AnimaTTor

It was a manual FrontTrak with sports package. No manual quattros on the lot unfortunatly.

WOW.

The car pulled just as fast as a 3.0 manual quattro, if not faster.

The engine felt far more refined than the 1.8T, with less vibration and virtually undetectable turbo lag. My 3.0 V6 may still be a smother, more free-breathing, more relaxed engine, but the 2.0T should get high marks for smoothness nonetheless.

Although the Audi engineers have done wonders with the front wheel drive suspension, the wheels still skip and squeel when I accelerate fairly hard from a standstill. I even had the proverbial old man give me a dirty look when I hit the accelerator at a stop light. The first thing I thought was that quattro would never do this.

The car feels very light and nimble. According to AoA's stats, this car is lighter than the B6 (a mere 3142 lbs for the Front Trak), and my test drive suggests this is a lighter car as well.

The Servotronic steering seems less light than the A6 at low speeds, which I like.

I know the B7 is actually a major facelift and not a true platform redesign, but the B7 is nevertheless vastly, vastly superior to the B6 in terms of performance, dynamics, and yes, styling (IMHO).

But I'd never buy another FrontTrak Audi, especially now that these cars are so powerful that torque steer is unavoidable. Hopefully a quattro 2.0T is just as quick and nimble, despite the all-wheel drivetrain's weight penalty.

With performance like this from a 4-cylinder, the 3.2 manual quattro must be a beast.

Delphingrau3003_Rich

"The car pulled just as fast as a 3.0 manual quattro, if not faster." Pas possible! ; )

a4flyer

I manually entered hp and torque curves for B6 3.0 V6 and B7 2.0T in excel. Plotted same using chart wizard. Go to Fourtidue for 2.0T data. Used 2002 A4 sales lit for 3.0 V6 data. Barring errors on my part translating Euro to English units, curves look very similar with some advantage to 2.0T at low end.

AnimaTTor

The 200 HP 2.0T is much lighter than the 220 HP 3.0, so acceleration times are very close.

AnimaTTor

B6 3.0 Quattro Manual:
- curb weight: 3583
- HP: 220

B7 2.0T FrontTrak Manual
- Curb Weight: 3142
- HP: 200

So with only 20 less HP, but with a broader torque curve and 400 less pounds, the 2.0T is sure to match the 3.0's straight line performance, and possibly surpass it.

Now, remember, I tested a FrontTrak 2.0T. Perhaps a quattro 2.0T may not fair as well.

It's a shame that Audi refuses to develop rear-wheel drive cars. If they did, the lighter cars would be much more competitive with BMW and Mercedes, and Audi would easily sell much better in warmer areas. FrontTrak simply doesn't cut it for a luxury sports car.

Hopefully Audi will continue this trend of creating lighter cars. They need to be weight innovators since the heavy quattro is the only way they can compete with their rear-drive competitors.

Delphingrau3003_Rich

is very close in acceleration to the 3.0.

Rich

jec

How were the steering weight and feel compared to a B6?

AnimaTTor

Similar at high speeds, lighter at low speeds.

IM AUDI5000

I just bought a 2.0T A4 Front track manual, and after owning a 3.0 Cab and a 2.7T A6 MT6 I have to say the new 2.0T is as fast (stock vs. stock) as my old A6 2.7T. And far faster off the line and o the high end then the 3.0 The torque curve is flat as Arkansas from 1850-5000 and it has a VERY rare HP plateau from 5100-6000. I can't wait till the chips start coming in. I am salivating at the thought of another 50-60 HP and torque. With the weight of 3100 and change lbs, the power to weight ratio will be pretty amazing. Boxster S and Mitsu EVO territory. That coupled with a nice exhaust system you have to be looking at close to 270 HP.

SCA

also. WOW! What an improvement over the 1.8T. The only thing is with the right options, invoice/MSRP to invoice/MSRP the A4 2.0TQ is more than the upcoming BMW E90 325i. If it wasn't for that I'd be highly interested in the Audi.