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XWD finally hit the ice... Posted by magalar [Email]  (#1325)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from magalar) on Wed, 12 Mar 2014 19:21:23
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After 12 years, I finally sold my 1983 Audi urQuattro last fall. She was my dancing partner for all that period. Dancing on ice, that is.
Now, with that 08 XWD in the driveway, it was time to see if Haldex IV is indeed superior to the famous 1st generation quattro drivetrain. An old system, but a system, as you may know, that uses 3 open diffs, two of which could be 100% locked when the driver desire to.
On ice, the Quattro, with the rear and center diff locked, was a big understeerer. Normal, as all the wheels were forced to spin at the same speed like an old 4x4. The technique to have it rotated was the famous scandinavian flick : brake to load the front, countersteer toward the outside of the turn, gun the engine while you turn into the turn. If all went well, there is a rooster tail of snow, nice revving sounds from the 5 cylinder turbo, and a big smile. Easier said than done. But with 25 days of lapping at Mecaglisse since 2002, I was quite good at it. Never broke the car, did a few snowbanks but needed help only 3 times from fellow racers with a tow strap. The Quattro is a sturdy car with very good traction from its 185/60R15 studded Pirelli.
Now, the XWD. 120 more hp, 500 more lbs but same weight distribution, and a very different AWD system. And unstudded Gislaved tires in 225/50R17. I was not expecting it to be a fast car among the sea of STi, WRX, S4 and Evo that are the standard runners...
But it indeed showed a very good spirit, some good speeds and an ease of driving that impressed me, and some other guys.
The good points:
ESP is fully defeatable, a rarity in vehicles that are less than 5 years old. With ESP off, you are the sole master on board. ABS is still on, and that's a problem (more on that later).
300 ft-lb of torque at 1500 rpm is a very nice thing to have when you have traction.
Speaking of which, the Haldex IV is a gem. When braking, even when using the handbrake to help a tight turn, the rear axle is disconnected. The car is then FWD, with all the positive it makes on pivoting the car. Engagement of the rear axle is instantaneous, right there when you stop braking and re-accelerate. The drifts are as spectacular as the ones in the Quattro. One time, in the hurry of a quick handbrake pull at the hairpin, I didn't released the lever completely and it stuck at the first click. When I accelerated, massive spin of the inner front wheel. I then released the lever quickly, and bam!, traction ! It was just magic to see how quick the rear clutch was reacting. For the last sessions, I used a zippy-tie to block the button in the release position. No more FWD spin...
The Gislaveds were really impressive, to the point that a guy, riding with me, said traction in the XWD was better than his WRX with studded snows... I was too impressed by the traction offered by such wide tires on ice. The theory behind this is the fact that modern tires with numerous sipes work as well as narrow tires with studs by contacting more ice to grip with the sipes. In the snow however, that's another story (see low points).
The low points :
ABS. Darn antilock brakes. On sheer ice, or even in snow, they are useless. You can't pull the fuses as the ABS/ESP controller is part of the XWD. The solution is to pump the pedal strongly but quickly 2 or 3 times. ABS doesn't have time to react fully, so you can have the front tires dig into the ice/snow to pivot the car for the scandinavian flick on the medium/fast bends. In the slow turns, just follow closely the inner of the bend with the front inner wheel, and rotate the rear with torque, or handbrake if you screwed it...
Speaking of which... In the afternoon, the facility offered us to use 3 of the 4 tracks linked together. We agreed, pleased by the fact that this was a premiere in 12 years. The track 1 is 2.3 km, add another km of ice and snow by linking the 2 others. Problem is, the transition between each was not ice, but snow. See the problem coming ? Wide tires ? Snowy braking zone ? ABS ? Too much speed ? Yes folks, I did stuffed the car ON TOP OF a snowbank, I was so deep that all 4 wheels were of the track. We needed the plow truck to drag me out of it... I was the only one of the day to use it. Shame, shame, shame... BTW, I found the Haldex rear axle doesn't work in reverse...
But another good point came out of this. The front of the car is very solid, much more so than any Subaru could ever dream. The plastic grille didn't even shatter, it just unclip a bit and that was it. The splash pan was full of snow, filled by the dragging in reverse in deep snow.
Another low point : the exhaust sound. While this V6T is one of the nicest sounding engine I can imagine, it's all rich and quality sounds from the cabin, the GoPro camera that was attached to the rear hatch showed just a wooooshing sound at the exhaust tips when full throttle. The Quattro was soooooo much more satisfying with its stock exhaust. Maybe 30 years of evolution did just that : nice sounds inside, no sounds outside.
Last point : fuel consumption. 25 l/100km, that is 9 mpg. Oh well. That's the price to pay for all the glory I guess.
So, as if there was a need to remind us how great Saabs are, this is another proof. That combination of a compact car, a torquey engine, a manual transmission and a solid AWD system under that sexy skin is still unmatched. Maybe the Golf R is a potential candidate. If the ESP is fully defeatable, that is. And if I can ask her for a dance...
, Wed, 12 Mar 2014 19:21:23 <-- Viewing This Message, Fri, 14 Mar 2014 09:10:06
, Thu, 13 Mar 2014 09:24:31, Thu, 13 Mar 2014 13:04:30
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