JAA 4.2

tires have a given friction circle. if you are using a tire for putting power to the ground, you lose lateral capability for steering. for an out and out fun car, I'd still prefer RWD.

Potomac-Greg

By spreading out the torque, it diminishes the lateral grip in all for corners, but at half the rate it would be diminished over two wheels.

Trouble is, AWD is always a weight problem.

rally

but the advantage two wheel drive has is weight reduction. A properly setup AWD will always outperform a two wheel drive setup.

Check the stage times for the World Rally Championship. The AWD cars beat the two wheel drive cars on every stage and every surface.
They are both restricted to 300hp while the two wheel drive cars can be lighter in weight.

Audi was kicked out of IMSA GTO racing with their AWD Audi 100. Walter Rohrl often lapped the entire field with added ballast for each race. IMSA couldn't equalize the series so they booted Audi.

If Champion Audi were able to run their cars with any modification available they would leave the competition in the dust.

AWD has no steering hurdles when you are able to balance the handling by applying power (provided you have enough).

2.7Twin

choice of just fun and being able to apply torque to the front and rear, I'll take the later. IMHO all but the experts unknowingly benifit from AWD and anyone saying AWD can't be fun and fast is incorrect.

nyc_qcar

its flash loaded. In the unlikely event there is a drivetrain related disaster I could flash it back (they keep the factory map on file for you). I am not auto-x'ing the car and 99.99% of the time it tootles along just a bit over the speed limit so my conscience is not bugging me.

seat of the pants feel changes remarkably given the fairly mild increase in torque and WHP (about 10-12%). Part of this is 1st gear is now untamed (factory seems to cap boost in 1st gear more than boost in 2nd up). G forces in 1st are now ridiculous vs factory. On the downside, ESP now kicks in to make things feel strange on on-ramps and away from toll plazas.

Lastly, the change removes some of the linearity factory had. When not wailing on the throttle, which is 99% of the time, I prefer the factory feel. For want of a better word, the overall package now feels "odd" sometimes. I've even felt hesitation a couple of times. Whether this is throttle programs, boost spikes, diverter valves, ESP, or that it runs rich to avoid detonation, or ECU adaption, .. who the hell knows?? it just now feels just a tick under the supremely civilized factory feeling. I'm gonna wait a bit longer before concluding anything for sure, though.

Perhaps this is why the RS6+ did not increase max torque, but instead just extended the torque curve a bit, thus getting their 500hp merely as a result of higher RPM.

Potomac-Greg

... that they will bend metal. I ran with a late model Corvette in the rain (poor driver too) because he had to be so careful in the curves.

Ming 2.7T

AWD allows the regular person to make mistakes and survive.

2.7Twin

<center><img src="http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=7359&amp;stc=1"></center><p>really never know what you be driving on. Hit a bit of gravel and you might end up like this chap. I'm not saying AWD is a cure all; but, I see gravel, oil, water, leaves, and other materials that aren't conducive to ideal traction littering our roads.

Over the course of my many years at the wheel I have on occasion lost traction; but, with quatto it's far and few between these incidents and I've never felt it was out of my control(usally due to forcing the issue ;-)).

LIRS6

Thanks vm - I'm on the north shore of LI if you are ever in the area