Re: Autoweek on quattro

["Ian J Haseltine" <jim_haseltine@email.msn.com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Phil Payne <quk@isham-research.demon.co.uk>
>It isn't, primarily, for driving fast in the rain or snow.  True - it
>makes this easier.  It also makes it more dangerous - the same physics
>applies to the brakes on an AWD car as on a FWD or RWD.  Go too fast
>and you're in trouble.  If you mis-use quattro, you'll just be going
>a lot faster when you hit.
In a breakers yard in Yorkshire there are the remains of a 20v whose driver
didn't know that. From any distance greater than about 5 feet it is
impossible to tell what make of car it used to be - let alone which model.

>Quattro is a safety and handling feature - basically, it dramatically
>improves the handling that can be wrung out of a car by a fairly
>novice driver.  Anyone who says it does nothing on dry pavement simply
>hasn't driven with it for long enough.  Quattros _do_ tend to be firmer
>sprung than other cars - it's a matter of taste.
Here's a case in point. The A64/A1 junction is being rebuilt at the moment
and as such is in a hell of a mess, part of which is a new roundabout that
has a far too sharp exit on to the east bound A64. Last night I arrived
there behind a
C-class and a BMW 3-series coupe (it stuck in my mind because all three cars
were German and much the same shade of red). We entered the roundabout in
the same lane, MB, BMW and Ur-q, but exited in the reverse sequence. The BMW
was some 3 car lengths behind me and the C-class was even further back
trying not to have to use the grass. The speed involved was more than 40mph,
the Ur-q is in need of alignment and I dont consider myself to have anything
other than average driving skills. Neither of the other drivers indicated
that they thought that I'd cut them up, no fingers, no horns, no lights.

Jim Haseltine