John.. is it not less hassle just buying a rwd car ? they tend to be stronger purely cos of engine location / gaerbox design.. straight through and down a prob seems to be more reilable than fwd/4wd setups...

I've not come across a RWD car that puts proper torque down well on Scottish roads though. Plus I'm gay But I can do 0-60 in the high 3s in the wet with a passenger, on tyres that last 15000 miles normal road use and cost

But I can do 0-60 in the high 3s in the wet with a passenger

:eek: I think you'll dislike both 4x4 and VRS in that case.

IIRC the torsen diff is used on all the high-performance VAG models

Haldex with transverse mounted engines, torsen with everyting else.

DaveH, the vRS will be for the wife, but I like it a lot, fantastic all rounder

Is the Torsen diff a lot tougher than the Haldex, and what about the gearboxes attached to it?

What a thoroughly entertaining read ..........

Sorry , the answer to your question Kev is a yellow Octy vRS

Sorry ' date=' the answer to your question Kev is a yellow Octy vRS [/quote']

Only if the question was "What's the most suitable car for a male hairdresser called Gervaise?"

:peepwall:

DaveH, the vRS will be for the wife, but I like it a lot, fantastic all rounder

Ah, I see. Girls car then. :peepwall:

No, the girl's car would have been the Golf V 140 TDi that she could have had if I hadn't talked her out of it vRS was far more fun.

Only if the question was "What's the most suitable car for a male hairdresser called Gervaise?"

:peepwall:

Gervaise ..?.............I remember him ...........Steve Wright in the afternoon ..........although my favourite was Sid The Manager .....................alright boy !...........

I just couldn't seriously modify a 2WD car after that unless there is some gem of a car I'm missing out on...

I would like something that goes down a back road with wicked compressions like a Jap tin box' date=' but doesn't look like one and has a bit of style [/quote']

erm not a long list but....

Boxster... - yes its a bit erm.. well you know... and modifying it is not cheap..

NSX?

M5?

ZT260?

C32?

new SLK?

vette c6?

535d?

cooper s JCW?

Exige?

Tuscan?

and yes you can hurl a tuscan across the land above evo pace... if you have the kahunas... ( and a relaxed attitude to recovery every so often...)

ZT260, exige, tuscan..... is he planning on being good friends with the AA?

NSX? Too slow, not easily modifiable

M5? Would consider the E60 except the depreciation

ZT260? LOL, a 330i is quicker round a track

C32? Potential there?

new SLK? Ditto?

vette c6? LHD, doesn't like wet roads, needs aftermarket turbo or wild NA engine to really make it go

535d? Too slow, yes I do mean that, 270-280 BHP with that weight and all the torque in the universe would not be properly quick, no easy replacement turbos to make it quick

cooper s JCW? 1.6 too small an engine in too heavy a body to ever be really quick, good body control though

Exige? Interesting, tricky to modify though as no turbo

Tuscan? Reliability, traction in the wet

The only thing I can think of that has a turbo engine with a good engine size for its weight is a Supra, very tunable, but they have to be as they need squillions of horsepower to overcome a much lower powered Jap tin box AWD thing.

Modified 911 Turbo is probably the ultimate I think for what I am looking for, I'm waiting for a contact to take me for a spin in his Ruf modified 911T, but it would be too flash to take to work and I wouldn't want to sink that money into a car even if the depreciation is sensible.

The only thing I can think of that has a turbo engine with a good engine size for its weight is a Supra' date=' very tunable, but they have to be as they need squillions of horsepower to overcome a much lower powered Jap tin box AWD thing.

.[/quote']

Agreed, they are quick in a straight line but take an age to wind up, I played with a couple on the cannonball, one reputedly 900 bhp in my 250 bhp Skoda 4x4 & in the Mountains I was having to lift off to stop me hitting the back of it coming out of corners, Looks like its an Octy 4x4 then

Well a bit late on this one...

I sold my 4x4.

But I brought one in the first instance as it had good traction and could be thrown anywhere and it seemed to go around the corners without much complaint.

However after 30k of fun I was actually bored, I'd changed to KW coilovers, 17", partial brake fettling, but the actually drive was not engaging. Wet jucntion 3k drop clutch go. Dry Junction 3k drop clutch go. Open road turn wheel hold, esp light exit.

Do not get me wrong it was a great drive, surprising S3's on uphill drags was great

But I got bored with the physics of driving it.

So I changed to an RS, with ESP

Okay so only FWD, but far better straight away. I had to think at junctions, hd to plan my corner entry and exit strategy...this might sound wierd byt god I had torque steer, lovely, felt like I was driving again...now a few months down the line I've not changed to coilovers as I think the std susp on t RS is compliant enough. I have done the ARB and have the bushes to go. Also the brakes and exhaust have been played with, nothing outrageous, enough to keep up with a boxter round track on 180bhp

For me I loved the the 4x4 I still do, but I got bored by it, it's a great light hearted drive for sure.

The RS is far more engaging so for now it's what I need. I'll return to 4x4 but it will be a bleeding big diesel with 4 OOOO's. or an LS200.

Don't mention LS200's... sandra thinks we should go for the full "warrior" crew cab next!!

Well I won't mention LS 200's because they have another image in this office which has caused a stir on this thread already

Does not help having 4 lined up in the car park with sequential plates...

Well I won't mention LS 200's because they have another image in this office which has caused a stir on this thread already

Does not help having 4 lined up in the car park with sequential plates...

Are they Pink ?

:sofahide:

4x4 vehicles can have torque steer as well if you run enough torque. Not sure it is a good thing, but anyway... to me they feel like FWD with far more neutral handling, and a hilarious slingshot effect

Is the Torsen diff a lot tougher than the Haldex, and what about the gearboxes attached to it?

I think the torsen is a fair bit stronger. The main advantage is that it reacts far faster than the haldex system.

Isn't that mainly cos it's partly engaged all the time? Hurts MPG somewhat tho...

It's engaged all teh time, defaults to a 50/50 split. Does hurt MPG, but given how bad the oroginal hadex system was i'd consider that worth the sacrifice. Recent haldex versions are wuicker but still nowhere near torsen as the clutches need time to know what to do then engage.

15 degree of wheel rotation for it to react.

An Audi TTq has 225/45-17 tires with a circumference of 1993mm. 15 degrees equals -> (1993/360)*15 = 83.04mm -> 3.27 inches of wheel spin

At 5 MPH (in a TT) you have 1.156 wheel rev/sec. 3.27 inches is 4.1% of a full revolution. Therefore, 4.1%/1.156 = 0.035 seconds to activate at 5mph.

At 1 MPH it takes a 0.177 seconds..

At 10 MPH it takes 0.018 seconds!!

Shamelessly ripped from another site, feel free to double check the maths... but if correct thats pretty damn fast!

John... would love to see the 330i thats quicker than a zt260... or the octy 4x4... IIRC last time 260 m3 and octy met... zt cleared off.. octy fell off whislst second and m3 then ****ed off