Differences between 90 and 91 V8's from somebody who owns both :-)

[Mike Larosa <mlarosa@v8q.East.Sun.COM>]

When I say both, where talking two V8's approx. 120k miles,
both Bamboo/Tan automatic's.

Quick summary would be the 91 is more luxurious in feel
than the 90.  The 91 is the wife's, she likes luxury, the 90
being mine, I prefer sport :-)

BRAKES:

The 90 has been switched to G60 brakes that don't wobble
but are definitely inferior to the UFO's in stopping power.

The 91 stop's on a proverbial dime.  Don't start a war on braking power...


STEERING:

The 91 has servotronic.  It feels like a mid 70's buick as far as the old
one finger steering through your typical shopping center parking lots goes....

Feel isn't as good as the 90.

If I remember correctly there is a connector you can yank to disable
servotronic.  If this true I'd like to try it and maybe even install
a switch to turn it off when I drive the car.... long term project,
will let ya know...

TRANSMISSION

Very Different behavior.

Much smoother shifting in the 91.  Which isn't to say the 90 shift's
roughly.  The 91 just seems to shift a bit smoother.

Sport mode in the 91 will downshift quicker as expected, same as the 90,
but when you let up it will shift to the next highest gear as in 4th
if your on the highway.  The 90 will stay in 3rd on the highway all the way
to 124 mph before it shifts to 4th.

Manual mode reacts differently as well, for those of you who remember 
Eliot Lim, he was one of the original V8 owners whom has contributed quite a
bit to this group with regards to V8 knowledge and Audi knowledge in general. 
 
He had his transmission replaced on his 90 V8.  Some of the differences he
noticed where that in Manual mode, if you stopped, put it in 3rd, slowly accelerated 
the transmission would downshift, even though you where in manual
mode.  On the 90 it would hold 3rd gear.

The 91 acts like Eliot's new tranny did.  I'll guess that the new tranny in his
90 V8 was probably for model year 91.... just a guess.  

WHEELS:

The 90 has the some what flat spoked wheels similar to the 89-91 100 series,
only with 5 lugs instead of 4.

The 91 has the BBS type rims, both 90 and 91 are 15".

The BBS are a pain to clean....  Gonna try taking a cloth glass washer out
of the kitchen and see if that works good....  wish me luck in the impending
divorce over that little trick :-)

"But honey I was using on YOUR car......"


DOOR LOCKS:


Need to try this on the 90, but it appears on the 91 that if you turn the
drivers door lock to unlock the car, only the drivers door unlocks, if you hold
it at the unlock position all the locks unlock.  kinda cool.

INTERIOR LIGHTS:

Don't the 90 does this will have to check, but when you shutoff the 91 the interior 
lights go on.  This is before you open the door.  Again, kinda cool.

TRUNK LID:

The 90 has springs on the trunk lid hinges.  The 91 has gas struts as well as
a felt covered,  guessing cardboard laminate type substance on the inside of
the trunk lid.  The 90 is bare metal.

CD PLAYER, factory:

This is way cool :-)  The 6 CD box in the trunk, sounds wonderful.

ANTENNA:

The 91 has the awful windshield antenna's, the 90 has the retrofitted 4000Q
electric antenna on the drivers side rear fender.  The electric while a pain 
to keep clean and operating smoothly, far outperforms the windshield antenna.

Mack at Clair Audi has ordered a part that we came across in the parts
manuals.  It say's something about an FM antenna that goes in the factory cellular 
phone hole.  The wording isn't clear if this leave's the cell phone
inoperable or if the antenna will work for both the radio and cell phone.

Mack agreed to order one and have me check it out, if it doesn't work out he'll
take it back.  I'll keep ya all posted :-)

LEATHER:

The 91 has the stock Travertine Tan leather seats, the 90 has the optional
Connolly Tan leather seats, I believe these are refereed to as "Barcoloungers"
They have 6-9 leather strips where your butt and back go, versus the one square
leather section.

HEAD LINER/VISORS:

The 91 has the standard off gray vinyl looking headliner and visors, the 90
has felt color matched headliner and visors.  I prefer the felt.

Lesson learned recently....  Their are 3 types of visors.

Felt (Cloth) color matched  =  $400.-  plus   OUCH!
Vinyl color matched = $400.- plus OUCH!
Vinyl Gray = $112.- from Clair

I need a new visor for the 91, thank god it's gray vinyl....

HAZARD STOCK/SWITCH:

The 90 hazard switch is a stock on the steering wheel column, right side.

The 91 has a switch next to the rear fog light switch on the center console.


CELL PHONE:

The 90 has the microphone down low on the drivers side A post.

The 91 has it at the top of the drivers side A post.

DOOR PANELS:

The 91 has a what looks like a window switch in front of the interior
door latch.  It's actually a central locking switch.  

The 90 has nothing of the sort...


ASHTRAY:

The 91 ashtray is chrome.

The 90 is black metal.



The 91 has awful noname brand snow tires that scream and wail.. yuck.

The 90 has the BF Goodrich Touring T/A 225/60/15. V-rated.  The 91 will
have these as well in a few month's :-)


That's everything I've come up with so far.  Gotta remember to check the rpm's
at 80 mph.....


See Ya,

Mike L.


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