Went for test drive today....uhhhmmmm
08-21-2005, 07:57 PM
#13
Quattro's over-rated. Had quattro, and I left it.
Just get better tires than the stock stuff and the car gets enough traction from the get go... and will end up with more traction for stopping & cornering.
08-21-2005, 08:03 PM
#14
wheel spin is the feed back to the TC sensors to tell it to..
kick in by reducing power from the engine (or apply a bit of braking to the specific wheels).
Even my M5 and 911 C4 worked the same way. Both would break loose on a quick get away.. and those were running pure summer tires (versus the A/S often found on the A3).
Pirelli P6 suck. Toyo T1 (s||r) get rid of the tire spin for the fwd when it comes to clean asphalt.
Even my M5 and 911 C4 worked the same way. Both would break loose on a quick get away.. and those were running pure summer tires (versus the A/S often found on the A3).
Pirelli P6 suck. Toyo T1 (s||r) get rid of the tire spin for the fwd when it comes to clean asphalt.
08-21-2005, 08:50 PM
#15
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I will tell you what, I have a 04 Avant and had all-season tires on it. I put on
Pirelli PZero Rosso's and the difference is amazing. Much better grip, braking, etc...I didn't think a change to summer tires could do so much. I was wrong, the Rosso's are amazing.
08-21-2005, 09:40 PM
#16
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Re: Isn't a 330i with sport package significantly more expensive?
yes, my 330i with sports came in at $41k, totaly different cars at totally different price points, so I would not expect people to be considering one or the other.
but I had to compare it with the A3, because that is the car I am currently driving most, so its my best reference for comparison.....
From all the rave reviews about the a3 driving performance I have been reading about, as well as the message boards, I guess I went in with my expections too high.
My other car would be a much worse comparison, 2005 corvette. That car has massive torque and HP, is a light car, and I still can't break the tires free as badly as I was doing on the A3.... (unless I turn off the electronics, then it will wheelspin like crazy)
Now, I suspect a lot of it has to do with rear wheel drive (I am not used to fwd cars anymore I admit that, last FWD I owned was 10 years ago), and also as other have mentioned, the A3 may have poor tires.
But I also think the traction control on the Audi has to take some of the blame.
Anyways, the A3 when optioned up a bit is $30k, it is a nice car, but that isnt an entry level price, like a mazda3 hatchback, so I dont think it was unfair of me to expect more.
Now people are also talking about dropping another $800 to $1000k on new rubber if the stock tires are as bad as they felt to me.
So all I am saying is that for $31k I would expect more, the car looks good, the options are good, the seats were comfortable. Turning circle was like maybe half of the corvette, lol, what a turning circle.
But i was not mad about the drive. But then like I said I am comparing it to a pretty high standard.
I am not comparing the A3 to say a toyota camry FWD or some other clunky car, I am comparing it to cars that most people would at least agree have decent handling and decent acceleration.
The A3 wasnt at all a bad handling car, not saying it sucks, just saying the road feedback wasn't great, and the traction from the rubber under hard acceleration is not what it should be. And I am also saying in this day and age there is no reason to be wrestling a car to get max performance out of it, the electronics should be doing some of it for you. So the irony is that the A3 has the high-tech wizardly DSG (which I liked), but they couldn't bother to work out their traction control properly? Or didnt the test drivers for this car realize they were pairing this car to the wrong set of rubber then? doesnt make sense to me
but I had to compare it with the A3, because that is the car I am currently driving most, so its my best reference for comparison.....
From all the rave reviews about the a3 driving performance I have been reading about, as well as the message boards, I guess I went in with my expections too high.
My other car would be a much worse comparison, 2005 corvette. That car has massive torque and HP, is a light car, and I still can't break the tires free as badly as I was doing on the A3.... (unless I turn off the electronics, then it will wheelspin like crazy)
Now, I suspect a lot of it has to do with rear wheel drive (I am not used to fwd cars anymore I admit that, last FWD I owned was 10 years ago), and also as other have mentioned, the A3 may have poor tires.
But I also think the traction control on the Audi has to take some of the blame.
Anyways, the A3 when optioned up a bit is $30k, it is a nice car, but that isnt an entry level price, like a mazda3 hatchback, so I dont think it was unfair of me to expect more.
Now people are also talking about dropping another $800 to $1000k on new rubber if the stock tires are as bad as they felt to me.
So all I am saying is that for $31k I would expect more, the car looks good, the options are good, the seats were comfortable. Turning circle was like maybe half of the corvette, lol, what a turning circle.
But i was not mad about the drive. But then like I said I am comparing it to a pretty high standard.
I am not comparing the A3 to say a toyota camry FWD or some other clunky car, I am comparing it to cars that most people would at least agree have decent handling and decent acceleration.
The A3 wasnt at all a bad handling car, not saying it sucks, just saying the road feedback wasn't great, and the traction from the rubber under hard acceleration is not what it should be. And I am also saying in this day and age there is no reason to be wrestling a car to get max performance out of it, the electronics should be doing some of it for you. So the irony is that the A3 has the high-tech wizardly DSG (which I liked), but they couldn't bother to work out their traction control properly? Or didnt the test drivers for this car realize they were pairing this car to the wrong set of rubber then? doesnt make sense to me
08-21-2005, 09:52 PM
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Re: They allow some wheel spin since this is supposed to be a "sporty" car. Nothing kills the fun
sorry I disagree, the tires should be allowed to chirp, but not go into a complete spin. It's not like i was driving a stick and dropping the clutch from 5000 rpm. We talking about standard stoplight pulloffs here from 1000 rpm or whatever it idles at. And when the TC was forced to act, it was bogging down the A3 - it was not seemless.
I was getting the A3 to start breaking free without even having my foot completely flat on the gas.
For comparison (unfair or fair), the BMW 330, I can floor the throttle 100% (even with the steering wheel turned a lot to the left or right), and the tires won't lose traction at all. Great feature for merging into traffic or taking gaps at traffic lights.
If I had done that in the A3 (I didnt even dare try) it would have been a disaster.
I was getting the A3 to start breaking free without even having my foot completely flat on the gas.
For comparison (unfair or fair), the BMW 330, I can floor the throttle 100% (even with the steering wheel turned a lot to the left or right), and the tires won't lose traction at all. Great feature for merging into traffic or taking gaps at traffic lights.
If I had done that in the A3 (I didnt even dare try) it would have been a disaster.
08-21-2005, 10:57 PM
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Re: just curious, did you drive an A3 with the sport package?
i drove one with and without
unfortunately by the time I got in the sports package one the salesman was getting tired of my driving antics and was not happy about me cornering the car hard, so I had to quit that, so I didnt get to do any decent corners on the sports package model. But i was definitely also feeling some slight understeer on the base model when pushed into corners..... (not horrible understeer but some)
The wheel hop / loss of traction on hard accel was still there for me on the sports package model.. I cant make a direct comparison between the 2 cars because I didnt get enough time in them, I would need like 20 mins in each without a damn salesmen wetting his pants....
unfortunately by the time I got in the sports package one the salesman was getting tired of my driving antics and was not happy about me cornering the car hard, so I had to quit that, so I didnt get to do any decent corners on the sports package model. But i was definitely also feeling some slight understeer on the base model when pushed into corners..... (not horrible understeer but some)
The wheel hop / loss of traction on hard accel was still there for me on the sports package model.. I cant make a direct comparison between the 2 cars because I didnt get enough time in them, I would need like 20 mins in each without a damn salesmen wetting his pants....
