kurtatx

I would have to see a major car journalist run a test before I'm 100% convinced either way. Of course, I live in Texas, so I don't much care either way. It's splitting hairs if you ask me.

When I lived in Illinois, I never had an AWD vehicle and I managed.

superswiss

People are getting AWD for different reasons. Quattro evolved out of rally sports and was later used in road racing as well with great success. The history of quattro is in motorsport and not utility, so it's always been associated with performance, handling and dynamic driving. Leading up to quattro ultra, Audi has focused on these parts more than all-weather traction or efficiency. They've gone from a 50:50 split to a 40:60 split for a more RWD biased setup. Then they developed the crown-gear center differential that was even more rear-biased and could force up to 85% of the engine torque to the rear axle w/o the help of the ESP. They further added torque vectoring and the sport differential for S and RS models. This is a direction that I very much liked and personally think culminated in the current RS5. I live in NorCal, so quattro to me is not about all-weather traction. It's about performance driving in the canyons. The fact that I can also drive circles around everyone during the rainy winter months is just an added bonus.

So, quattro ultra with its clear focus on efficiency and back to a FWD-bias is going backwards in many people's opinion that enjoyed the sporty direction Audi was going in with the quattro system up to this point. For now, ultra is limited to A models and only certain engines, so regular quattro will remain the choice of drivetrain for the performance models. I agree, I think it really doesn't matter for most who buy an A as long as it doesn't get them stuck in bad weather, but those who bought quattro for the performance aspect of it will have to shop in the S and RS category moving forward.

kurtatx

The common opinion on the Quattro Ultra is that the performance of the AWD system is unchanged.

superswiss

For that to be true it would have to be the other way around and disconnect the front axle.

kurtatx

It is 100% true. You don't have to understand it, but it's 100% true.

lifjoy

I learned a lot from this video
I drive the 2017 A4 Allroad (with Quattro Ultra) and have not noticed less performance than I had with the 2013 A4 Allroad (that I traded for the 2017).

VipinLJ

I'm almost 100% sure an average person (like me) wouldn't know the difference between Quattro or ultra! Hell. For normal driving, I probably wouldn't even be able to tell whether it was FWD/AWD/RWD.
On a track maybe.

kurtatx

On a track maybe, in the snow more likely. Everywhere else? I mean, the calculation time is like 10 ms.

And do we have any idea if the rumors about Dynamic mode being RWD biased are true? Then what are we complaining about?

VipinLJ

Yup. In snow too.

And I didn't know I'm dynamic mode, it was RWD biased. In fact, if anything, I thought it would be FWD biased. I thought Quattro was full time AWD. Again. My knowledge on this topic is extremely limited.

superswiss

We have different performance expectations. What you all seem to be referring to is wheel torque, which naturally flows to the rear wheels under power, because of the weight of the car shifting and the rear tires putting up more resistance. However, a rear-biased AWD system has the ability to force most engine torque (not wheel torque) to the rear axle, either with the help of a variably locking center differential or using a coupling that acts on the front axle and not the rear axle. Just look at the systems you find in Porsche, Lambo and even the Audi R8. They all decouple the front axle as to force engine torque to the rear wheels. The self-locking center differentials such as the crown-gear do a similar thing by producing a locking torque that sends more of the engine torque to the rear or whichever axle can more effectively turn it into wheel torque, but still with a rear-bias (up to 85% to rear vs. 70% to the front).

I agree in everyday driving this matters very little for the average driver, but it matters to folks who've owned RWD cars in the past and are used to the engine torque going to the rear and all that does for driving dynamics.