Bob W.

give it a rest dude...you're obviously full of crap.

RXBG

no comment.

Bauer

you are going to have a problem with understeer. Changing power distribution does help releave some of it, along with suspension set up and sway bars. But the laws of physics apply no matter what.

So you are telling me the RS4 magicly defies the laws of physics?

I don't know why you are so defensive about a car, I would be willing to bet you have not even driven. Chris has (Verr?ckt)and since you have not, I will take his word on how the car handles over yours.

Oh and just for the record... I never said too much... I said how much.

Jet Jockey/A4 Pilot

The fact remains that Audis are known to be cars that understeer. If you compare any Audi to any BMW it is obvious which one understeers more. The laws of physics make it so, 60% of the weight upfront will make this happen.

Take a 911 with 60% of its weight in the rear and exactly the opposite happens, oversteer.

VerrÜckt

Yes, stock diffs. Just stasis 600/700 sport valved tracksports and Neuspeed rear sway bar on firm.

VerrÜckt

Here is the car they used for the track driving. It's also one of the journalist cars. Notice the P-Zero Corsa race tires. I rode with a quattro GmbH employee in this car who also did some skidpad type driving to warm up the tires for a customer who was going to take it on the track. Once warm, the tires had tremendous grip. I would bet it would pull a 1 g on the skidpad if not more. As with many track tires though, it made the understeer even worse at the limit when the tires started to let go.

<img src="http://www.nogaroblue.com/S4/B7RS4.jpg">

<a href="http://www.tirerack.com/a.jsp?a=AR4&url=%2Ftires%2Ftires.jsp%3FtireMake%3D Pirelli%26tireModel%3DPZero%2BCorsa%2BSystem%2BAsi mmetrico">Click here to learn more about the Pzero Corsa</a>

Does that look like a tire that any of you are going to really use on your RS4? No. They have a treadwear rating of 60 and are scary on wet roads. For liability reasons, Audi won't even sell the car with this tire in the US.

Audi is trying to "stack the deck" with this car.

Here is one of the German magazine tests, notice it's also spec'd with Pzero corsas.

<img src="http://www.nogaroblue.com/cars/b7rs4stats.jpg">


Here is a picture of the car I actually drove and did my own skidpad testing with. It has standard street compound <a href="http://www.tirerack.com/a.jsp?a=AR4&url=%2Ftires%2Ftires.jsp%3FtireMake%3D Pirelli%26tireModel%3DPZero%2BRosso%2BAsimmetrico" >Pzero Rosso</a> tires. This would be more comparable to what the US car is going to get.

<img src="http://www.nogaroblue.com/cars/RS4Rosso.jpg">

So Bob, what about that "BS" again?

VerrÜckt

One, <a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/s4b7/msgs/25711.phtml">let's work on the reading comprehension.</a>

Two, the front tires laid rubber because the car has enough power to spin all 4 pilot sports with ease...not because of understeer. The quattro in the B5 car transfers a maximum of 67% torque to the rear and 33% to the front...which was exactly what was happening here.<ul><li><a href="http://www.nogaroblue.net/Videos/S4_oversteer.avi">Would you like to change your answer? There's no understeer because the wheels were straight for most of the turn. It's steering with the throttle.</a></li></ul>

VerrÜckt

but then you're also not believing the many other journalists who have said the same things about the car.

Here's a quote from EVO.

"It's very busy under braking, too - somewhat unexpected considering the car's inherent stability. And ultimately, despite the clever four-wheel-drive system that can channel as much as 85 per cent of power to the rear wheels, it becomes clear that mild understeer is still the RS4's preferred stance. "

Perhaps you know something about the car I don't. I'm always open to suggestions. Can you tell me something about the RS4 that I've missed from your experiences driving it?

VerrÜckt

It's a step in the right direction for Audi, but I don't think it's quite there yet.

It's certainly something that can be solved in the aftermarket.

VerrÜckt

rotate the chassis with throttle modulation to transition from understeer to a more neutral attitude.

That's Audi's goal with the 40/60 diff.

It still isn't there yet though. I think the Japanese AWD systems are better in this aspect.