Re: Quattro's

[eyvind.spangen@ha-nett.no (Eyvind Spangen)]

On Wed, 14 Oct 1998 14:38:43 -0400, you wrote:

>I'm sure I'll catch some heat on this question, but here goes nothing:
>(sacreligious content to follow)
>
>I own a plain Jane 86 5ks..........non-quattro and live in upstate NY where
>mega-snow
>is a fact of life for over 6months out of the year.
>
>As long as I have a decent set of tires on this car, it pretty much goes
>through anything.
>
>I've been watching with interest at the discussion lines on this list
>talking about the inherent
>handling superiority of the quattro system under all driving conditions and
>I'm starting to weaken,
>BUT I'm having a hard time justifying the extra cost associated with
>quattro's versus the basic fwd
>Audi's.
>
>Everytime I try to find parts, the first thing they ask me is......."Is it
>a quattro?" which translates into
>
>" Empty all of your wallet on the counter or just part of it".
>
>Do you guys REALLY feel that the AWD setup is that much better and worth
>the extra bucks in keeping this
>already expensive beast roadworthy?
>
>I would appreciate your experiences and input as I have my eyes on a well
>worn 87 5kq of a co-worker and am wavering on whether to buy the car from
>him at some point.

Last winter, I got a demonstration of the quattro advantage. The
driveway up to my house is about 600 feet from the "big" way, and real
steep. It had snowed about 5 inches. My mother got stuck with her
Toyota Celica. Then, a friend of mine, which is the owner of a 1993
V8, came to visit me. He drove up to the house without any problems.
I asked him if he could start in the steepest part of the driveway
without any problems. We tried. He parked in the steepest part, and
drove off with the accelerator floored! Almost no wheel spin, no
problems at all. That proved the fact that AWD is superior to RWD or
FWD.

Unfortuneately, in this tax-country of Norway, we have got many
"normal" Audis like 5KS, 4KS and so on. The 5K(CST)Q is a car that is
seen a few times a year, the 4KQ is almost non-existent. The newer
models are many quattros, but when my car budget is at $6000, I can't
get a quattro in this country. A 1987 5KS is a $6000 car.. Maybe I
should emigrate to the US? :-)

ES