

	Overall, I was a *lot* less impressed than I expected to be. The car
has a ~400 lbs/50 HP advantage on my 200Q, but my car sure *feels*
faster. This in spite of the fact that the Volvo was a good bit noisier,
esp. when accelerating hard. The inline 5 is remarkably similar to the
3B, but the sounds it made left me cold. The Volvo engine sounds like
the small displacement engine that it is: not so the 3B .. or for that
matter my older KH.

	The 200 has a heft, a solid feel  that the Volvo did not match (IMHO,
and I realize that it's a matter of taste).  And remember that my car is
5 years older and has twice as many miles on it. 
	
	Automatics are supposed to be ideal for turbocharged cars, but the
Volvo's did not do it justice: the car may have felt a lot better with a
stick.

	In my opinion, Audi scores on this one. (Apologies to Peter H., but the
V70 may indeed be a lot better).


-Arun
 
--
Arun Rao
Pixar Animation Studios
Pt. Richmond, CA 94804
(510) 620-3526