TimBob

I am shopping for a '99-'01 A4 1.8T. I have found exactly the car I am looking for although it is not a quattro.
Can someone kindly convince me why I should ignore this vehicle as a few of my local audi owners have suggested, stating that "quattro is thei entire program..."
Are there specific downsides/disadvantages other than less traction to the FWD model?
Is it that important to have quattro vs FWD?
(I live in a temperate area). Thanks for your insight.

RoyM

I would consider the condition of the car as a major factor in making your choice.
I had a 99 1.8T quattro and now I'm driving a 2003 FWD CVT. I am not a very agressive driver and I live in a snow belt so I use 4 snow tires in the winter. I have not found a major difference between the two vechiles in the manor I drive. I find it is way too easy to spin the front tires with 220 hp only going to them and not all four. Sure I love the quattro and I have a new 2006 quattro coming. I'm sure many people who drive to the fullest would only buy quattro.
I would make mileage, price and condition a big factor before I rule out a FWD Audi A4.

narkleptic

I had an '02 FWD (FrontTrack) stick 1.8,, now I'm driving a 2.0 Quattro Tip.

The downsides to the Quattro are increased weight and decreased fuel efficiency.

The FWD cars will feel the sprightliest, especially with a stick. That said, it's pretty easy to spin the tires with only 50% throttle on a front-wheel drive A4.

Overall, I prefer having the quattro--for the go-anywhere traction, not to mention dry-weather prowess.

That said, if you find the car you want, in good condition grab it.

FYI: when I lived in Chicago, 99% of the Audis I saw had Quattro.

But, here in LA--it's a much more even split.

IM AUDI5000

quattro is less squirly, but the FWD is lighter, quicker and better gas mileage.

MylesPH1

I have an '04 quattro Avant ultra sport and drove my brother's '02 CVT with sport package. I got caught in a storm on the Atlantic City Expressway and the Garden State Parkway in his car, and really missed my quattro, because his car, with near-new Dunlop SP 9090's, kept losing traction and stability in a way my car would never do. On the flip side, the car felt MUCH lighter on its feet, more agile in transitions, and definitely had better acceleration.. except pulling away from toll booths, where I had to take it easy to avoid wheelspin - in my quattro I wouldn't have to worry about that at all...

Flounderasu

My B6 was Quattro, my B7 is FrontTrak. I miss my Quattro....when driving aggressively, mainly acceleration due to the lack of wheelspin. Otherwise, I'd have to agree with other people on this board. Feels more nimple and "flickable", better acceleration, and better gas mileage. If I lived in a state that had rain/snow, I would've gone with the Quattro. But I just couldn't justify it living in AZ...

Boston3.0_CVT

I moved away from the weighty quattro system since I found that using dedicated summer & winter tires was better than running all seasons with the quattro.

With the dedicated summers, traction was sufficient that tire spin wasn't a factor (as it was with the A/S tires). Therefore, I prefer the lighter nimble feel of the FWD with dedicated tires as per the season.

In the future however, I'm going back to rwd cars. A light weight rwd car (or perhaps a rear biased 4wd system) still gives me the most thrills.

tonypilot

I had a 01 1.8T FWD A4 with a 5 speed. It was a nice nimble car with descent acceleration. Handling was good except for the ocassional wheelspin. The nice thing about the 01 1.8T was that it had 170 hp as compared to 150 for the previous model years. I now have a 03 3.0 6 speed A4 quattro which is great. There is enough power to counteract the added weight and drivetrain loss of the quattro.