Youtube AWD Test

 

Pretty cool test. The results don't surprise me though

 

They are driving in a clean garage with a roller.

Ask a southern driver drive in New England snow, let's see if those
traction control really works.

 

Will probably crash faster with all the overconfidence.
I HAVE ALL WHEEL DRIVE - I'M INVINCIBLE!!!:

 

and god forbid if they ever wanna stop

 

Hehe. I like the video, but I note that other cars are conspicuously absent from this comparison. My A4 has a Torsen center diff - better than Subaru's viscous coupling center diff. Not that I agree with their "symmetrical" assessment, but mine's also a longitudinal engine, and it is symmetrical. Like always, the current A4/A6/A8s are all Torsen center diff cars with longitudinal engines as well. The A3 and TT, when equipped with Quattro, are transverse/Haldex, due to the the smaller/shorter chassis.

The other thing they don't mention is the reason the Passat switched from the longitudinal engine/Torsen center diff (50/50 torque split) to the current transverse engine/Haldex center diff (100/0 torque split until slippage). FUEL ECONOMY! The 2.0T Passat wagon will get well over 30 MPG on the highway, something the 2.5 Subaru wagons have not been able to achieve. And the Passat makes more power/torque, too.

 

It always amazes me that people will pay thousands more because they 'need' a 4WD SUV for the snow, but won't pay a few hundred for some freakin' snow tires every few years.

4WD helps with the hills and not getting stuck in parking spots/driveways, as well as those oh-so-fun powerslide drifts in empty unplowed parking lots.

But snow tires will help you get up hills, get unstuck, and they'll also help with braking and turning. AMAZING!

 

^ and what amazes me more is most of these people never really get any real snow like i do, and i run a FWD in the winter have done so for the last 20 years with no issues what so ever. Heck i dont think i have ever owned a 4wd in my life come to think of it.



^ yes there is a car buried in that pic




THIS IS SNOW!

 

Old people in New England are driving in Snows for centuries. They've been driving in a thick snow even before Al Gore fabricated the "inconvenient truth". Yep, in a vulcanized tubes not radial, yep in a solid axle without any of those robotic gadget planted in the suspension.

Traction is like economy. All depends in "human behavior". The way you drive affects the traction like the way you spend affects the economy.

Motorist are becoming lazy and depends in technology. But technology don't have common sense...so people losing common sense. They let the hardware override the software....the program called brain.

 

How is it better? A Torsen is a torque-sensing differential. It needs torque to lock up. If the a4's wheels are on ice, that differential isn't going to be doing anything because none of the tires will have enough traction to get the torque. What will the Subaru do? Spin all 4 and get traction. The only thing a torsen has going for it is a finite faster lockup time than a VC unit (that needs the fluid to heat up.. but will do so in ANY situation regardless of the terrain). Not only that, if you ever high-centered an audi on a snow bank, you're stuck, even if you get one wheel with traction. The Subaru? One wheel is enough. Audi/VW fanboisim is what leads them to think that the Audi system "is best". Don't even get me started on the fail of the Haldex 90/10 systems.

Just becuase it's more complicated doesn't make it 'better'. Sometimes, simplicty is the best answer.

I've owned 14 Subarus in my life... I've pulled my share of audi's (among other vehicles, even SUVs) from ditches with some of my 'measely' Subarus.

--KC